USC Football Notes: 'We intend to practice ... the way we expect to play'

Among the things Lincoln Riley has done well since taking over a very humbled USC football program -- along with roster building, culture setting (seemingly) and recruiting -- has been messaging.

He's set the expectations back where the fan base wants them by reiterating time and again a no-excuses, win-big-immediately standard.

And on Tuesday he also made clear the expectations he has between Saturdays.

As the Trojans transitioned from camp to game week mode, even with the opener not until Sept. 3, Riley said his emphasis to the players was that the daily expectations ultimately do not change.

"The big thing we're pushing on the guys right now is this is not ... game week practices are not a 'save it up and gear up for the game.' We intend to practice out here, especially on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the way we expect to play on Saturdays," Riley said. "So again, just the mentality of this, [it's] not a conserve and survive and just make it to Saturday -- this is, you play like you practice. So we expect practices to be intense, physical. We're going to push them mentally. I thought they responded pretty good here on our first Tuesday."

RELATED: Full transcript of Lincoln Riley's comments after practice Tuesday

USC moved to this mock game week in part due to classes starting, which certainly changes the schedule that was possible during camp, and as a way to get used to the new routine before it truly is game week.

"It's always a little bit different when you're going a lot of 1s on 1s and good on good in fall camp and you start to transition to learning to practice against scout teams and learning to see different looks, so we're a little bit in that transition right now," Riley said. "I think guys for the most part it's been pretty positive. There's some things that we weren't as happy about yesterday that we need to do better, and I thought the energy level and all that was great."

Asked where he felt the team had grown the most through fall camp, Riley said as much as anything it was just bringing this roster of pieces brought in from all different places together on the fly.

But the true test of that is yet to come, he added.

"I'd say the biggest areas of growth have been, I just think the relationships within the team. When you're around this team you don't really feel like it came together in the way it did, which is a positive thing. It feels like a lot of these guys have been together multiple years," he said. "You see the camaraderie -- we don't have a bunch of cliques right now. This doesn't need to be like some fourth grade classroom, right? The guys need to get to know one another, get out of their comfort zones, learn to rely on each other because we're all going to need each one of us. ....

"Games are a different animal and you find out how tight it really is and you've got to bond together because we'll be tested and it will be tougher than anything we've had to do to this point."

Five-star freshman cornerback Domani Jackson remained out of practice Tuesday, as he was last week as well.

"It's definitely short-term. It's definitely short-term. We expect to have him back here in the next few days, hope to have him available for every game and certainly I think a very solid chance that happens," Riley said.

But the missed practice time will likely set Jackson back in terms of how he's able to contribute early in the season, especially after he was limited in the spring while working back from a fall knee surgery.

"Yeah, kind of the same answer as Korey [Foreman] and anybody out here -- even guys who have played a ton. It's just, you can't miss time on the field and expect to play at a high level and then also expect that we're going to put you out there. It's just, you have to practice and you've got to play," Riley said. "Obviously, there's things that happen that are out of their control. Domani did a really good job in camp, the practices he's been available and I thought handled it very well, but he is fighting and he's going to need to because he needs to practice just like everybody else does."

Read more about USC's cornerback situation here.

Other players sidelined Tuesday: CB Joshua Jackson, DB Briton Allen, WR Michael Jackson III, WR Kyle Ford and DT Earl Barquet Jr.

One storyline that won't have any clarity -- at least publicly -- until the season opener vs. Rice is what the wide receiver rotation ultimately looks like.

Certainly, Jordan Addison and Mario Williams will be heavily involved. But beyond that, it's a deep cast of talented pass-catchers all battling for roles.

Transfers Terrell Bynum and Brenden Rice, returning productive receivers like Gary Bryant Jr. and Tahj Washington, promising second-year WR Kyron Hudson, top-100 national freshman CJ Williams, the presently injured Kyle Ford, the veteran John Jackson III, etc.

On Tuesday, Riley was asked specifically about Bryant (44 catches for 579 yards and 7 TDs last season) and Washington (54-602-1), who are the team's top returning receivers.

"I've been excited with them. I got to watch them a little bit last year. I was familiar with both those guys when they came out and they both have very unique skill sets that certainly translate well to what we do offensively," Riley said. "Those guys were used primarily outside it looked like previously. We'll probably end up moving those guys around a little bit and try to take advantage of their skill sets maybe in a little bit different way. They're competing. Those two are really competing hard.

"In some of the sets for us they're in the same group, and you've got two experienced players, two explosive players that both want to play. ... They both had some specific things coming out of spring that they needed to work on -- Tahj, his consistency, Gary his physicality. And I think both here this fall camp have taken some good steps in the right direction."