After USC's fifth practice of spring Thursday, coach Lincoln Riley spotlighted the impact he's seen from the Trojans' beefed-up defensive and offensive lines in what has really been the biggest overarching takeaway from the first two weeks.
"You definitely feel it. Especially the competitive periods, especially when you start running the football against that front, you do, like the gaps and the holes when you play really big teams and really strong teams everything's smaller, right?" Riley said. "Like literally space is just taken up and you kind of feel that right now with our guys, and it's a real battle at the line of scrimmage. And same thing for our defensive line facing our O-line, it's like not two featherweights going at it -- this is like two big cats in the ring that you feel the punches of each one of them.
"And I think just the depth of that. It's not just one guy here or there. I mean, collectively it's like this guy, then that guy, then that guy, we can roll multiple dudes in there and you continue to feel the same thing."
Riley also talked more in-depth on the additions of veteran defensive backs DJ Harvey and Bishop Fitzgerald, what quarterback transfer Sam Huard has shown him, his expectations for the approval of the House Settlement that will usher revenue sharing into college sports and other topics.
Watch the full interview here and scroll down for a complete transcript of Riley's comments.
What's Makai Lemon's health status?
"Nothing that would go into the fall. Lem, he had a little bit of a hamstring right before we got started. Haven’t had him full go yet. He’s getting better. Hope to have him more towards the back half of spring."
And Kilian O'Connor?
"Kilian had an injury the other day in pass rush. Most likely going to keep him out the rest of spring. But not past that. We fully expect him to be ready to go for summer, and potentially an outside chance we’ll have him this spring."
What are your expectations for the House Settlement approval and the enforcement models for revenue sharing?
"I think everybody is kind of eager to see. It’s honestly a little tough to speculate on it, on like how well it could [work]. It just depends on how well it’s constructed. We’re just in a day and age where – we’ll see. That would be great if we could get to that. But I don’t know that I’m expecting that. I don’t know that really anybody is. We’ll see what happens.
"Yeah, certainly some clarity on some things with the rosters and scholarships and all that. We’ve got a working idea of what it’s going to be like, but to actually see and know for certain will be super helpful. I think those are the big points that we’re most likely to see that affect us a great deal."
What's your biggest concern about how enforcement will work?
"It’s tough because obviously there’s a whole legal side of all that. And you’re going to need something that holds up legally, something that has enough teeth to accomplish what it needs to accomplish and is not just going to get run over with people getting sued and all of that. That’s the world those people live in. That’s why it’s been tough to find it. Obviously if we can, that would be great. Hopeful that they can make some progress."
What lessons did you take from the first year in the Big Ten?
"Really kind of on to this one to be honest. In terms of conference, it’s a good conference. It’s a fun conference to play in. There’s a challenge each and every week with just the quality of teams and just the depth of the conference. I would say going on the road in this conference is like really truly going on the road. It’s real atmospheres. It’s good teams. It’s big challenges. We’ll take a couple of internal notes on the travel. It’s heavily affected by what time you play and all that, but when you’re traveling a bit more, you pick up on a couple things you think you can do better there. And again, you guys probably get tired of hearing me say it, but in terms of lessons learned, we’re just on our climb man. We’re just growing. We’re just continuing to get better. That's not really relative to the Big Ten or anything else, but we’re just continuing to try to grow and take steps as a program, and like I said, fix the things that aren’t championship level and try to continue to enhance the things that are right now. It’s – with this now, each team is kind of so new that there’s some of the lessons that are learned, but some of the lessons are going to be different this time around. You’ve just got to be as ready for all these different challenges that are coming. That’s why you prep so hard and try to grow as a program, so you’re more ready for that year after year, and I think we’re absolutely heading in that direction."
Do you recall Sam Huard as a five-star HS recruit and what have you learned about his football journey?
"I was familiar with him. I remember coming out. I remember us evaluating him and being impressed with him at that point. But his recruitment – I can’t remember what year that was – but it never got far. But I certainly remember him. He’s done a great job. I think he’s been exactly what we – what I thought he would be. He’s very professional in his approach. He’s learned a lot of ball throughout his career. You can tell he takes that knowledge in. He can process it, and he can go out there and operate. It’s, to me, it’s like if you’re in the NFL and you go out and sign a 10-year veteran quarterback. It just kind of feels that way. You can tell why he was a highly recruited guy. He’s a talented arm, can really throw the ball, can really process. So he’s done a great job."
The feedback from recruits this cycle has been that they get a very honest and transparent pitch from your staff, what leads to that?
"It's a good thing to here. We try to be that way. We try to make a point of that. This is a big decision for them, and I think we're proud of what we have here, we're proud of the people we have, we're proud of what's here now and what's coming and all that. So it's fun to have those transparent conversations with them, and then I think certainly the additions we've made in personnel and being able to have those transparent conversations on all aspects of the decision, whether it's the football side, whether it's the business side, all of it. Yeah, we've just got a very to-the-point group. That's something that we try to pride ourselves on as a program. I want people to walk out here, whether they come to 'SC or not, I want them to walk out here with complete clarity on who we are, what this would be like, what the expectations are on both sides, what we're going to expect out of them and what they should expect out of us as a staff."
You made size a priority in the transfer portal, how can you that size making an impact?
"You definitely feel it. Especially the competitive periods, especially when you start running the football against that front, you do, like the gaps and the holes when you play really big teams and really strong teams everything's smaller, right? Like literally space is just taken up and you kind of feel that right now with our guys, and it's a real battle at the line of scrimmage. And same thing for our defensive line facing our O-line, it's like not two featherweights going at it -- this is like two big cats in the ring that you feel the punches of each one of them. And I think just the depth of that. It's not just one guy here or there. I mean, collectively it's like this guy, then that guy, then that guy, we can roll multiple dudes in there and you continue to feel the same thing."
What's stood out about DJ Harvey and Bishop Fitzgerald?
"Harvey brings a lot of energy and juice to the feel. He's a really competitive guy, you kind of feel his presence and energy every day. He's really focused on his craft. But yeah, his energy, his competitiveness, that fire, you feel the impact. Bishop's just steady. He's a steady guy, he communicates so well, another guy that you definitely feel his veteran presence like calming the group. He can go in there and operate right now like he's been there for a while, which is hard to do. So they've been two great additions."
What would it mean to you to have a running back win the Heisman?
"I'd take it. I would definitely take it. It would be phenomenal. We were close. Baker might not appreciate me saying this, but honestly the year that Bake won it, he was phenomenal, but we had a back at OU, Rodney Anderson, and if he had been healthy the first half of the season it might have been a 1-2 race. And Rodney the whole second half of the year was incredible. The really great teams have that ability to run it and have that ability to dominate people. In this league, the schedule we play, doing it at this place, one, it's amazing anytime a player can be honored with something like that -- it's a historical award -- but to me it's even bigger that award is also representative of team success and if you're doing that and you're able to be that dominant on the O-line and running the football with that type of guy then that means we probably won a bunch of ballgame so it would be incredibly special."
