Linebacker Eric Gentry greeted the gaggle of media standing outside the tunnel from USC's locker room as he headed out to the field for the Trojans' first spring practice Tuesday.

Not getting the response he wanted, Gentry stopped, turned around and repeated himself -- "Good afternoon!"

Quarterback Jayden Maiava, meanwhile, opened his post-practice interview with a "Happy New Year" -- a new year for Trojans football, that is, as the start of spring ball is the ceremonial launch in a way.

After two down seasons, including a 7-6 finish last year, there is buoyed optimism for the future within the fan base in a variety of regards -- from the revamped recruiting department that has already delivered immediate returns with the No. 1-ranked 2026 recruiting class in the country so far, to the new Trojans football facility taking shape as the backdrop to these spring practices, to the return of defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn (after a push from his alma mater Penn State to pry him away) and a bulked-up defensive line, etc.

Of course, spring is always about optimism. There are no games to humble expectations or reset perspectives -- just projection, storylines about players coming back more experienced and confident, etc.

There are also questions -- plenty of questions -- for a team that loses three starters on the offensive line, its first 1,000-yard rusher in seven seasons and a bunch of high-profile receiving depth while recommitting to quarterback Jayden Maiava after an up-and-down four-game audition late last season, and a defense that is thin on depth at linebacker, largely starting over in the secondary and hoping a pair of SEC defensive tackle transfers and five-star freshman edge rusher Jahkeem Stewart make all the difference up front.

Wide receiver Jay Fair summed up the overall mindset for a team looking to truly turn the page after enduring one crushing setback after another last season despite leading in the fourth quarter of all but one game.

"You're going to go through rough stretches, you're going to go through hard times, but you've got to learn from it, you've got to apply it to the guys that come in because they weren't here last season, they don't know what we went through," he said. "... So I think it's very important you tell the young guys, 'Hey look, this is what we went through last year so we're coming in here, we're not joking around. We've got work to be done, we've got games to win.'"

And for our TrojanSports.com audience, we have storylines abound to break down and seek clarity on over the next month. There won't be a spring game this year, and media are limited to watching stretching and a couple position drills twice a week, but a lot can be gleaned in that time nonetheless -- and especially in interviews along the way.

So we'll parse every observation, takeaway, newsy nugget and good soundbite we can from each practice here.

These breakdowns will be in-depth and detailed, so you'll want to carve out some time to digest it all.

That's enough preamble, let's get right into it -- here's what we took away from the first practice Tuesday ...

RELATED: Everything Lincoln Riley said after USC's first spring practice | WATCH: Video interviews with USC players Tuesday | Photo gallery from first spring practice

Lincoln Riley said on Trojans Live on Monday that one of the biggest things he wanted to see from quarterback Jayden Maiava is for the returning starter to tap into his natural leadership abilities more.

That could very well be said by every coach about their quarterback across the country, of course, but in the case of Maiava it resonates a little more.

He's a naturally introverted, soft-spoken guy now tasked with being the fulcrum of leadership for this team as the starting quarterback position demands.

"Yeah, I mean I think there's a lot of next steps for him. He did a lot of great things for us in his four starts last year, made a lot of big plays for us. We were 3-1 when he played and gave us a chance to win all four of them. I think the big things for him are going to be continuing to find his voice as a leader because he does have some natural leadership skills that are really there, continuing to learn our offense better, and then I think the big thing is eliminating those one or two big negative plays a game," Riley said.

We'll get more into the tangibles in a moment, but even before Riley emphasized the challenge for Maiava to become more of an outward leader it was one of my biggest curiosities about the quarterback entering this year -- could he find his comfort level in that role?

All we can go on so far are the comments from Riley and his teammates about how that's going ...

"I think he’s more confident in himself as a player, his ability to execute our offense. He’s more confident in the relationships he’s built with his teammates," Riley said. "It was a unique situation last year. You come in toward the end of the year and you become the starter, that’s a tricky position to be in, and I thought he handled it really well. But you certainly seem him just more confident, more assertive as a leader and a player now. That’s what we need him to be."

Here were the notable comments that his teammates said on that topic ...

WR Jay Fair: "He's really grown into that role and embraced it and I'm excited to see what he's going to do this year. He's made it an emphasis to let his voice be heard. Just having more demanding command within the offense and in workouts -- if you feel the energy level is low, 'Let's go, pick it up.' Which is something that's not easy for everybody. Some guys are just more, 'Hey, I'm going to do the right thing and you follow me,' but him being a quarterback and kind of embracing that and taking this team and turning it into what we want it to be, which is a championship team, he's done a great job."

