Lincoln Riley uses Hollywood Brown as example of key roster building method

Lincoln Riley is winding down his roster decisions with USC’s season upon them. Even with coaches penciling in lineups, though, that doesn’t mean the players in his program can rest. If anything, Riley knows all too well how a season can change because of a player who was prepared for his opportunity.

Riley recently used former Oklahoma wide receiver Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown as the example of a player who was ready to roll when his number was called. To start the 2017 season, Brown played sparingly on offense. By the end of the season, he had racked up 57 catches for 1,095 yards and seven touchdowns. Riley says that Brown’s story has been a great lesson for his Trojans and shows them that their spot on the depth chart isn’t permanent.

“I’ve always used the example of ‘Hollywood’ Brown for us the year that he blew up. He started the year on scout team and I think like four or five games in he hadn’t hardly played any. Then all of a sudden he finishes the year with like 1,100 yards receiving and just goes nuts the second half of the season. A lot of that started with scout team and he got some time when we got up in games early in the year and made a couple plays,” said Riley. “(He) went from a WR2 or WR3 to a top two or three receiver in that league within six weeks. That can happen that fast. It’s an underrated part of your roster…We’re trying to build ourselves to win a lot of games (in) different ways (with) different people.”

Riley is using Brown’s explosion as a way to show how every Trojan should stay the course. While there are only 22 starters, opportunities arise throughout a season. That leaves the USC backups in a position where they can’t abandon what they’ve worked for. Riley wants to see improvement from his program as a whole each day. He wants to see everyone get pushed to be better when their chances come.

“You just got to look at it like everybody’s got to improve…Even though the group right now is your best group, they’ve still gotta get better. The group right now that’s your most thin or least talented group? They still got get better too. The coaches still gotta get better,” said Riley. “We can’t think all of a sudden that we’re in the season and now we just go play these games and we don’t have to keep pushing each other to get better. We need everybody to improve.”

USC won’t go far in Lincoln Riley’s first season without everyone doing their part. There’s too much new across the whole roster for everyone to not pitch in. If they take nothing else from Brown’s journey that got him to the NFL, they must learn the lesson of preparation. They won’t know when their next snap could come or how it will impact the season. If Riley’s team stays ready, though, it’ll go a long way in helping him win out west in 2022.