Football season is officially here and that means Lincoln Riley will be on Trojans Live every Monday talking about his team and looking ahead to the next game.
Riley made his season debut on the in-house radio/YouTube show, talking about the season-opener with LSU, some early thoughts on the matchup with the Tigers and a lot of USC storylines -- like the defensive line, the sophomore receivers and much more.
Watch the full interview here and scroll down for a complete transcript of Riley's comments.
How has your summer been?
Lincoln Riley: "It's been good. We're ready to hit somebody else. I know we always say this the beginning of the year, but not having preseason games, not having joint practices or scrimmages, anything like that, college football is so unique. It's, you know, you practice essentially for a month and then you finally get to go play, then it's for real, but it's been good. Camp's been great getting the new coaches acclimated, the new players, seeing the whole team get together. Being able to use our new practice facility, which has been tremendous. So it's been a great camp. We're healthy, we're excited. Glad that game week is finally here and certainly can't wait for Sunday in Vegas."
How do you reflect on the quarterback competition?
LR: "I thought both Miller and Jayden Maiava did a great job. Jayden, as we all felt he would, he made a big jump in spring. Certainly just learning the system and getting comfortable, you saw him start to make some plays and really settle in. But Miller won the job. I mean, he did, he did a great job leading. He's continued to improve as a player. Despite Jayden really making a great push, it was still pretty clear to us that this was Miller's job and he had earned it. And I think the team felt the same way. So, excited because I think competition like that, as you guys know, it pushes you in a way that you can't push yourself. It just does. There's just something about it. And so I think it made Miller better, and it certainly gave us a lot of confidence in Jayden if the situation arises where he's going to go in there and play meaningful snaps and we can go still execute at a high level. So I loved the competition, the guys who handled it well, approached it well, and excited for Miller to certainly get his chance."
