USC’s Lincoln Riley is facing a tough special teams decision
With about two weeks left before the season opener, kickers Ryon Sayeri and Caden Chittenden are locked in a battle for field goal and PAT responsibilities
USC kicker Ryon Sayeri kicks a field goal during last year’s 29-10 win over UCLA on Nov. 29 at the Coliseum. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Haley Sawyer (OC Register) — LOS ANGELES — USC football coach Lincoln Riley isn’t going easy on the kickers during training camp.
Caden Chittenden and Ryon Sayeri are locked in a special teams battle that has the coaching staff testing them at a high volume. It’s not for lack of faith in them.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever been in a situation as a coach where you have two guys that you believe in as much as I believe in them,” Riley said Friday afternoon.
Not only are their tasks frequent, but they’re also aggressive and challenging. Opposing special teams players are live-rushing them, and the kicks are from significant distances.
Chittenden (45) and Sayeri have taken on these challenges at practices and at the Coliseum, where the Trojans held a closed scrimmage on Wednesday morning, and they’ve both had plenty of in-game experience. Sayeri took over kickoff, field goal and PAT duties last season when Chittenden suffered a season-ending injury during fall camp. He broke the USC field goal record by making 21 of 25 attempts and also was a perfect 48 of 48 on PATs. He finished the season with 89 kickoffs for 5,715 yards (64.2 average) with 63 touchbacks.
“Last year’s entire situation was unique,” Riley said, “where I think there was probably a little bit of an assumption on the outside that it was going to be Chit. And then he gets hurt, Ryon came in and did a great job.
“I think 99.9% of players probably would have transferred out given how that played out. (Chittenden) wanted to stay here at USC and wanted to compete, and so I think that says a lot about him.”
Chittenden, a redshirt sophomore, set a new Mountain West Conference record when he hit 26 field goals as a freshman at UNLV. His season-long was a 52-yard field goal during a game played in a rainstorm at San Jose State.
Riley said Sayeri will handle kickoffs this season, but it’s still a toss-up as to who will handle field goals and PATs. It wouldn’t be surprising if both contributed in some way this season.
“They know it’s a battle, it’s a competition,” Riley said. “It’s unique, but I think they both respect each other.”
SCRIMMAGE TAKEAWAYS
USC had the opportunity to experiment with new offensive line combinations during Wednesday’s scrimmage in an attempt to find a new starting center. Previous starter Kilian O’Connor will not play due to a season-ending injury.
Riley said earlier in the week that Tobias Raymond, Kaylon Miller, Willi Wascher and Kannon Smith are all options. The scrimmage didn’t focus on schematics, meaning players could show what they learned against base offenses and defenses.
“We did some really good things at the line of scrimmage,” Riley said. “We had a couple blocks where we missed, and, obviously, we’ve got some pretty good defensive linemen that make life tough on you there.”
He added that he felt the running game behind the experimental O-lines was “hit or miss,” and that he felt the running backs ran hard but were impatient in goal-line situations.
FORMER TROJANS MAKE NFL DEBUTS
Former USC safety Kamari Ramsey, now a Houston Texans rookie, had an interception when he picked off Chargers quarterback Trey Lance during Thursday night’s preseason opener in Houston.
He returned the interception 38 yards to the Chargers’ 48-yard line just before halftime in the Texans’ 27-7 loss.
“The return – I mean I was just kind of tired,” Ramsey told reporters after the game. “It was kind of like two-minute. I just got what I could get. And then I saw the quarterback. They were telling me I should’ve ran the quarterback over, but I saw the big lineman right behind him, so I was like, I got the pick, I got some yards.”
Safety Bishop Fitzgerald had two tackles in his rookie debut with the Tennessee Titans on Thursday in the Titans’ 19-13 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
Defensive end Anthony Lucas had one tackle in the Detroit Lions’ 16-14 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
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Heisman Trophy winner/#1 pick Kyler Murray, who played under Lincoln Riley at OU from 2017-18, video messages Trey Wright after 2028 QB commits to USC “You’re in great hands!”
Is this the type of recruit you take if you’re going to be running a balanced offense with a powerful running attack?
Indiana, Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama.and ND did not offer.
Sounds like a perfect fit for an air raid offense. So much for….he is learning.
National Total Yardage Leader: Wright led all of HS football nationally in total yardage during his soph campaign. He accumulated 5,860 total yds (4,062 passing and 1,798 rushing), outgaining every single varsity QB in America, including juniors and seniors. 2025: Led Lone Star to a 15-1 record and Texas 5A D-I state runner-up finish in a breakout soph season. Threw for 4,042 yds, 38 TDs, and 7 INTs on 211-for-313 passing (.674). Ran for 1,798 yds and 16 TDs on 10.8 ypc (163 attempts). Logged five 300-yd passing performances, including 502 in a 58-38 state quarterfinal win against Highland Park.… Read more »
Riley just inked a great QB, who excels at running and passing. And you are complaining? Would you feel better if he signed a QB who was a great runner with no arm? I will take Kyler’s endorsement over yours.
I ran into an interesting statistic about kickers a while back. Kickers are often the leading scorers in football. I’ve always thought of them as an extra player who added very little to the game, however they usually score when a team stalls out in field goal range and almost after every touchdown. The rest of the scoring is spread out over multiple players. As a side note when I read this story in today’s paper I noticed a mistake, which is corrected in your reprint. It said, “Kamari Ramsey had an ‘interceptions’ (plural)” which begs the question… did you… Read more »
I usually edit stories, throwing in my own color, photos, facts, words, minor corrections, etc. And I often update them, or combine and correlate with other stories or my own content to fully round out a theme, opinion, or fill in uncovered gaps, always giving credit to other authors.
