More praise for USC's MarShawn Lloyd, Tahj Washington

USC is going to get a bunch of production from a bunch of different skill players this season. Four Trojans have between eight and 16 rushing attempts through two games. Eight players have between four and six receptions. Within that group, running back MarShawn Lloyd and wide receiver Tahj Washington posted strong performances against Nevada and will be featured players for USC throughout the rest of the season.

Lincoln Riley, in an appearance on the Trojans Live radio show, spoke about what makes each one special. He opened by saying Lloyd was the offensive player of the game for the Trojans against the Wolf Pack. It was the performance many expected to see from Lloyd after he came over this offseason as a transfer from South Carolina. A highly-touted recruit out of high school, Lloyd has always been incredibly talented. He’s dealt with some injuries throughout his career, but the combination of speed, size and agility can make him special.

He got off to a slow start against San Jose State in the opener. There were no explosive plays in the first half. Lloyd said this week he felt he was pushing and got some coaching advice to slow down. He added that while he does have experience at this level, he missed four of the final five games of the 2022 season and was feeling anxious to get back on the field. Riley and Lloyd agreed that he seemed to get more settled in that second half. In this one, there was no adjustment period. Lloyd took his first touch for a 30-yard gain and added a 25-yard touchdown run and 54-yard catch and run.

“He played, I thought, much more in control this game,” Riley said. “And then you see once he gets out in the open field and cuts it loose, there’s some unique explosion.”

One of Lloyd’s standout plays from that game didn’t come with the ball in his hands. One one of Washington’s touchdown receptions, Lloyd went in motion to the right side of the field as the Trojans gave a look of a screen to that side. Instead, Caleb Williams looked left and then found Washington all by himself in the middle of the field. When Washington caught the ball, Lloyd was along the sideline, several yards behind the line of scrimmage. The running back quickly sprinted upfield and got between Washington and two Nevada defenders to provide a key block on the scoring play.

“The high-effort plays,” Riley said. “I mean, that’s what wins. And a guy like that to be playing as hard as he is, you can tell how bad he wants to win and how bad he wants to compete.”

Team-first for Trojans’ Tahj Washington

Washington was a holdover when Riley arrived at USC. But it didn’t take long to realize he was going to fit in Riley’s offense. Washington caught four passes in the 2022 season-opener and finished the year with three 100-yard performances and six touchdowns in the final seven games.

On the heels of glowing praise from Trojans’ quarterback Miller Moss, Riley added plenty more about Washington.

“He’s one of the most unselfish players that I’ve ever coached,” Riley said. “He just comes to work every single day. He’s really competitive. There’s no job too big and no job too small. And he’s just, he’s tremendous. I mean, he really is. He’s a great special teams player. He’s a great blocker. He’s really focused. He’s really worked hard at his craft. There was a laundry list of things when we got here to evaluate him that we knew he needed to improve on quickly. And we laid those out for him in the plan and then he just takes it and runs with it. And he’s one of those guys, not once has he ever come to my office saying, ‘Can I get more plays? Can I get more touches? Can I get more of this, more of that?’ He just goes and works. And he’ll have the same look on his face after the game if he played 20 snaps and caught two balls or if he played 80 snaps and caught 12 balls. That’s just him. And so I think there’s a lot of trust from us as coaches, from his teammates, and with that has come opportunities. And he continues to make the most of them.”

Washington leads USC with 160 receiving yards and three touchdowns through two games. He’s averaging 32 yards per grab thanks to 76 and 45-yard touchdown connections with Williams.