Lincoln Riley breaks down where USC stands at nickelback

Last season USC Trojans looked great on offense for the majority of the season. But for as good as they were offensively, they were that tough to stomach defensively. But this year, head coach Lincoln Riley will try to have his defense ready to roll by the start of the 2023 season. 

Riley has been seeing improvement throughout his defense this spring. And one of the places where he’s noticing a great deal of progress is at the nickelback position. During a recent interview, the Trojans’ headman broke down where USC stands at nickel. 

“The spot last year was inconsistent. Had some good moments, but we weren’t productive enough at that spot,” said Riley. “I feel about that spot kind of like we felt a little bit about inside linebacker. Like had our moments; we had some really nice plays, but we weren’t consistently the presence that we needed to be. And obviously, that’s a super key position in our defense. It gets a lot of action. Those guys have got to do a lot. They gotta blitz, be in run fits, cover; they’re kind of right in the middle of the action.” 

USC ranked near the bottom of the nation in total defense last year, finishing this season at 106 out of 131 total teams. The Trojans gave up a staggering 6.53 yards per play and 423.9 yards per game. And over 14 games, they allowed an average of 264.1 yards in passing office. 

Riley says Smith and McCutchin are stepping up this spring

This spring, Riley sees promise and hope for the nickel position. Currently, the USC head coach has his eye on two players who have stood up to spring practice thus far, safety Jaylin Smith and corner Latrell McCutchin. 

“I’ve been extremely impressed with both Jaylin and Latrell here this spring. They have both taken some big, big steps. Jalen has had a fantastic first half of a spring; really, Latrell has too. Those are guys that I’d put in the kind of the category right now with Ceyair (Wright) in that they’ve just made some big improvements. They’ve improved their bodies. They both got to play a good amount last year, but still relatively young guys that figured out a little bit of what it takes and what it’s like. And they’re good offseasons, and really you just see those two guys playing more confident right now. 

“They know where their help is, understand their fits better, more committed to their coverage technique, and it’s shown up. So, we need more production like those two guys there. And then, when we get full strength in DB world, we’ll certainly start looking at one other body to work there. But those two right now are getting the primary share of the reps.” 

There’s still some time before the start of the season, but we’ll get to see USC’s defense in action soon in their upcoming spring game. The Trojans will head to the Colosseum on April 15 to showcase for their coaches and fans just what they have been working on during the offseason.