TE Walker Lyons: "Jayden has been super, super helpful for me but for everyone as well. He is very much a leader for our team and that helps us a lot. He's definitely stepped into more of a leadership role, more vocal ... It's huge for our team having that guy going into the spring now."

LT Elijah Paige: "He's definitely gotten more vocal. When he first got here he was a newer guy, obviously, so he wasn't going to be talking and yelling and all that, but now he's more vocal. Just bringing guys along. The offseason workouts, we just got done with that, so bringing guys along and making sure everybody's up to standard."

RT Tobias Raymond: "He's talking a lot, and when we get in the huddle he's being very vocal and bringing guys along and trying to pull them to where we need to be."

For his part, Maiava was more candid than usual in talking after practice Tuesday and acknowledging that he did need last year to just settle in with the program and find his place.

"I came in last year and I was kind of lost in some ways, but I definitely found my way being able to connect with these coaches," he said. "These coaches have been a huge help for me, so I've been more intentful in everything I do. ... I definitely, I feel better about this year. I really like this team."

As for the tangibles and cleaning up some the ball-protection/decision-making issues that he struggled with at times, Maiava said he spent "countless hours" in the film room breaking down his film from that extended audition late last season -- in which he passed for 1,135 yards, 11 touchdowns and 6 interceptions (including 3 pick-6s) while also rushing for three scores in those four starts.

"I was a little happy feet when I got thrown in, but being able to go and reflect and have the film and being able to watch that and just come out here and translate that and get better," he said.

Aside from becoming a more outward leader, the other challenge for Maiava this year is balance -- in a couple of ways.

Balance in terms of cleaning up those mistakes but not loses the aggressive confidence that defines his game in a positive way -- like how he was able to shake off a brutal first half in the Las Vegas Bowl and be a major reason the Trojans rallied back to beat Texas A&M.

"If you can go eliminate those [turnovers] from his starts the guy played off the charts. But that's part of great quarterbacking is knowing when can I be aggressive, when not, how can I avoid those but not become conservative because we don't want him to play that way either," Riley said. "He's a hard worker, he's progressed, I feel like, in terms of the time he's invested in the offseason and excited to watch him."

The other balance Riley wants Maiava to find is within himself ...

"You hear the term that someone is their own toughest critic, and he’s a guy who sometimes, he can almost overdo it. He’s not one that you worry about getting complacent. Or not wanting to work on the areas he knows he wants to attack and put in the necessary time and effort. For him, it’s more, don’t be so hard on yourself. We’ll be plenty hard enough on you," Riley said. "Make sure you give yourself credit for the big-time plays you have made and the progress you have made as well. So for him, it’s a little bit that balance.

"He naturally has that ability to really be critical of himself, to really put everything he can into the areas he [needs to]. ... He’s a driven worker, and he wants to play a lot better for us than he did last year. And he played pretty darn good. So that’s a pretty good sign."

Said Maiava: "I do have a problem sometimes being so hard on myself, but I've got to have that next snap mentality and flush everything. If I hold onto it, if I keep doing bad and criticizing me into the next play it's going to affect the team in bad ways so I definitely don't want to do that. I just want to help the team win."

There doesn't seem to be much doubt that Maiava will be USC's starting quarterback when the season opens in five months or so, but there is an intriguing competition still to play out between true freshman Husan Longstreet and veteran transfer Sam Huard as to which QB might push Maiava and keep the pressure on him as the backup this fall.

There's a long way to go on that front, but it was certainly notable the high praise Riley had for Longstreet -- the Rivals100 prospect out of Corona Centennial HS.

"Husan is further ahead than most freshman at this time," Riley said. "I mean, the advantage of being able to come in for a little bit of the bowl practice, to be in some of those meetings, to set up where this wasn't his first actual college practice today was pretty cool. And then he did a great job of taking advantage of being a local guy, and he was here as much as the rules would allow. He came to a lot of meetings, came to a lot of practices on his own time, on his own dime. And it's paid off because he's way further ahead than most guys would be at this age.

"So his ability to communicate and manage the group right now as a young guy is pretty impressive."

As for Huard, a former five-star prospect who spent two years on the bench at Washington, got experience playing at the FCS level for Cal Poly in 2023 and then spent last season sidelined with injury at Utah, he's an intriguing addition as a QB with a lot of natural talent that just hasn't been fully tapped into yet.

