Kyle Ford on the Big Relief of Having a Fully Healthy Spring

If USC fans could guarantee perfect health for one Trojan during the 2022 fall season, wide receiver Kyle Ford would likely get consideration from many. He’s entering his fourth year at USC and has yet to be fully healthy for any of the previous three. And that’s in addition to an ACL tear ending his senior high school season prematurely. That injury limited him to just four games in 2019. His entire 2020 season was wiped out by an ACL tear suffered over the summer. The 2021 season was the healthiest he’s been at USC. But he still missed three full games with a sprained knee and was limited during spring ball.

That hasn’t been the case for Ford this year. The veteran receiver joined The Victory Podcast with USC Team Reporter Keely Eure late last week and talked about his health situation and starting a new chapter under Lincoln Riley.

“It’s a big relief,” Ford said of being healthy all spring. “Over the years I just had a tough go with a couple things that just didn’t go my way at the right time. But now I think it all worked out perfectly.”

There was a big hole at the wide receiver spot this spring with Drake London off to the Atlanta Falcons. Ford was one of the returning players looking to step up and earn more playing time.

“I think it was just great to put a good spring together,” he said. “It’s always good to put a good stretch of things and feel like you came out better and you accomplished what you wanted to do…I set some goals and I hit most of them, especially towards the middle of camp I felt a lot better going through some things. And honestly working out and getting comfortable with the system, I feel a lot better, especially towards the end of camp.”

Ford is coming off a 2021 season in which he posted 19 receptions for 252 yards and two touchdowns.

Spring Game Standout

Ford said one of the things he focused on this spring was gaining yards after the catch.

“I would catch everything, but I’d be on the ground,” he said.

Ford added that wide receivers coach Dennis Simmons wanted him to stay on his feet and get extra yards.

“I started to excel at the end, especially in the spring game,” Ford said, referring to a 48-yard catch-and-run touchdown from quarterback Miller Moss. “I caught it and I actually ran a little bit, so I wasn’t on the ground as much. We just kind of laughed about it after. And I feel like that was the biggest thing. I feel like spring was a good top-it-off moment for me.”

Ford wasn’t laughing heading into the spring game. He knew it was a big deal to be able to showcase himself in front of fans and new coaches, and also take pride in putting together a solid spring performance.

Meshing With Simmons

Most returning players have new position coaches this season and spring was an opportunity to get to understand their coaching styles. The wide receivers spoke highly of Simmons this spring and Ford again backed that up.

“I really like the way he coaches us,” Ford said. “He cares about us but he’s also really hard on us. And I think that’s the biggest thing that I really appreciate.”

Ford Gets Back on the Field

Ford is finding a silver lining in all of his injuries. The 2020 ACL injury took him out of the Covid-shortened season. And if a player had to miss a season, that was probably the one to do it. Now, Ford uses the injury history to better prepare himself going forward. He said getting his knees warmed up to where he can compete at a high level required him to starting waking up and warming up a little earlier than the rest of his teammates. And he does so with a purpose.

“It’s made me really take care of my body more,” Ford said. “I really can’t complain about it…You just have to do things a little differently and in a better way. I think I should be warming up. I think I should be stretching extra before I go and do that…And I think I should have been doing that in the first place.”

Now he has his sights set on what will be a tremendous competition for playing time at wide receiver and keeping that full health into fall camp.

“If I feel as good as I can, I will be great,” Ford said of what he’s working on now. “Just a couple of things in terms of my route running and a couple releases. My hands. And stay healthy.”

Any receiver who carves out significant playing time in this room will have earned it. This is a loaded, talented position. But Ford has flashed whenever he’s been healthy. There’s a reason he was a top recruit in the 2019 class. And that big 6-foot-3, 220-pound frame gives him something the other receivers don’t have.

“If I do me, I’ll be fine,” he said. “It’s always been enough..If I just do me, I’m happy. I don’t want to do things that aren’t me. If I do me, it’s plenty. I’ve kind of figured that out as I’ve grown older and a little more mature…Don’t try to be someone else and don’t try to outdo yourself.”

Fore-d

Ford said he’s traded basketball for golf when it comes to non-football activities. It’s easier on his knees and he also likes how the mental aspect of it relates back to football.

“Mess up one time, you walk up to the ball and you have to reset,” Ford said. “It’s the same thing. You drop a ball, you walk up to the line and you have to reset. It’s the next-play type of thing.”