Korey Foreman's moment comes at just the right time for Trojans

It was just a week ago that defensive coordinator Alex Grinch had made a candid assessment of sophomore edge rusher Korey Foreman.

The five-star, top-5 national prospect from the 2021 recruiting class had seemingly had one of his better games that night against Colorado, tying his season-high with 3 tackles and making a couple nice stops near the line of scrimmage. That's why his name had come up in conversation with Grinch after the win.

Grinch started out acknowledging Foreman had done "some good things" in the game, while also acknowledging the other reality for a player of his presumed top-end potential.

"It was good to see him make some plays for us. He's a guy that we have ... our expectations have not been met, and I think his expectations for himself have not been met," Grinch said plainly. "And that's a good thing. He expects to play better, and it's good. He moved the needle a little bit tonight. That's a positive, we'll take that."

A week later, Foreman did more than move the needle -- he seized the whole damn spotlight, delivering the biggest moment of his Trojans career in the biggest moment so far of this USC football season.

Foreman's interception of UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson at midfield with 1:26 left to play in the fourth quarter Saturday night effectively sealed a dramatic 48-45 win for USC, which is now No. 5 in the new AP poll and headed to the Pac-12 championship game in two weeks with its College Football Playoff hopes very much intact.

It's hard to qualify how incredible the moment was from a narrative standpoint.

For a player who has carried the immense (and perhaps unfair) expectations Foreman has, while facing the burden of weekly scrutiny as his development has not progressed to the preferred timeline of others, to make a play that has kept alive USC's grandest goals for this season is almost too poetic to even concoct.

"Very proud of him. We needed to make a play in that moment," Grinch said. "... [He's] still a young guy in the program, and a guy that I think all of us are waiting for that moment that can be a catalyst and kind of springboard [him]. He had a couple I think a week ago and then pretty big stage to have one tonight."

USC was protecting that ever-tenuous 3-point lead in a game that, not to be cliche, truly felt like the team that had the ball last would win. After all, there had already been 93 combined points and more than 1,100 total yards between the crosstown rivals.

The Trojans were forced to punt after QB Caleb Williams was sacked on third down, giving UCLA the ball back with 2:27 left and the chance to close the game with the decisive score.

When Jake Bobo picked up 27 yards on a third-and-10 reception for UCLA, the tension within the Trojans fan base neared its zenith.

Three plays later, the Bruins faced another third down from their own 43-yard line.

Foreman lined up off the left edge like he was going to rush the passer, but his assignment on that play was actually to track running back Zach Charbonnet out of the backfield for a potential wheel route or other passing target while also keeping an eye on Thompson-Robinson should he choose to scramble.

Foreman dropped back into coverage, read the ball out of Thompson-Robinson's hands and jumped the pass intended for Kazmeir Allen, snaring the game-sealing interception.

"It was really cool for him. You just never know when it's going to be your moment, and he was ready," said head coach Lincoln Riley, who gave Foreman a big embrace on the field after the game. "Shane [Lee] made sure he had the call, and then yeah, he dropped back and made a great play on the ball. It wasn't an easy play. Excited for Korey. He's worked hard behind the scenes -- a great example of don't worry about any outside expectations or what other people think, it doesn't matter. You just keep working, improving, good things happen and he's done a good job of that."

Foreman, to his credit, has said all the right things since arriving on campus in the summer of 2021 as one of the most touted freshmen in college football. He has always said his stature as a recruit stopped mattering once he got to college and that he was just another player on the team trying to earn his role.

But that does nothing to tame the outside expectations, for fans that see him as the No. 4-ranked overall national recruit and the guy whose USC commitment -- over the likes of southeast programs like LSU and Clemson, along with Pac-12 foe Oregon -- made for a national headline on ESPN.com.

Riley and Grinch have been asked for updates and assessments on Foreman at least a half dozen times this season, despite his limited role on the defense. Just as the previous coaching staff was asked seemingly weekly about the then-true freshman.

Message boards and Twitter are full of fans' Foreman takes weekly.

Foreman was more reflective about it all -- the expectations that follow him, the lessons he's learned since getting to college -- last year. More recently, he avoids any kind of public self-assessment in that regard.

After his breakthrough moment Saturday night, he mostly just reiterated how thankful he was to be part of this team -- even when asked directly if he could put his college football journey in perspective at this point.

"It was amazing, but it's back to work. Back to work on Monday," Foreman said. "Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games. ... I can't thank this team enough because they put me in that situation. If it wasn't for the team and it wasn't for how the game even went, the coaching staff and everybody, I just thank everybody. Man, I'm blessed to be in the position I'm in right now. "

He did offer good perspective on the moment itself, though.

"Right before the play was called, going out there I knew I had to make a play. Just being able to look at the clock -- I know you're not supposed to, but I just knew at that moment a play had to be made," Foreman said. "I was just going down basically telling myself, 'Let's do it, right here, right now.' I don't know if you all could see it, but I was pacing back and forth on the sideline like, 'Let's go. Right here, right now. Right here, right now. It's right now. Nothing can stop me but me in this moment.'

"Just being able to be around this team, I get the confidence being able to go to battle. I just love the energy this team brings because it allows me to just find myself ... in different levels I need to find myself."

Safety Bryson Shaw, meanwhile, revealed a good anecdote about Foreman as it related to his play of the game.

"Earlier in the week at practice, he made the same exact play at practice. Same exact play," Shaw said. "I came over to him like, 'All right, you've got to get it in the game now.' He's like, 'I got you, I got you.' I forgot about it, but Korey didn't forget about it. He came running up to me in the locker room, he was like, 'I told you!' I said, 'What are you talking about?' And he reminded me of it."

Foreman corroborated the story as well ...

"We knew that the running back likes to get out a lot on a few certain pass plays, those being angle routes, wheels and just flat routes, things like that. If that wasn't the case then we were just going to go and spy the quarterback. It's actually crazy because me and B-Shaw were talking at practice and after I made that pick at practice, he was like, 'I need one of those in the game.' I was like, 'Hey B-Shaw, you know I got you now,'" Foreman said, telling it from his perspective. "And then I talked to him after the game and he was like, 'Woah, you did say that!'

"It was a great moment. Once again, I can't thank this team enough. If you all see it at practice, we all love each other so much. I can't wait to go back to practice on Monday and throughout the rest of the week."

Indeed, this is still just a start for Foreman, who has a lot of work left ahead of him to become the player he was projected to be -- and that many believe he still can be. He has no sacks and just 1 tackle for loss through nine games this season, though PFF has credited him with 12 pressures.

His playing time has fluctuated this fall while his 26 defensive snaps Saturday were his fourth-most of the season.

"Just so happy for him. He's a guy, all the talent, all the upside in the world. He's just been putting in the work, showing up," Shaw said. "He's a freak and he's only going to get better, better and better."

Said defensive end Tuli Tuipulotu: "He's just come a long way. It's time for him to keep doing that and build off what he just accomplished on the field."

For everything Foreman has been through, if he even looks at it like that, he too maintains the same confidence he brought with him to USC in the first place.

And like Grinch said, he too expects more out of himself moving forward.

"I know the sky's the limit, if not more," Foreman said Saturday.

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