And at USC, he will now be coached by his uncle, QBs coach Luke Huard.

"If he can overcome getting coached by his uncle, he's got a shot," Riley joked. "Sam is, you can tell, he's just a football guy, right? You can tell it's what he grew up around. You can tell that he's been in college football, that he's had to learn systems. Like, he just picks stuff up and communicates effortlessly, which is what we expected and hoped to get out of him. So, fun room to coach right now."

Riley has made it clear the staff has no preconceived notions of how the offensive line is going to shake out come the fall, but he means that in a good way.

"I feel good. It's one of those that could play out a lot of different ways right now. You've got a couple of guys certainly in Alani [Noa] with the way he played at the end of the year and then obviously [Elijah] Paige that you feel like are guys that are going to handle that left tackle and right guard spot. And then after that, it's kind of a toss up, to be honest," Riley said. "There will be a lot of competition within the room. We have probably more guys right now that can play multiple positions than what we've had, we probably have more depth than what we've had, we have a few more centers than what we've had.

"So I'm excited about the room, excited about the competition, the new guys that we've brought in I think have brought some experience and added to the group. And then some of the guys that were able to play at the end of the year, play in the A&M game like Tobias [Raymond] and Justin [Tauanuu] and those guys, Kilian [O'Connor] showed us some things that we were pretty excited about leading into this offseason."

Our first takeaway from those comments is the indication that the staff wants to keep Noa at right guard rather than move him to the left side to replace standout Emmanuel Pregnon, who transferred to Oregon.

We went deeper into the OL picture earlier this week here, but it would be a surprise if Purdue transfer DJ Wingfield didn't start at the other guard spot (which sounds like it would be left guard) and if Syracuse transfer J'Onre Reed isn't the starting center. But the staff has such respect for former walk-on Kilian O'Connor, who started at center in the bowl game, played well and was rewarded with a scholarship this offseason, so they'll let him compete for that job.

Meanwhile, the main competition would seem to be at right tackle with redshirt sophomore Tobias Raymond (who started there in the bowl game) and redshirt freshman Justin Tauanuu (who played the majority of left tackle snaps in the bowl game when Paige was injured).

All we can do is guess and project at that spot for now, but two comments from players about the O-line in general really grabbed our attention Tuesday.

"The O-line has really impressed me as a unit. They more so than anyone else have had such a determination and such drive with this winter," Lyons, the second-year tight end said. "They've been meeting so much extra and I think they've just taken such a big leadership role for our whole team, so I think they've really impressed me."

Said running back Bryan Jackson: "We're just fine on the O-line. Trust me, we're going to be just fine, for sure."

You wouldn't expect to hear negative comments, but those don't seem like boilerplate puff praise -- there was some conviction in those quotes that is notable.

As for that right tackle competition, Raymond was one of the players who talked with media after practice. He really has come a long way in his development, from being a lean and raw three-star prospect to now a well-built 6-foot-6, 315-pound redshirt sophomore.

"It's weird to say I'm on my third year. I feel it went by fast, but it's definitely a different role because I'm one of the older guys now, which is nice but it's weird at times to realize that there's not many guys older than me now," he said. "Elijah and Kilian and I try to step in as much as we can, but Elijah and Kilian have done a great job of talking and bringing people along and keeping them working the right way."

Raymond got two notable opportunities last season, playing 45 snaps off the bench in the loss at Michigan (allowing 4 QB pressures with a sack) and then playing all 74 snaps against Texas A&M in the bowl game win (allowing 3 pressures, 0 sacks).

"The biggest thing I tried to work on was slowing the game down. That's still something I'm going to keep working on, but mentally getting the plays down and knowing what comes out of what different looks and really just slowing the game down so I can be more physical," Raymond said. "... It's always fun playing football with your guys, but when you're competing for a spot, it's way different."

USC's left tackle looks a lot different this season -- it's still Paige, but he showed up for spring practice with a close-cropped haircut after having some of the longest hair on the team the last two years.

"Just tired of taking care of it and spring ball started, so just a fresh start," he explained. "I started growing it out during Covid in 2020. I trimmed it a couple of times. Jadyn Walker, our linebacker, he cut it. He cuts hair, so I sat in his barber chair for 30 minutes and talked to him about it. It took me a while."

For reference, this was Paige last season ...