Lincoln Riley jokes about advantages of ‘rare’ opportunity to practice in the elements

Southern California is known for its great weather. That’s part of what made it so surprising when USC grabbed headlines for hosting its Pro Day on a flooded practice field. Head coach Lincoln Riley even had to hold practice on that flooded field.

Riley took this in stride, though, joking about the advantages this came with.

“You’ve got to take advantage of it when you have the best weather in college football, you don’t get many of these days,” Lincoln Riley said. “Obviously, as we all know, we’ve had more than normal.”

Lincoln Riley did joke that he was expecting

“I’m gonna tell Mike [Bohn] and President Folt, ‘You guys told me the weather was gonna be a hell of a lot better than this.’ But, no, it’s been good.”

USC can’t expect every game to be in ideal weather. Playing in bad conditions with no experience could be a major disadvantage. In that way, bad weather is a way to help the Trojans get prepared.

“Even in February and early March, we rescheduled some of the walkthroughs that we did have the days that it did rain, so that we could get out and get it and because you just don’t get out in the elements much. So, the guys know me. I’m always excited when it’s going to be windy or rain or anything that’s just a little bit of a change-up,” Riley said.

“So, not good work. It’s great ball handling, great for footing. It’s just the game is a little bit different when you get in those conditions and having to adjust is good for every position on the field.”

One thing is certain, once USC is playing in the Big Ten, the Trojans are going to need to learn to play in bad conditions.

Lincoln Riley on the value of cross-training

While USC is in spring ball, Lincoln Riley has tried to emphasize cross-training. In other words, he wants players to be able to play multiple positions and is using the offseason to prepare teams to do so.

“And it’s good to challenge them, to move them out of their comfort zones,” Riley said.

“It adds some prep for all the what ifs that are going to happen in the season when unexpectedly you lose two or three guys at this position and this guys gotta move and that guy’s gotta move. So that’s been good. And it allows us to continue to take a look at them at different spots. And then obviously some of the new guys at different spots, as well. So, we’re going to try not to cross train too many of the new guys, especially the new freshmen, early. That’s the group that we try to protect, give them a chance to get settled in at a position so that we can really see what they can do. And then take it from there.”