Lincoln Riley details the impact, progress he's seen from Lake McRee

Lincoln Riley has brought in a lot of offensive talent into the USC room, hoping to bring some better production to Los Angeles. However, one room was plenty stacked when Riley moved out west — the tight ends. With the group being led by Lake McRee, impressions from the coaching staff have been positive for the redshirt freshman.

Two of the things standing out about McRee, according to Riley, are the tight end’s “toughness and resiliency.” McRee missed all of spring practice with an injury but since coming back in the fall, has been a competitive player for the Trojans. Riley spoke extremely highly of the youngster in his latest press conference, also complimenting his versatility.

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“Lake has done well,” Riley said. “We hated not having him in the spring. It was kind of a wild ride with him medically this spring and kid’s shown a lot of toughness and resiliency to just be back here, competing right now. I think that’s the No. 1 thing we’ve seen from here. You can kind of know what you’re going to get from him every day. There is a toughness about him. He’s a very consistent competitor. He’s still a pretty young player but he’s got a pretty versatile skillset.

“So, he’s one of the guys who have definitely taken advantage of his reps and made a move here in camp. He’s going to continue to get better and better as a player. He’s got a very good skill set. I think the one thing that stands out is his toughness and his mentality. The way he competes every single day for a young guy is pretty impressive.”

More on Lake McRee, redshirt freshman season at USC

McRee only appeared in four games (starting one against UCLA) last season for USC after being an early enrollee to the program. He caught seven passes for 91 yards but failed to get into the endzone as a true freshman. However, McRee was involved with a two-point conversion against BYU.

The tight end is also from an area Riley is familiar recruiting, coming out of Lake Travis High School in the Austin area. However, Oklahoma is not one of the schools to offer the former three-star prospect during his original recruitment.

Nonetheless, Riley seems satisfied with McRee being on his squad with USC. The head coach will be grateful to have him back healthy as the season begins, especially with other injuries at the position.