Watch: USC coaches, players talk Spring Ball Day 1

The USC Trojans took to Brian Kennedy/Howard Jones Field on Tuesday afternoon to mark the official start of 2022 spring ball. Afterward, head coach Lincoln Riley and some of the offensive coaches and players spoke to the media. Here’s a look at what was said.

Lincoln Riley

Riley was animated on the field during the first day of spring ball, getting involved with various drills.

He was asked if he was tired after running around during the practice.

“I’m not tired,” Riley said. “I’ve been waiting 100 days for this. This is what we do. The way the players are responding, the staff’s come together, it energizes me, it excites me. I was so ready for this day to be here, I can’t even describe it. It was a blast and I wish we could go out and run it back right now.”

Caleb Williams

Caleb Williams will be one of the most-watched players in college football this season. His talent makes him one of the best players in the country, but many college football fans will tune in because of the attention he drew turing his transfer process in moving from Oklahoma to USC.

After so much discussion around his decision, Williams finally had an opportunity to hit the field for his first official practice as a USC Trojan.

“Cool,” Williams said. “Pretty cool to be out here finally on the football field with all these guys — coaches, players, staff, whoever else. It’s been a great day. Great day to be out here in Southern California on the practice field.”

Offensive line

Offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Josh Henson likely has the biggest job on that side of the ball this offseason. He brings back a nice collection of experienced players up front, but it’s a significant hill to climb from the past offensive scheme to the one Riley will implement. Riley’s is a run-first offense that needs an athletic, physical front in order to run it successfully.

It’s still very early in the process, but Henson was pleased with Day 1.

“I thought it went well,” Henson said. “Overall, I thought execution was pretty sharp. We’ve had some time to spend with the guys this spring, obviously, leading up to this point, installing, getting ready for this practice. But overall I thought things were pretty sharp. there’s always details. The first day there’s tons of details that you’ve got to get better at. But overall I was pleased with it.”

Returning center Brett Neilon will likely man the middle of the line once again for the Trojans. He spoke highly of the winter conditioning program, but finally getting on the field with a football and the coaching staff marks a new phase of the offseason.

“Finally cut loose and get some football in,” Neilon said. “I think everyone was pretty excited. A little nervous, but it went really well and we played with high energy. Just the start of something great.”

Running backs

USC has just three scholarship running backs available for spring practice. All three transferred in from other schools and have been at USC for less than a full year. This also marked the first USC practice for running backs coach Kiel McDonald. USC might still be a little new for all of them, but McDonald said he understands what’s expected of Trojan tailbacks.

“I know the standard,” McDonald said. “That’s for sure. We want to be able to recruit the guys to this program that are going to be able to represent that standard to the fullest. It’s important to us and we’re going to get there.”

Austin Jones came over from Stanford this offseason and he looked forward to getting going with the Trojans.

“It adds a lot of excitement,” Jones said of getting spring ball started. “With the talent and everything, seeing what we’re doing here, seeing what we’re trying to build. It adds a lot of excitement to practice. Everybody has a chip on their shoulder. We can’t come out here and half-step. We have to come out here and put it all together and just have fun with it.”

Wide receivers

The wide receivers will get plenty of attention this spring as the Trojans look to replace the dominant production of Drake London from last season.

Mario Williams is one of the incoming transfers expected to produce immediately for the Trojans. He caught 35 passes as a true freshman at Oklahoma this past fall and the opportunity to do even more with the Trojans awaits. He was all smiles following his first spring ball practice at USC.

“Great,” Williams said when asked how it went. “Nice weather, got my quarterback out here, new team, ready to compete. Just ready.”