USC coach Lincoln Riley preempted any questions about defensive tackle Bear Alexander's decision to sit out the rest of the season, opening his weekly Thursday morning Zoom call with a statement.
"I know you all saw the surprising news from yesterday. Not going to be taking any of those internal matters and discussing. Not going to take any questions on the subject," Riley said. "We’re fired up for the guys that we have that are playing. Excited about our Big Ten home opener against a really good Wisconsin team. And we’ll be excited to discuss that with you all today."
Riley did talk about the defensive line depth, however, the development of freshman DT Jide Abasiri, more on the offensive line struggles and where the unit goes from here, linebacker Eric Gentry's impact, going against former defensive coordinator Alex Grinch this week as Grinch is now the safeties coach and co-DC at Wisconsin, and much more.
Watch the interview here and scroll down for a complete transcript of Riley's comments.
Opening comments ...
"All right, good morning, everybody. I know you all saw the surprising news from yesterday. Not going to be taking any of those internal matters and discussing. Not going to take any questions on the subject. We’re fired up for the guys that we have that are playing. Excited about our Big Ten home opener against a really good Wisconsin team. And we’ll be excited to discuss that with you all today. With that, I’ll take questions."
What's it going to be like coaching against Alex Grinch, a guy who knows your offense so well?
"Personally, it’ll be good to see him. It’ll certainly be unique being on opposite sidelines, with all the good times and great memories we had together, all the years working together. I’ve been a part of this before, where you have guys on previous staffs. I’ve even coached against my brother before. Yeah, we’ll see how the game unfolds. They’ve obviously – Coach Grinch has a good familiarity with what we’ve done. But I still think the game comes down to players and who executes the best on Saturday afternoon. I think we’ve prepared hard, but we know it’ll be a good challenge going against defense that he’s obviously a part of. "
Going against Tackett Curtis, what have you seen from his development there and why did it not work out here?
"Tackett, CJ, yeah, in this age of college football – had one of my former players at Utah State – you kind of get used to that now. I’m happy for those guys that are getting an opportunity at other schools, including Tackett and C.J. at Wisconsin. Two great kids. I wish them the best. I wish them a lot of success, other than on Saturday. No ill will, no bad blood with any of them, man. Want them to go and do well. They’re great kids, they’ve got great families. And yeah, I wish them the best. I’ll always be keeping up with them."
