Reloaded USC ready to debut Lincoln Riley’s signature offense
Riley had a top-10 scoring offense in each of his seven seasons at Oklahoma
Adam Grosbard (OC Register) — When USC announced the hiring of Lincoln Riley in November, there were many reasons for optimism. A new energy on the recruiting path, a coach with College Football Playoff experience, a level of legitimacy that USC had not enjoyed for several seasons.
But perhaps the biggest reason for excitement surrounding Riley’s hiring: His high-scoring and creative offense.
In each of his seven seasons at Oklahoma as both offensive coordinator and head coach, Riley’s offenses ranked at least No. 8 in points per game. He turned Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray into Heisman Trophy winners, not to mention producing high-end NFL talent such as Mark Andrews, CeeDee Lamb and Joe Mixon.
Saturday’s season opener against Rice will be the first opportunity to see how Riley implements his iteration of the Air Raid at USC after spending an off-season remolding the roster into his image (more on that in a moment).
It’s difficult to predict exactly what the season will hold for USC. The natural growing pains that come with a new coaching staff and a bundle of new players all across the field make predictions mere speculation.
But a high-powered offense under Riley is a near certainty.
“Coach Riley, he’s a mastermind, so he’s got all that stuff up in his head. I don’t know where he puts it all,” quarterback Caleb Williams said. “It’s one of the reasons why I came here, because of his adaptability to being able to adapt to his quarterbacks and certain personnel.”
Now, as for that personnel …
Quarterback
Williams’ transfer from Oklahoma in February was an important moment for this offense. He provides Riley a quarterback who knows his system and already has his trust, not to mention one that fits exactly what Riley wants to do with his mobility and arm strength.
Behind Williams is redshirt freshman Miller Moss, who made a strong impression at camp, though his preference for playing in the pocket would give the offense a very different look if he takes the field.
Running Back
Despite losing Keaontay Ingram to the NFL draft, USC added a lot of intriguing talent to this room to go alongside Darwin Barlow, who rushed 62 times for 289 yards last season.
The biggest addition is former Oregon running back Travis Dye, who accrued 1,673 total yards from scrimmage last season while rushing for 16 touchdowns. He has averaged at least 6.0 ypc each of the last three seasons and his ability to contribute in the pass game will make him a valuable asset.
USC also added Stanford transfer Austin Jones and blue-chip freshman Raleek Brown, whose speed should make him an option not only in the backfield but out at the slot, too.
Wide Receiver
This is the unit that got perhaps the biggest influx of talent across the entire USC roster. The headliner, without question, is Biletnikoff winner Jordan Addison, whose top-end speed made him a no-brainer addition in May despite all the other receivers USC added prior to spring camp.
Former Oklahoma wideout Mario Williams provides Riley and Caleb Williams (no relation) a familiar target to work with, and also has noticeable speed on the field. Brenden Rice gives USC a bigger target at 6-foot-2, while Terrell Bynum is a needed veteran presence in the room.
And don’t forget returners such as Gary Bryant, Tahj Washington and Kyron Hudson competing for snaps.
Tight End
This position has already been hit by injury with Jude Wolfe requiring surgery and Josh Falo missing much of camp. Falo was back practicing on Tuesday, but Lake McRee figures to be the first-team H-back while veteran Malcolm Epps fills the traditional tight end role.
Offensive line
USC returns four players who started along the line at some point last season, and three have settled into their roles. Long-time stalwarts Brett Neilon and Andrew Vorhees will man center and left guard, respectively, while redshirt sophomore Jonah Monheim will take over right tackle. And newly-crowned team captain Justin Dedich will step into the right guard job.
The one question that remains for the line is who will take over the left tackle job. Courtland Ford started eight games at the position last year for USC, but the Trojans added Virginia grad transfer Bobby Haskins during the winter. The two are still battling for the starting job, a competition that could spill over into the Rice game.
ocregister.com
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Great opening night. Really enjoyed the WV/Pitt game. The story line for SC fans was great. A former SC OC gets a change to show that he never got a fair chance at SC and the freed from the shadow of The Cat, he would shine. Former SC QB and Mater Dei great JT gets a chance to show that Kedon should have never beat him out. And, the opposing QB is Kedon. And, Pat Narducci gets to show Jordan Addison that he made a mistake in leaving PItt. What a story line. My take: HH showed that is still… Read more »
Kedon, Erratic Sack Machine, that’s a good one. Lots of other good points RJJ. JT could regress back with GH, hope he has a plan B, hard to see him in the NFL unless his team and OC step it up. Kedon looks the classic pocket QB but doesn’t have much once the blocking breaks down. Yes, glad all 3 are gone. Looking forward to a show tomorrow
Will JT be Canada bound?
Neither Slovis nor Daniels look like an NFL QB to me. Neither has a quick enough release or the accuracy, and both have zippo escapability.
It’s funny how things turned out for both those guys as well as Dart. USC spits out QBs like nobody’s business. Either that, or the school makes Heisman winners out of them. It looks like we’re back on the right track with Caleb Williams, so ruthlessly stolen from OU by LR, just doing his job. ✌
I agree on Slovis. Not certain on JT. JT is certainly not a starter. But, he might make a back up or practice squad QB. I think SC will now start choosing far better QB talent. LR is expert at choosing talent and then developing it. If LR wants a QB, a kid would be nuts not to take the offer. Dart was not going to beat out Caleb and probably was not going to accept a back up role, so he left. The kid from Los Al is willing to wait a year. My guess is Miller Moss transfers… Read more »
Watching oft-injured JT last night made me think he’s gonna get hurt again.
He takes some mind-numbing blows and has a habit of getting hit while awkwardly throwing. I couldn’t believe some of his “ducks” turned out to be completions last night. Against a better secondary, those are picks.
Maybe things will change for JT now that he shaved off that ridiculous stache he “tried” to grow.
Agree. I doubt either JT or Slovis make through the season. JT is a bit more mobile than Slovis, but that is not saying a lot. But, JT has a much worse OL and a scheme that requires him to throw a lot. Hence, he will take more hits. Slovis will take some really bad hits as his is simply not very athletic, even though his OL is decent and the scheme is based on the run. Slovis going against a quality DL is a terrifying thought if I am Slovis’ parents.
Boy, we are so lucky USC didn’t hire Franklin. Not sure he ever was a real candidate. But he sure gets a lot of publicity g
for a mediocre coach.
Please win Boilers!
In 1891, Purdue’s football team put a 44-0 beating on its rivals at the liberal arts Wabash College in nearby Crawfordsville, Indiana. Afterward, one write-up on the game appeared in the Daily Argus-News under the headline, “Wabash Snowed Completely Under by the Burly Boiler Makers from Purdue.” The name stuck.
Purdue has a funky helmet design on the front. Up close, it’s clear it’s a set of train tracks. Further out, it looks like the stitching on a football, like a Super Bowl Trophy.
Fun 4th Q. Do not know why Purdue did not keep running the ball and then punt on that last drive. But, I had not watched the game until the 4th Q. I really like Joel Klatt as an announcer. I thought he added a lot to the game.
My theory is that PSU simply owns PUR. Last night was a classic example. The Nits are now 16-3-1 all-time against the Boilermakers. The last time PUR actually beat PSU was 2004, 18 years ago. Last night Franklin’s crew moved down the field on PUR with ease and put together a flawless drive when it mattered. PUR was suddenly helpless and just got blitzed. We used to call these performances like we saw last night from PUR “choke jobs”. In today’s world that’s an unacceptable term, but never more accurate. