Lincoln Riley was asked earlier this week what he sees as the major difference between how the Trojans look heading into their season opener Saturday vs. San Jose State and how the team looked this time a year ago.
Riley responded with a typically blunt and candid assessment.
"Yeah, more good players, less bad players," he said. "More depth, the front 7 defensively is a big difference for sure. Defensively, obviously linebackers, defensive line, all of them, that feels a lot different. A little more competition across the board. There was probably less position battles at this point, more you kind of knew who was going to play, whereas there's still several rooms where you could see it going either way.
"But there's still a lot of youth on this team, there's still a lot of new on this team too, right? It's not like we return 20 starters, so we have a lot of work to do, we've got a lot of growing. We'll have to grow some during these early games and these early weeks."
More good players, less bad players ...
For everything USC accomplished last year in winning 11 games -- seven more than the previous season before Riley arrived -- and immediately changing the culture within the program and the perception around it, both locally and nationally, Riley has always made it clear that could only be just a start.
Last year while preparing for the Cotton Bowl, he noted that he expected that 2022 squad -- the one that won 11 games and was on the cusp of a College Football Playoff berth until losing to Utah in the Pac-12 championship game -- to be the "least talented" team he has here.
It wasn't a criticism -- just a promise of what was to come.
And indeed, it's plain to see watching these Trojans practice over the last month that there's no comparison in terms of the depth this year at almost every position on the roster -- but especially across that maligned defense that remains in the crosshairs of fan scrutiny and consternation.
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There are questions to answer, certainly. The offensive line, with no players back in the same position as last year (Jonah Monheim has moved from right tackle to left tackle and Justin Dedich moved from right guard to center), has plenty to prove. And while the defensive line has been bolstered substantially with both veteran and young talent and the linebacker corps could be the most improved on the team, the secondary is counting on a lot of guys to simply play better than they did previously, which is asking a lot.
The evaluation is only just beginning.
"There’s definitely a lot of excitement and I think a lot of confidence about what this group can do," Riley said. "... [But] I’ve felt that every year, there’s always kind of just an interest on your own of like, what are we going to look like when we actually go out there and go against somebody else?"
What he hopes to see is a team that is sharper in regard to "situational football" -- the moments he feels often impact the outcome most.
"When you’re not teaching every single person on the offense or defense or special teams the system brand-new for the first time, I feel like you get a little bit ahead and you’re able to not only be teaching this but start to dive into how does that work in this situation of the game and really increase those guys’ overall understanding of those situations," he said. "And I’ve seen some signs early that were ahead of where we were last year and I think excited about that."
We'll learn a lot more about this Trojans team each week (and especially once the competition intensifies in October).
But here's what we do know ...
The Trojans have the best quarterback in the country in reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams, who is a generational talent and already considered a consensus lock for the No. 1 pick in the next NFL draft. That's a heckuva competitive advantage on its own.
The Trojans, of course, also have Riley, who is 66-13 in six seasons as a head coach with three CFP appearances and who built a Year 1 offense that ranked third nationally in both scoring (41.4 points per game) and yards (506.6 per game). If that's the baseline of expectation, well ...
They are loaded with so much five-star talent and so many proven veterans at the offensive skill positions that USC's second-team WR corps would arguably be one of the top units in the conference on its own.
The Trojans don't have star pass rusher Tuli Tuipulotu anymore, but they added high-impact transfers like Anthony Lucas, Jamil Muhammad, Jack Sullivan, Bear Alexander and Kyon Barrs to the line/pass rush and have inarguably significantly more talent across that defensive front now. (And thus, in theory, shouldn't have to rely on one player as much as they did with Tuipulotu last year).
They have one new linebacker in Oklahoma State transfer Mason Cobb who has made such an impact he was voted a team captain by his new teammates, and another in freshman Tackett Curtis who was the talk of camp and is starting his very first game. That's in addition to the two starters who return from last season in Eric Gentry and Shane Lee.
In the locker room (and in the media), the players openly talk about contending for a national championship this year and it doesn't sound outrageous.
Externally, the college football world sure seems to think a lot about USC's prospects as well, as the Trojans open the season ranked No. 6 -- their highest starting ranking since opening No. 4 in 2017.
This has all the potential to be a truly special season and the year that USC truly becomes USC again.
As long as Riley is at the helm, the Trojans will be nationally competitive and may yet have more talented teams as the years go on, but they won't always have a Caleb Williams, who has the best chance anyone has had in a long time to repeat as Heisman winner (a feat that's been done only once ever, by Ohio State RB Archie Griffin in 1974-75).
The defense doesn't need to be 2021 Georgia -- it just needs to be better (OK, a lot better). It's an offensive sport now, though, and USC might just have the best offense in college football in 2023.
For the first time in a long time for this program, it's truly time to think big again -- especially with Williams leading the way.
Riley touched on that last month at Pac-12 Media Day, as usual being head-on about what is at stake this fall.
"Listen, we got a great opportunity in front of us. I think everybody within our program, every player senses that and wants to do a great job of taking advantage of this," he said. "These windows are short. You only get so many shots at this."
