Lincoln Riley tells incredible story that illustrates the toughness of Tuasivi Nomura

The identity of Lincoln Riley’s team heading into his first season as USC‘s head coach was a question mark, as his roster comprised largely of transfer portal additions was headlined by flashy names like Caleb Williams, Jordan Addison, and Travis Dye. Riley’s offensive three-headed monster has performed well this season, but role players like linebacker Tuasivi Nomura have also made their mark on the Trojans team this year.

“He’s been really good, he’s one of our toughest, most physical players on the football team,” Riley said. “You feel his physicality, and his speed, and his decisiveness on the field, and another guy whose emergence on special teams and defense has been very important.”

Nomura is hard not to notice when watching USC games, with long hair flowing out of the back of his helmet and a high motor that any coach would want out of a player. Riley spoke more on his toughness as he shared a story about an injury Nomura sustained in their week 3 game versus Fresno State.

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“And then he’s been a guy who’s played through some pretty tough stuff that not a lot of people would play through earlier in the season which is pretty impressive. He’s about as tough as they come, tough to remember what game it was maybe Fresno I think, Fresno he broke his finger during the middle of a play. Actually compound, like bones sticking out,” Riley said.

Any injury of that grade would send more players straight to the side line for medical attention, but Nomura is not most players.

“Didn’t tell anybody, played three more plays with the bone sticking out of the finger, he did it was unbelievable,” Riley said still showing a level of surprise. “And played well, had two tackles and finally comes over and tells somebody, we couldn’t tell obviously from the sideline, I mean he stayed out there and played. So tells you about his toughness and how much he wants to do well for this team, pretty cool.”

Nomura’s 12 tackles on the season may seem underwhelming, but it’s clear his effort, physicality, and toughness are intangibles that carry a lot of weight in the eyes of the Trojan’s team and coaching staff.

The Trojans are looking to bounce back from their first loss of the season coming off of their bye week, as they face Arizona on the road this Saturday at 7:00 p.m.