Lincoln Riley addresses Ceyair Wright balancing acting with football

Ceyair Wright has arguably the most interesting resume of any Division I college football player. Wright, along with being a redshirt freshman cornerback for the USC Trojans, is an actor with credits in a film you may have heard of called Space Jam: A New Legacy, and the ABC TV show “Grown-ish,” among other productions.

USC head coach Lincoln Riley was recently asked about how the redshirt freshman balances his football and acting careers. Riley, who coached several players at Oklahoma who were simultaneously on the Sooners baseball team — including Heisman winner and Oakland A’s draft pick Kyler Murray — was not fazed by the dual demands on the young defensive back. It is, however, new to the head coach in one regard.

“I mean, the fact that it’s acting,” Riley said, “yes. But, we’ve also had guys that have had other interests or other things going on in their lives. Like I compare it to having a guy play baseball and football like we did with Kyler and some of the other guys — to me, that’s even more of a challenge. At least what he’s doing is not physically demanding so it’s just find a little time in the schedule and I will give the kid credit, he’s clearly done a good job. Because he’s a much better player right now than he was in the spring. So he made some nice improvements throughout the summer.”

Wright, a Los Angeles native, is not likely to start for the Trojans, but is in the mix among a group of relatively young and talented corners at USC. And while there is of course plenty of time for his football career to play out, acting seems like it could work out OK.

“And I hear he’s a pretty good actor, too,” Riley said.