Lincoln Riley reveals where team chemistry stands following rebuilding through portal

USC head coach Lincoln Riley is in his first camp for the Trojans, as the offensive mastermind tries to manage his roster depth and get his offense up to speed on his playbook. Riley’s main focus is making sure his team is prepared for the season but was asked about the chemistry of his team, as they were largely constructed through the transfer portal this offseason.

“Really good, I didn’t know what to expect, a roster’s never really been put together this way. There’s not really a handbook for this. We knew it’d be a challenge, we knew it was going to be very important, it’s still very important, it’s a daily thing but I really like our chemistry right now,” Riley said.

Team chemistry is a major factor in the success of a team, and it sounds like the Trojans aren’t faking it. Riley added that the team is enjoying competing with each other, which could be a result of their collection of talent from across the nation culminating in Los Angels, a pretty nice backdrop for the proving grounds of fall camp.

“Our guys really seem to enjoy competing with each other, they seem to enjoy each other off the field. I don’t feel a lot of cliques within the team, I think if the casual observer that hasn’t been around our guys came out, they would think a lot of these guys have been playing together for years, and they really haven’t which is pretty cool,” Riley said.

Riley’s done a solid job of building up the chemistry on the team but gives the credit to his players for taking the initiative to create those bonds.

“Again the biggest testimony of that is to our players, they’ve taken the time, you can’t create more time so the investment in the relationships has got to go up and they’ve certainly, it seems to us, have done a really good job of that,” Riley said.

The Trojans were extremely active in the transform portal this offseason, as they secured ten players from the portal headlined by 5-star prospects Caleb Williams and Jordan Addison. They have an offense mastermind at the helm in Riley and plenty of ability on their roster. If USC can get their elite talent to play to their full potential along with clicking on and off the field, the sky’s the limit for them in a top-heavy Pac-12 conference.