In this instance, there was no need for me to edit your point. because I was working off the on-line version which was correct.
I still think of kickers as an extra person(not player) who adds very little to the game. I wouldn’t call them players. Most of them can’t tackle or block or perform the fundamentals of football. If the kick returner or punt returner gets past your special teams and the last man to make the tackle is the kicker….the chances of that happening are slim and none and none has a lot better chance than slim.They should do something about the field goals…maybe narrow the posts. Extra points should require the team to run a play to get it. Kicking it… Read more »
I agree pretty much that specializing on only one aspect of the game is not the sport I grew up with. Until I was about 10 years old players went both ways playing offense and defense. Then platooning became a thing. During my high school years kickoffs were about the only kind of kick seen at that level. High School teams I saw rarely kicked an extra point. Nobody wanted to be the kicker and field goals were unheard of. I saw a high school team punt after stalling at the 12 yard line when I was in high school.… Read more »
The opening day is getting closer and the anticipation around my house is crazy. I never realized when I married my wife I would have to deal with a total college football fanatic. She makes it fun and it sure gives us something to either talk about or debate about. I sure hope all of you are getting as excited as we are.
Chittenden (45) and Sayeri have taken on these challenges at practices and at the Coliseum, where the Trojans held a closed scrimmage on Wednesday morning, and they’ve both had plenty of in-game experience. Sayeri took over kickoff, field goal and PAT duties last season when Chittenden suffered a season-ending injury during fall camp. He broke the USC field goal record by making 21 of 25 attempts and also was a perfect 48 of 48 on PATs. He finished the season with 89 kickoffs for 5,715 yards (64.2 average) with 63 touchbacks.
Heisman Trophy winner/#1 pick Kyler Murray, who played under Lincoln Riley at OU from 2017-18, video messages Trey Wright after 2028 QB commits to USC
“You’re in great hands!”
Is this the type of recruit you take if you’re going to be running a balanced offense with a powerful running attack?
Indiana, Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama.and ND did not offer.
Sounds like a perfect fit for an air raid offense. So much for….he is learning.
Did you read his stats for his sophomore season?
nope……help me out
National Total Yardage Leader: Wright led all of HS football nationally in total yardage during his soph campaign. He accumulated 5,860 total yds (4,062 passing and 1,798 rushing), outgaining every single varsity QB in America, including juniors and seniors. 2025: Led Lone Star to a 15-1 record and Texas 5A D-I state runner-up finish in a breakout soph season. Threw for 4,042 yds, 38 TDs, and 7 INTs on 211-for-313 passing (.674). Ran for 1,798 yds and 16 TDs on 10.8 ypc (163 attempts). Logged five 300-yd passing performances, including 502 in a 58-38 state quarterfinal win against Highland Park.… Read more »
WOW I thought those stats were a mistake or something when I first saw them. It looks as though he may have some promise in the future, ya think?
Riley just inked a great QB, who excels at running and passing. And you are complaining? Would you feel better if he signed a QB who was a great runner with no arm? I will take Kyler’s endorsement over yours.
I ran into an interesting statistic about kickers a while back. Kickers are often the leading scorers in football. I’ve always thought of them as an extra player who added very little to the game, however they usually score when a team stalls out in field goal range and almost after every touchdown. The rest of the scoring is spread out over multiple players. As a side note when I read this story in today’s paper I noticed a mistake, which is corrected in your reprint. It said, “Kamari Ramsey had an ‘interceptions’ (plural)” which begs the question… did you… Read more »
I usually edit stories, throwing in my own color, photos, facts, words, minor corrections, etc. And I often update them, or combine and correlate with other stories or my own content to fully round out a theme, opinion, or fill in uncovered gaps, always giving credit to other authors.
In this instance, there was no need for me to edit your point. because I was working off the on-line version which was correct.
I still think of kickers as an extra person(not player) who adds very little to the game. I wouldn’t call them players. Most of them can’t tackle or block or perform the fundamentals of football. If the kick returner or punt returner gets past your special teams and the last man to make the tackle is the kicker….the chances of that happening are slim and none and none has a lot better chance than slim.They should do something about the field goals…maybe narrow the posts. Extra points should require the team to run a play to get it. Kicking it… Read more »
I agree pretty much that specializing on only one aspect of the game is not the sport I grew up with. Until I was about 10 years old players went both ways playing offense and defense. Then platooning became a thing. During my high school years kickoffs were about the only kind of kick seen at that level. High School teams I saw rarely kicked an extra point. Nobody wanted to be the kicker and field goals were unheard of. I saw a high school team punt after stalling at the 12 yard line when I was in high school.… Read more »
And then, there’s always this!
Absolute Gold!
Guess 007 thinks the Rose Bowl should have ended in a tie. When it’s my team I will take a game winning FG anytime!
It doesn’t have to end in a tie. Surely, we can find some way to let real football players determine the final score
The opening day is getting closer and the anticipation around my house is crazy. I never realized when I married my wife I would have to deal with a total college football fanatic. She makes it fun and it sure gives us something to either talk about or debate about. I sure hope all of you are getting as excited as we are.