Lincoln Riley opens up on impact new defensive coaches have made

USC‘s Achilles heel since head coach Lincoln Riley‘s arrival has been their defense, failing to rank in the top half of the Pac-12 in points or yards allowed per game in the last two seasons.

But as the Trojans transition to joining the Big Ten next season, a conference where defense is at a premium, Riley has made some major changes to his defensive staff.

Various new hires and additions have been made to USC’s staff on the defensive side of the ball, and in their introductory press conference, Riley spoke on the impact that the Trojans’ new faces on defense have already had in Los Angeles.

“It’s been really really good, a lot of it’s been recruiting so I’ve had the chance to be on the road with some of those guys and even at the times when we weren’t on the road together you could feel the impact,” Riley said.

“I mean when you go hire guys like this people take notice. Recruits take notice, our current players take notice, so you can feel kind of a shot of momentum in a lot of ways that I think is exciting for everybody involved with this football program.”

USC hired D’Anton Lynn as their new defensive coordinator swiftly after the regular season, spending last season as UCLA‘s defensive coordinator and the previous nine years in various coaching roles at the NFL level.

Lynn spent time around the Trojans dating back to their bowl prep, along with other new members of the staff like secondary coach Doug Belk and linebackers coach Matt Entz. But with defensive line coach Eric Henderson joining the staff a little bit later after serving as the defensive line coach/run game coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams, USC’s defensive coaching staff has finally been able to fully coalesce.

“And then it’s been great here just the last couple of weeks to finally be able to all get in the meeting room together. With Eric, with his season going on so long with the Rams like it did, it really wasn’t until after all of the January recruiting period before we were able to actually get everybody in there in a room and start installing and going through it all,” Riley explained.

“So that part’s been great, there’s already a lot of cool synergy in that room already. A lot of very creative guys, a lot of guys from different backgrounds, and then I think coach Lynn up to this point has done a great job managing and bringing that room together.”

There’s no doubt Riley has built a dynamic staff with a wide range of experience from the NFL, FBS, and FCS levels of football. And hopefully, the wide variety of defensive minds can work together towards improving a unit that’s desperately needed help as they embark on a new conference in 2024.