USC is closing in on the end of spring ball this week with now just one practice to go. That means it will soon be time for Lincoln Riley and his staff to spend time evaluating where the Trojans made progress over the last month and what needs to be in focus heading into summer workouts.

The USC head coach was asked about a number of positions Thursday after the Trojans wrapped up their 14th day of work on the practice field, and he provided his thoughts on some key positions for the team in the final week.

Watch Riley's full post-practice interview and scroll down for a complete transcript of his comments ...

CHRISTIAN PIERCE NOT OUT THERE?

Small little injury thing. He had a doctor’s appointment this afternoon that caused him to miss. He wouldn’t have been able to go full-go. Nothing serious, but he won’t be able to go the rest of spring.

ERIC GENTRY’S NEXT STEP?

He’s done well. I think he’s really taken to Rob’s style of coaching. You know, you can tell it’s his second year in the defense. He’s been consistent, vocal, energetic. You know, he’s always had the ability to make really spectacular plays. I think the consistency for him is just climbing more and more, and this spring, there’s been a lot of that. There’s the impactful plays, but even his plays that aren’t his best are still pretyrt decent. You can still compete, still win with that. That’s when guys become really good players. I’ve talked to you guys about it. The casual fan thinks it’s how many great players are they making. But really, it’s how bad are their bad plays? Can you survive their bad plays? Really great players, you can survive their bad plays and their good ones are really good. He’s definitely trending that way. So you just see, I just think h’es continuing to grow. In this last year, a lot of times it just hits guys different. This is their last opportunity, and I feel like he’s really invested himself right now in making the most of it. He’s healthy. He’s confident. He’s put on a lot of weight. He’s in the best place he’s ever been in his time here at SC.

THOUGHTS ON YOUNGER DL?

All very talented, all certainly have the ability to impact this team, our defensive line, this year. Floyd really came out of the gates strong, was limited in the middle of spring, but it’s going back again now. We’ve been really pleased with Floyd, his explosiveness, how quickly he’s caught onto our system. I would say a lot of the same things about Jahkeem. Jahkeem has been able to stay on the field the entire time. He’s improved quickly. His natural ability is very apparent. And he’s learning more and more – I think the technique of it and certainly what we’re doing schematically, it just cleans up every day. Been impressive to see, especially with him being really a year younger than all these guys. The fact that he can physically go out here and hold his own with anybody, that’s pretty hard to do when you should be a junior in high school right now. Cash has done a good job. Cash, really, in the past week has really started to come on. You see his confidence growing, see some individually really good reps. He’s got a lot of talent. Again, another guy that’s continuing to adjust to the physicality consistently on our practice field right now, but is going to be a great player. All three of those guys have come in here and done a nice job for us.

RIGHT TACKLE?

I mean, Tobias, Justin, those are two right tackles we feel like we can win with right now. I feel like our top three tackles right now have really separated themselves, obviously with adding Paige to that group. Those three guys right now are clearly the best tackles. And then that’ll be a big focus point in summer and fall camp. Who’s the fourth? Who’s the fifth? Where’s that depth come from? Some of the young guys, are they ready to step up? Are there guys that have position flex that have to bounce back and forth for us? That’ll certainly be a big question. But all three of those guys have had really good springs. They’ve stayed healthy. They’ve stayed on the field. They’re all stronger from the offseason. They’ve all really improved and done a nice job.

SENSE OF TEAM’S PERSONALITY?

Starting to figure it out more, probably even more than some of these springs because less of our team was here in previous springs. I definitely have a feel for it. I’m trying to think in a few words, a short answer how to explain it. It’s a very together team right now. There’s a lot of back and forth on the field. There seems to be a real genuine just kind of bond with these guys right now that’s fun to see. It’s a high energy team. THere’s a lot of energy. There’s a lot of kind of young, and in some ways unproven leadership, but I think very talented – and I think gonna be very effective – leadership that’s been brewing on this team. So it’s been good. Ipring has flown by for us. Practice has been fun. These guys don’t like when we blow the horn at the end. I think they’ve really – I sense this team is really listening to the things we’re stressing, to the things we’re trying to teach them. We don’t do certainly everything perfect right now by any stretch, but I do feel like when we go stand in front of the team and say, ‘We have to do this better, this is important,’ you feel like the team then takes that and it becomes important to them and you see concerted efforts to really attack those things. As a coach that makes you excited because it’s like, let’s put the right things in front of these guys because they want to be great, they want to be coached hard, they want to be pushed. I would say the group collectively, you really feel that.

YOUNG LEADERSHIP SURPRISE YOU?

I dont know if surprised is the right word. I’m excited to see it. You felt like there were some really good potential leaders in this group. We’ve been probably a little bit slower to kind of name or single out those guys here, compared to recent years, because I wanted this thing to come together a little bit more organically. Didn’t want to preset the leader. It was who really rises to the top and takes hold of it. It’s been fun to see. There have been some people we expected and up to this point a few that wouldn’t have been the first names you called out but who stepped forwardand really assumed that role. That obviously will evolve through the summer and all that, but it’s intriguing, it’s encouraging.

LEARN ABOUT THE QB ROOM IN SPRING?

It’s a room that we expect to be the best in college football, year in and year out. That’s just our expectation for that room. To do that you need multiple guys that can run the offense, that can execute, that can lead. So we really worked hard on the depth in that room. Obviously added a couple new faces in there, and I think the room has bonded together well right now. Maybe since we first got here, it might be one of the closest QB rooms we’ve had right now. And that’s good because they’re pushing each other, they’re working hard, and yeah, it’s a good mix. It’s kind of Jayden in the middle in terms of experience, Sam has obviously played a lot of college ball and seen a lot. Husan, you know, Husan is just kind of getting thrown into it right now. But they all bring some unique things to the table. They all certainly can move the offense, and this spring, there’s been no question about that. It’s been good to see.