Wide receiver Kyle Ford was asked Friday night when he picked up the stiff-arm move he used to spring himself for an impressive 11-yard touchdown in the second quarter of USC's 42-20 win over Rutgers.
"I've always had that. Just give me the chance to do that in space, I mean, I've done that my whole career. I got to show it on that play," Ford said.
That's always been the thing for the sixth-year receiver, though -- getting the chance to show what he can do.
After a career-best 2022 campaign with USC (20 catches for 365 yards and 2 TDs), in which he excelled late in that season when injuries to other WRs opened up more opportunities for him, Ford decided to transfer to crosstown UCLA in hopes of a bigger role.
When that didn't really materialize during a trying season for the Bruins offense, as Ford finished with 22 catches for 236 yards and 1 TD, he transferred back to USC after the spring again seeking a better chance to showcase his abilities.
But ultimately, Ford's homecoming back to the school he grew up rooting for and graduated from has only produced more lessons in patience and internalizing frustration, as he shared candidly Friday night after a season-best 4 catches for 45 yards and that touchdown.
"Frustrating, for sure. I'm not going to sit here and lie -- I've never been that way. Of course, I'm frustrated every week," Ford said. "I just know what type of player I am, so just knowing who I am and having to just be patient and stuff, I mean, I've been patient my whole career with the injuries and stuff like that. And I feel like I've always performed the way that I've performed every time I get opportunity, and I feel like this is just another testament to it.
"So hopefully just keep building from this, for sure. That's what I want to do is help this team -- I think that's what it comes down to, I just want to feel like I'm contributing."
Coming into Friday night, Ford had just 10 catches for 135 yards through seven games. He's consistently played between 14 and 26 snaps every game (23 vs. Rutgers), but he hadn't received more than 3 passing targets in any game before getting 5 this week and in five of those seven games he had received 0-2 targets.
For a player who missed most of his first two collegiate seasons recovering from separate ACL tears, he's learned a thing or two about patience over the years.
But that doesn't make it any easier when he's fully healthy and believes he can make a bigger impact.
"I just come to work every day. I think one thing for me is being able to take that Sunday to reset and take that frustration and put it toward something good, because if you're frustrated and you come out and you play bad then that doesn't help your case really," Ford said. "So I think just coming out and being the same person every day regardless of what happened the game before has been definitely a challenge for me, but I've been very proud of myself in the way I handle that, and I don't say that too often. ...
"I've never taken anything for granted. Just because, like I said before, my injuries and stuff. Like I knew had to come here and ball, and I feel like when I got here I was the same person through camp, I had a great camp. So I kind of just keep doing what I'm doing. If I didn't handle the things that I did the way that I did every week and be able to clean my slate and just fix my mental process every week I wouldn't have done what I did tonight and being able to help my team."
Ford said his recipe for keeping a fresh mindset is to spend his Sundays with his family and friends with golf as a frequent activity to take his mind off of whatever frustrations he'd carried over from the game.
"Some weeks are better than others. Some weeks it leads into Monday. I'm not going to lie, I think this week it kind of bled into Tuesday. I don't know how that happened, but I'm hard on myself so I practiced good Tuesday regardless of how I felt," Ford said. "But sometimes on Sunday we have an optional lift, some days I'll just take the day to go do something I want to go do, just kind of get away, just clear my mental and take a deep breath and be around some people that I love -- I love these guys, but my family and some of my friends -- get away and go golf or something."
Ford said he still likely planned to golf this Sunday, but it will be with a different feeling this week coming off a game where he reminded everyone of his abilities to maximize his touches when they come.
