Report: USC to hire former Big 12 offensive line coach

Lincoln Riley’s staff is coming together at USC. It sounds like a former Big 12 assistant could be headed to Los Angeles with him.

Brandon Jones, who currently works as the offensive line coach at Houston, is expected to join Riley at USC, according to John Brice of FootballScoop.

Jones started his coaching career at his alma mater, Texas Tech, in 2007 as an offensive assistant. He then spent a year at Sam Houston State before going to East Carolina as the offensive line coach from 2010-14.

But he’s no stranger to the west coast. Jones worked as the run game coordinator and offensive line coach at Cal from 2014-15 before going back to Texas Tech from 2017-18. He joined Houston in 2019 as co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach and has been there since.

Riley was hired as USC’s head coach last month after five years at Oklahoma. He had a 55-10 record during that time, including a 10-2 record this season. His departure kicked off a wild coaching carousel and led to Brent Venables coming back to Oklahoma.

USC, Lincoln Riley expected to retain interim head coach Donte Williams

USC interim head coach Donte Williams will no longer be at the helm of the program, as the Trojans recently brought in Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma. But the Trojans are expected to retain Williams as a part of Riley’s staff, according to a report from WeAreSC’s Erik McKinney.

Williams’ fate at USC has largely been overshadowed in the past several weeks due to the Trojans making one of the biggest head coach hirings in recent memory. USC managed to scoop up Riley just a day after the Oklahoma Sooners lost to Oklahoma State during rivalry week; Riley amassed a 55-10 overall record and a 37-7 mark in conference play at Oklahoma, leading the Sooners to four College Football Playoff appearances. However, Williams’ future became a bit more clear on Sunday, as McKinney reported that “Williams is on campus and recruiting as part of USC’s big official visit weekend heading into Wednesday’s early signing day.”

Williams was named USC’s interim head coach early in the 2021 season, after Clay Helton was fired in his seventh season at the helm. At just 39 years old, he was hired as USC’s secondary coach in 2020, then quickly promoted to associate head coach before 2021, and came to USC after holding stints coaching secondary positions at Oregon, Nebraska, Arizona and San Jose State. Williams is seen as an up-and-coming coach in the college football realm, and before the season he even cracked Matt Zenitz’s list of 50 rising star position coaches in the country.