Lincoln Riley said some other players received mention, but the results were clear as the USC players voted for their team captains last week.

Riley announced after practice Tuesday that quarterback Caleb Williams, right guard Justin Dedich, defensive lineman Tuli Tuipulotu and linebacker Shane Lee were the selections.

"Those will be the four captains. Had several others who got votes and certainly were represented, but it was by a pretty significant margin -- the team pretty clearly looks at those four as the guys they want to represent them," Riley said. "It's a big honor for those guys, it's something none of them take lightly. They all had a chance to address the team after being named captain last Friday and they've done a tremendous job really leading all the way through. I'm proud of those four leaders.

"We certainly have many other guys on our roster that we'll look to as leaders, without a doubt. There's way more than four, but very cool honor for all four of those guys."

All four are quite different in terms of background and makeup.

Williams and Lee are in their first year in the program, but both were locks to be named captains.

Riley has talked many times about the impact each has had on their respective unit and on the team at large -- the QB as the charismatic face of the team and the LB as the highly-focused veteran coming in from gold standard program of college football, Alabama.

As a sophomore, Williams -- who followed Riley from Oklahoma -- is also the youngest of those captains.

"The number one thing with him right now is he really has an ability to bring people together, to inspire confidence, to get the other 10 guys around him playing at a high level," Riley said of Williams. "He’s got a little bit of the it factor about him that I think is so important. Everybody sees the physical skills, but as a quarterback, that’s probably the best quality you can have. You can be the most talented, gifted quarterback to ever play -- if the other 10 guys aren’t inspired and where they should be around you, it’s not going to matter. He’s got a great ability to do that. I would say right now it’s his defining characteristic."

Lee, who transferred in from the Crimson Tide ahead of his senior season, has been lauded by coaches and teammates alike since the spring for the respect he very quickly earned from his peers upon arriving at USC.

"We were looking for a guy we thought could come in and be a great contributor on defense and at the linebacker position. But certainly as we started putting together this roster, we started thinking more about who are some of the key guys who could come in and really spearhead this from a player perspective and lead," Riley said. "And as we started talking, I talked a lot about that and he talked about what he was looking for both from a situation as a player and all of that but a big part of his decision was an opportunity to come in and be a leader and be at the front of the room and be responsible for that from a player perspective.

"And it just clicked, man, that's the best way I can say it. Exactly what we wanted and needed was exactly what he wanted and needed. And I've told him since he's been here, I want him to err on the side of aggression. If we get to the end of this year and he was somehow too aggressive as a leader, we'll take that. We can't live or survive with the opposite of that. He can't be passive. He's got a great perspective. He's not a guy that has a million words, but when he talks it's very impactful, it's very well thought out, very intentional. And you feel it with our guys when he speaks up. ... So he's been an ideal leader here, we're very fortunate that our worlds kind of collided and that we were both kind of looking for the same thing at the time."

With regard to Tuipulotu, Riley described the junior defensive lineman as the ultimate lead-by-example kind of guy. Since emerging as a starter down the stretch of his freshman season in 2020, he has been a fixture up front for the Trojans' defense -- and a dependable model of consistency in pretty much every way, for that matter.

"He's kind of the guy on the team -- maybe more than anybody -- who moves the needle for us as far as like a mentality standpoint. I don't know if we have a more consistent competitor than that guy -- brings it every day," Riley said. "He hasn't missed not one thing, he hasn't missed not one spring practice, hasn't missed one rep of fall camp -- he never misses anything. He always shows up ready to compete. You can just tell our guys, our whole football team feeds off him, so he's vitally important and we need him to continue to step up, both as a leader and also as a player. ...

"One of the great lessons for all of our players in our program, our young players, the reason that he's improved is he brings it every day and he doesn't miss anything. He never misses practice, he never misses anything. When you do that and you bring a good attitude, you are going to get better and I think he's gotten a lot better."

Dedich, meanwhile, is an example of patience, perseverance and commitment to the team.

The redshirt senior has waited his turn for most of the last four years, picking up a spot start here or there and rotating in off the bench, but he looks positioned to finally have a full-time starting role entering the season. He's been the Trojans' first-team right guard throughout camp.

He talked about what the captain honor means to him.

"Oh man, I'm grateful to serve this team. I feel like I bleed Cardinal and Gold now. I've always bled it. I'm excited that they chose me, as well as Shane, Tuli and Caleb. Great four guys. I'm excited to see what we can do," Dedich said. "None of us are above one another. We're there for them and they're there for us. We've just got to be a player-led team and get this thing rolling for the season."

Dedich was asked why he thought the vote was so overwhelming, as Riley indicated, for the four chosen.

"In this game, consistency is key, so every day whether you feel it or not, you've got to come, you've got to bring the juice," he said. "There's many more leaders than just us four -- guys like [Andrew] Vorhees, [Malcolm] Epps, Calen Bullock a young one. A lot of guys could have been captain. It's just consistently bringing the energy and making sure the team is up -- serving them, just putting away trash, doing all the little things right."