USC held it fifth practice of fall camp Wednesday morning, while it was the second practice media was able to watch the first 15 minutes of while talking to coach Lincoln Riley and players afterward.
Riley talked about linebacker Raesjon Davis' hand injury and timeline for a return later in camp, Davis' overall growth this year as a junior, sophomore cornerback Domani Jackson's development and the cornerback competition as a whole, and early impressions of freshmen safety Christian Pierce and freshman rush end Braylan Shelby.
Watch the full interview below or scroll down for a complete transcript of Riley's comments.
Raesjon Davis looked banged up today, what is his status?
"Yeah, he had a hand injury first or second day of camp, very early, so he'll be out for just a couple of days. We'll get him back here the second half of camp. He's starting to get now where he can move around and get some activity on it. He's done very well. He had a really good summer, had a good stretch of plays even before he got injured. Feels like a guy that's -- I know we talked about it some -- but he feels like a guy that's starting to surge. Like, he's in the best shape by far of his life. His body is much more developed than where he was when we came in. He's stronger, faster, a little more confident. He knows the schemes really well. He's really become, I think, one of our better coverage linebackers, just in terms of kind of his athleticism on the field in space. We fully expect him to push, and what we saw early on in camp suggests nothing different."
How's the team's health overall so far?
"We're pretty good. Yeah, nothing major. I mean, your typical ... we're five practices in, we've been pretty heavy on the full pad days so we've got a lot of competitive reps. Nothing that we think is going to be any extended period of time. We've got a few guys with some nicks, we had a few nicks coming in, some soft tissues [for] guys that are almost ready to go -- Bear, Fegans, a couple of those guys that we're obviously really excited to see. They're close. We've had a couple normal nicks throughout camp, but nothing overly serious, nothing that really scares you in terms of availability for the season, so health is so far, so good."
