Lincoln Riley reveals how staff will evaluate returning USC players

After moving from Oklahoma to USC this offseason, head coach Lincoln Riley dipped into the transfer portal for several new players who will fill key roles for the Trojans in 2022. The spring practice period will help new and returning players establish their place on next year’s team.

During an interview with Trojans Live, Lincoln Riley discussed how his coaching staff has evaluated the players who spent 2021 at USC. He also addressed the philosophy for spring practice in general.

“We got to see a lot of these guys in-person when we first got here, the week before the Cal game,” said Riley. “So that was very helpful. We studied a little bit, but I’m not – those are different times, different circumstances, different conditions – so I don’t put a whole lot of stock into it. We haven’t sat there and poured through a lot of last year’s USC film.

“We’ve tried to get an idea of what we had, but more of it for I think everybody in the program has not been, ‘well it was done like this before and now we’re doing it like this now.’ It’s not that attitude, it’s whatever done before – good, bad and in-between – doesn’t matter anymore. It’s about this day forward and we want every player in this program to feel the same way.”

Lincoln Riley on spring practice

Lincoln Riley is ecstatic to get the ball rolling on his time at USC, taking his first real look at both new and returning players on the field. After the Trojans held their first spring practice, Riley detailed the excitement he is feeling with getting going.

“I’m not tired, man. I’ve been waiting 100 days for this,” stated Riley. “This is what we do. The way the players are responding, the way the staff’s coming together — it energizes me. It excites me. I was so ready for this day to be here, I can’t even describe it. It was a blast. I wish we could go out and run it back right now.”

Moreover, Riley joined USC after many successful seasons at Oklahoma in one of the biggest shocks of the offseason. Now, the leader of the Trojans is being tasked with bringing USC back to the upper echelon of the sport.

Evidently, the first chapter is being written — and Lincoln Riley could not be happier to get on the field and get to work.