‘He’s a special guy.’ USC invests in teaching Raleek Brown how to play a bigger role
Ryan Kartje (LA Times) — His potential, as a former five-star prospect, has never been in question. But now, as Raleek Brown enters his second season at USC, his future position might be.
The electric Santa Ana Mater Dei High product played strictly running back as a freshman, tallying 402 total yards and six touchdowns during a season slowed early by a high ankle sprain. This spring, however, Brown has been lining up largely at receiver as USC experiments with new ways to integrate the dynamic, all-purpose athlete into its offense.
USC coach Lincoln Riley said the intent in moving Brown around this spring is “to get a full idea of what he really can handle.”
“We’ve been pushing him mentally,” Riley said. “He’s done a good job responding. We’re putting him in some new positions. He’s learning, but also he has a natural athleticism and an explosion that makes him fit a lot of places.”
Where Brown might best fit on a football field had been a question long before he arrived at USC. As a freshman at Stockton Edison High, Brown caught 31 passes for 741 yards, averaging nearly 24 yards per reception. During his first two seasons at Edison, he caught 18 touchdowns.
At Mater Dei, Brown played more of a bit part as a receiver, catching 12 passes in nine games. But as his senior season went along, then Mater Dei coach Bruce Rollinson began to experiment with lining up Brown all over the field or sending him into motion to manufacture mismatches. Just the threat of his speed forced defenses to take notice.
“He could take over a football game at any time,” Rollinson said last fall.
Brown showed flashes of that game-breaking potential as a freshman, even striking a Heisman pose after scoring his first touchdown during USC’s season opener. But the ankle injury he suffered that first Saturday lingered. Brown was limited to 21 touches during the nine games that followed, stunting his progress.
Raleek Brown strikes a Heisman Trophy pose after scoring a TD against RICE on Sept. 3 at the Coliseum. (Ashley Landis / AP)
It wasn’t until November that he finally got back on track, finishing with four touchdowns during USC’s final five games.
“That kind of put him on hold,” Riley said in early March when asked about Brown’s ankle injury. “I think his role and what he was able to do at a high level increased as the year went on, and I think the offseason has been a nice chance to take a step back with him and really identify, ‘Here’s what you did well, here’s where you’ve got to become more consistent and more dependable and really understand the entire offense and your role in it.’ ”
That wasn’t always the case in his first season, as Brown sometimes struggled to grasp his responsibilities without the ball in his hands.
“Certainly he’s an explosive player and you want to have those guys out there, but those players, they’ve got to be able to play the plays when they don’t have the ball,” Riley said. “That’s what he improved at and that’s been our push to him, that natural second-year jump where you really understand the offense, your preparation goes up, your mental focus level goes up. … I feel like he’s growing up. He’s handled things better this offseason, his approach is better, so he’s just gotta keep going.”
Coaches say he has embraced that challenge. In response, they’ve added another position to his plate.
Brown played one snap out of the slot last season. Now he’s spending most of his days there, learning a new role where he might not even be featured in the fall.
His quarterback likes what he sees so far, at least, even if Brown still has to learn the finer points of the position.
“He’s a special guy, special talent,” Caleb Williams said of Brown. “His hands are a lot better than probably what people think. His route running, we’re working on it. He played running back for a year, and a lot of times, in high school, he wasn’t running the routes he is now. We’re working on it, but he has a natural talent for it.”
Raleek Brown is congratulated by QB Caleb Williams after scoring a TD against TULANE in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 2 in Arlington, Texas.(Sam Hodde / AP)
How much he’ll use that talent at receiver in the fall is still to be determined. But the depth USC suddenly has at running back makes it a lot easier to deploy Brown in the slot instead.
Riley said Tuesday that USC’s running backs have “been a real bright spot” during spring practice. Both he and running backs coach Kiel McDonald heaped praise especially on true freshmen A’Marion Peterson and Quinten Joyner.
“Those two young guys are going to be very good players at USC, very good players,” McDonald said.
Where that leaves Brown in a potential five-back rotation remains to be seen. But for the time being, USC’s backfield depth means more time for Brown elsewhere.
“With having five guys back there that we’re pretty excited about, it’s allowed us to move Raleek around,” Riley said. “We’re just trying to evaluate it, expose these guys to a lot, and then we’ll start to narrow it down as we get closer to fall.”
latimes.com
_________
TrojanDailyBlog members — We always encourage you to add information, insight, divergent opinions, or new topics to the TDB which don’t necessarily pertain to any particular moderator post or member comment.
The best offensive weapons are multifaceted. The defense never knows how to cover them. That takes away one or two players on defense. Even if he’s not involved in the play he is involved as a decoy and if the defense believes he’s a decoy and doesn’t cover him, he’s the play. I like this type of genius.
That sounds like an unbeatable recipe for putting Reggie Bush in the backfield offset against Lendale White on the play that cost USC the NC in the Rose Bowl vs TEXAS. I’ll never understand it. 
Devan Thompkins has “started to flash” 247Sports.com — The Trojans brought in another cadre of veteran players from the transfer portal this year. However, they’ve also kept their eyes on players previously holding spots on the roster. Second-year freshman DL Devan Thompkins (6-5, 260; Stockton Edison) is one player the Trojans have monitored with great interest this spring. “We’re messing with him a little bit at several positions,” Lincoln Riley said. “He’s worked mostly three technique and then some of the field end for us here. He’s doing some good things. Playing inside for him is a little new, but you… Read more »
Ken Nuimatalolo to ucla. That place could sure use him.
Niumatalolo led NAVY for 15 years and was the winningest coach in school history at 109-83. The roof caved in eventually, because the Midshipmen finished with losing records the past three seasons, including 4-8 the past two. NAVY finished the season with four or fewer wins three years in a row and are 2-5 in the past seven matchups with ARMY and 2-5 against AIR in the same span. After NAVY’s 20-17 double-OT loss to rival ARMY last season, NAVY AD Chet Gladchuk immed and coldly fired Niumatalolo in the locker room. Gladchuk initially explained the sudden firing to a… Read more »
As predicted by all for quite a while now, and after a long wait and much anticipation, #1 2023 TE Duce Robinson says he is officially headed to USC over GA and TEXAS. “USC is USC,” Robinson said. His USC signing moved the Trojans ahead of ORE as the Pac-12’s #1 2023 recruiting class, the first time since 2018 USC has won the conference recruiting title. “Southern California is beautiful, I’ve got great relationships with all of these guys in this class and I’ve got a great relationship already with Caleb Williams. It doesn’t hurt to have a great relationship… Read more »
He puts USC in the top 10 recruiting class.
USC is lucky to get the top offensive coach in the nation in Coach Riley.
It was a great job by Bohn.
All that remains is to show that the defense can at least be average.
But will give Coach Grinch a mulligan as he did not inherit a average defense
but a bad defense.
I will always say it was a great job by Sosna. He is tearing it up at Detroit so far. They love him.
Agreed. Bohn has been a lifesaver for USC. Carol Folt deserves a lot of credit for bringing him aboard. Hopefully, Grinch finally steps up to the plate.