With the tragic passing of assistant coach Dave Nichol last week, after an extended absence from the program while battling cancer, head coach Lincoln Riley elevated Luke Huard from an analyst role to interim inside receivers coach.
Huard spoke to reporters Tuesday for the first time, sharing what the transition has been like for him given the circumstances.
"It is tough. I got a job to do. Obviously, a very, very sad situation, and certainly this group and myself included, we've got to step up," Huard said. "We've got to do our jobs, we've got to work very hard because we're filling in for a wonderful coach and a wonderful person that has been doing this job for 20 plus years now at a high level. So it's very difficult. I've just got to lock in, do my job, coach these players and give everything I've got."
Huard's connection to the USC staff was new offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Josh Henson, as they worked together the last three seasons at Texas A&M with Huard in an analyst role.
He previously spent 2017-18 as the OC and QBs coach at Sacramento State, 2013-16 as the OC and QBs coach at Georgia State and 2009-12 at Illinois State, initially as the QBs coach and then also the OC for his final three years there.
