Lincoln Riley raves over Sam Greene's contributions to USC defense

USC‘s 2023 recruiting class was a big one filled with talent across the board. According to On3’s Industry Rankings, their class included a number of five-star prospects, including Zachariah Branch and Malachi Nelson. But arguably, one of the most prominent early contributors from the Trojans 2023 recruiting class during the spring is someone fans might have overlooked.

According to head coach Lincoln Riley, defensive end Sam Greene has been a pleasant surprise during spring practice for USC.

“Yeah, he was one of the surprises of spring; not necessarily that he wouldn’t play well,” said Riley. “But we recruited Sam thinking he’d probably be in that field defensive end to the three-technique world. And when he came in, we got a chance to obviously be on the field with him (and) kind of see kind of where he was from a body-wise standpoint. You get to really see him athletically. And he ended up being a little bit better fit for us at rush, which was, honestly, again it was a little unexpected. But as we watched him in the offseason, it made the most sense. We moved him there, and he did a great job.”

Greene played high school football at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, MD, where he was a three-star prospect. He was the No. 466 overall recruit in the 2023 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Entering into the program, Greene is a bit undersized at six-foot tall. Still, given his age, there is plenty of time for him to hit a growth spurt and really fill out his 270-pound frame. But even without the measurements of some of the elite defensive linemen to play the game, Greene has been making a ton of ruckus during practice.

“He had a great spring. I mean, what you guys saw Saturday- that was every day. He had one to two sacks every day. He did some really nice things dropping into coverage. Mentally, did a nice job picking it up. He was impressive. He’s one of those freshmen that staked his claim that he’s going to be a factor for us on the defensive side of football and on special teams… He will no doubt factor in at rush. The track that he’s on right now is exciting. So we’re excited about his potential, and he’s going to get a lot better.”

With spring practice all wrapped up, the next time Greene will see some quality action will be during USC’s summer and fall camps. The freshman has impressed early on going against his Trojan brethren.

But answer the question, how will he fare against live fire? We will all have to wait until Aug. 26, when USC takes on San Jose State, to get an answer to that question.