In four years as USC’s coach, Riley hasn’t had many chances to really unplug. There was the sprint ahead of his first season, and the heavy portal push ahead of his second. The third came with a new conference, new defense, new expectations, new pressure.

The fourth, by comparison, is starting on a more relaxed note than Riley is used to. There were no phone calls taking up half a day of his family vacation. His fly fishing went mostly unbothered. He even golfed at Pebble Beach in May.

“I’d say I’m feeling as refreshed and recharged as I’ve been in a long time,” Riley said Thursday during Big Ten media days.

Never mind that the pressure for Riley to win at USC has perhaps never been so high, coming off a 7-6 campaign in which the Trojans needed a comeback bowl win to scrape past .500. The path to winning has arguably never been so uncertain, either, with the advent of revenue sharing completely upending how championship rosters are constructed.

In spite of that backdrop, this past summer still felt less daunting to Riley than the rest. He says he didn’t feel the offseason chaos that some of colleagues have described in the wake of the House settlement. Some of that added calm he credits to Chad Bowden, USC’s top flight new general manager, and his handpicked front office, who have taken personnel matters largely off Riley’s plate. Immediately laying claim to the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class for 2026 hasn’t hurt in building that trust, either.

But it’s more than that, according to Riley.

“There are less big fixes going on right now, you know?” he said. “It’s like you’ve got the house built, and it’s kind of all about the finishes now. You’re not trying to put up a wall or anything like that.”

Whether USC is actually that close to being a finished product is up for debate. The Trojans’ win total has declined in each of Riley’s first three seasons, during which his record is worse than that of his predecessor, Clay Helton. Now the Trojans enter his fourth with a raw, unproven commodity at quarterback, a threadbare linebacker room, and an inexperienced offensive line that could already be down a projected starter.

There’s also the matter of their fourth-quarter issues last season, which saw the Trojans inexplicably cough up leads in five of their six losses.

But Riley looks at it differently.

“It’s the first time where we had an opportunity at the end of the game to win every single game that we played,” he said.

“The really good teams separate in a lot of their games, and they win the close games they end up in. That’s typically how it happens, and that’s what we’ve got to become. And so the way to do it, every part of your program has to be pretty strong.

“We’ve graduated from being way behind in this area, and being pretty decent in this area to, like, every right now is either good or pretty darn good. Now it’s just about taking those small steps in all those areas to, I guess, hypothetically push you over the hump.”

USC DC D’Anton Lynn on the sideline vs NEB at the Coliseum in November. (Gina Ferazzi / LAT)

The biggest leap in that regard could once again be on defense, where USC went from one of the worst units in the nation in 2023 (121st in scoring defense) to respectable (56th) under defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn.

That was no small feat, considering where they came from. And the Trojans have added considerable talent to its defense since. The front seven should benefit greatly from the return of linebacker Eric Gentry and defensive end Anthony Lucas from injury. And on the interior, USC brought in two massive transfers on the interior, as well as a five-star freshman.

“I think the depth, the talent level, and the size of the defensive line, I mean, there’s honestly really no comparison to this time 12 months ago,” Riley said.

“Statistically, we were one of the most-improved defenses in the country last year,” Riley said. “And how do you take that step from being one of the most improved to flat out being one of the best? That was the number one target for us.”

But the Trojans’ path will inevitably, at some point, come down to their quarterback. Riley reiterated his confidence in Jayden Maiava (14) as the Trojans’ starter, even as he once again heaped praise on five-star freshman Husan Longstreet.

Left tackle Elijah Paige said Thursday that he has seen a major change in Maiava since he entered the offseason as the presumptive starter.

“He’s taken a complete 180,” Paige said of USC’s quarterback. “[In the spring,] he commanded the offense, and that’s what this team needs.”

“He’s got a chance to be a really, really special player,” Riley said. “It’s been fun to work with him. He’s humble, a really hard worker, and has the respect of everybody in our building.”

Eliminating harmful mistakes has been a focal point of the offseason. Maiava completed roughly 60% of his 169 pass attempts last season to average 171.6 yards per game, but also threw six interceptions in seven games.

Of course, everyone is feeling optimistic this time of year, with more than a month still remaining before USC kicks off against Missouri State.

But Riley isn’t the only one who feels those finishing touches underway.

“We’ve gone and gotten some of the very best people in the business,” Riley said. “They’re not going to attach themselves to something where they don’t see the progress.

“And you do not get a recruiting class (nearly half are from Southern California) like this unless there’s a crazy amount of momentum within the program. Like, I don’t care what else you have. If you don’t have momentum, you do not get a class like we have.”

Riley’s Regret  

“We landed on a bunch of the right guys in the transfer portal year one,” Riley told reporters. “The team really came together, caught fire – honestly, probably played a little bit over our head – but I think the belief and momentum were established.

“We went heavy again in the portal in year two, trying to capitalize on that, which was probably the toughest decision, the one we went back and forth on the most. And one that – if you asked me my biggest regret up to this point, that’s probably it.”

Put Pete Carroll in the Hall of Fame

Riley opened his remarks Thursday by campaigning for former USC head coach Pete Carroll to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

“I know he’s one year short on the requirement, but hard to imagine a guy that’s had an impact like Coach Carroll had on college football,” he told reporters. “It’s a little difficult for me – and I think a lot of my colleagues – to imagine a Hall of Fame that exists without him and his impact.”

Carroll, the current head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, went 96-19 in his nine years as head coach at USC, won two national championships and went 6-2 in bowl games.

latimes.com / ocregister.com

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