In talking with reporters after practice Tuesday, USC coach Lincoln Riley shared some thoughts on opening up with the marquee matchup against No. 13-ranked LSU, thoughts on the Tigers' new defensive coordinator Blake Baker, tough depth chart decisions, the USC pass rush, a change to how he'll handle team captains this year and more.
Watch the full interview here and scroll down for a complete transcript of Riley's comments.
In the end, which was the hardest position battle to sort out and settle the depth chart for Week 1?
"There was a lot of tough ones. There's several that -- I won't say several, we've got a few that we're certainly going to play multiple people at, see how the game goes. But there's several guys out here we feel have earned the right to go out there and play. We've had some tough decisions. We had tough decisions, we talked about the quarterback battle. I think certainly kind of just divvying up the reps between the running backs -- a lot of those guys have really had productive camps. The receivers are competitive. Certainly, the interior of the O-line has been very competitive. D-line, especially the interior, has been very competitive. Gosh, I mean honestly, it's kind of hard -- I guess I'm going to get to every position on the team here pretty soon. And that's a good thing. So yeah, we've got a lot of guys at every position that we want to play, that we want to see. Obviously, these guys go compete and I'm sure we'll continue to evaluate throughout the season."
There's a lot of similarities between you all and LSU, but how do you go about preparing for a team with a new DC, new QB, etc.?
"Yeah, it feels like a lot of these the last few years with quarterbacks either graduating or transferring or doing all that they do and obviously all the coaching turnover the last several years, it feels like more of the first games have been like this where you feel like you watch people, but you feel like, all right, we're not maybe seeing exactly what it's going to be. Or if you're having to watch a different opponent or a player from a different school or a coach from a different school. It is what it is. Like I said last night on the show, there's parts of it that, yeah, sometimes you wish you were sitting there watching the people you're going to play do exactly what they're going to do or at least run their system. But then the flip side of it is, it's their first game in a lot of areas too. It's going to be ours in some, so yeah, you've got to make the most of it, you've got to be ready to adjust in first games. Because even if it's the same system people are going to have made adjustments, they're going to change and evolve throughout the year. And then obviously, you add in all the technology changes, and that's just a whole other layer of adjustments that will be fun."