And it all starts Saturday in the Coliseum.
To get you even more prepped for kickoff, meanwhile, our TrojanSports.com staff traded perspectives and predictions in our in-depth roundtable discussion, which can be read below.
TrojanSports.com Roundtable
1. What was the biggest surprise from USC's depth chart reveal this week?
Ryan Young: "I think it was freshman Alani Noa being listed as an 'OR' at first-team left guard with Wyoming transfer Emmanuel Pregnon. Coaches and teammates alike had made it clear Noa was ahead of the curve for a freshman offensive lineman this camp, but he wasn't an early enrollee and it's rare for a freshman O-lineman to join ta program in June and be ready to contribute in September. It sounds like the Trojans have a true future cornerstone in the perhaps underrated three-star from Sacramento, but I also think the depth chart underscores some of the concern about the offensive line as well. It means Pregnon, a highly-coveted transfer addition, didn't do enough in camp to claim the left guard job outright, as expected. Also, the guy Pregnon was supposed to be battling for that job -- redshirt senior Gino Quinones -- is now the backup at right guard behind expected stalwart Jarrett Kingston. Left guard and right tackle (where Florida transfer Michael Tarquin beat out Mason Murphy) are two spots to watch closely early in the season."
Jeff McCulloch: " Yeah, this one is pretty easy for me. I was stunned when I saw Alani Noa designated as basically 1B with Emmanuel Pregnon. As you noted, coming into camp, it was our expectation that the left guard battle was between Pregnon and Quinones. The expectation was that Quinones was going to be second-team left guard but he was getting second-team center snaps as a potential contingency plan in the event of an injury to Justin Dedich, but now Kilian O’Connor is the second-team center. Noa has been getting a lot of hype this fall camp but we didn't see him take any first-team reps in the limited windows of practice open to media. Pregnon took the starting left guard spot from Quinones around week 2 of fall camp but hasn’t been able to separate himself as he is still such a raw prospect. Maybe Noa can take advantage of his momentum and take over the spot at some point this season."
Tajwar Khandaker: "I was definitely caught off guard when I realized Jaylin Smith was labelled the first-team nickel. Smith was USC’s primary nickel for much of the 2022 season, but he’d struggled over the course of the year and most of the talk surrounding the position this offseason seemed to indicate that Arizona transfer Christian Roland-Wallace was positioned to man that spot with the first-team. It was a surprise to see that Smith has done enough to reclaim that spot for the time being, relegating Roland-Wallace to a second-team position at both nickel and outside corner.
"Perhaps even more surprising was the ordering of the safety position on this depth chart, with Calen Bullock listed as the starting strong safety and Max Williams as the free safety. Though the pair of starters isn’t odd, their assigned positions certainly are. Bullock has been the clear-cut starting free safety on this defense for over a year and he’s excelled at that spot, fitting the archetype for the position almost to a T. His designation as the starting strong safety this year is a bit of a head-scratcher; we’ll have to see if that label actually translates to what he’s being asked to do on the field."
2. Who is the offensive player not getting talked about enough right now?
Ryan: "It was wide receiver Kyron Hudson, but maybe that started to change in the last few days. We had a strong sense a couple of weeks ago that Hudson was primed to play a bigger role than most expected, and that was publicly confirmed Wednesday when USC listed him as an 'OR' starter with Brenden Rice at one of the outside receiver spots. And then Riley said, 'He might have been the team MVP in fall camp. I mean, he had as good of a fall camp as any player on our roster at any position.' So Hudson should not longer be a surprise, but for a player who only had 15 catches for 152 yards and 3 TDs last year, who is part of a loaded WR corps that only got deeper over the offseason, I think he'll still qualify as a surprise if he has a true breakout season."
Tajwar: "Definitely, Kyron Hudson. He has often been an afterthought in discussions surrounding USC’s pass-catchers, and it’s not hard to understand why with the abundance of skill-position talent that promises to feature into this 2023 Trojans offense. However, overlooking Hudson’s potential impact would be a mistake. The big redshirt sophomore receiver is hard to beat at the catch point and is a playmaker with the ball in his hands, making him a threat to produce a big play whenever he’s targeted. Though his production last season was relatively unassuming, Hudson is a highly capable receiver who should undoubtedly see an uptick in targets after another strong offseason. In a room featuring plenty of new faces, the trust he’s earned from Caleb Williams over almost two years now should earn him legitimate opportunities. He may or may not break the starting lineup, but he’s poised to at least become an important contributor in the pass-catching rotation."
Jeff: "The offensive player not getting talked about enough right now for me is Mario Williams. He was a little banged up during fall camp, but according to Riley he is full-go for Saturday’s game. All last year, you could clearly see the bond that Caleb and Mario had was extremely tight and was one of the reasons why Mario was a big target for Caleb. The only problem was that Mario was undermined throughout the season with either crucial drops or battling injuries. If Caleb is going to win another Heisman this year, he needs Mario to be a consistent and reliable target. I’m curious to see how much he improved from last year to this year."
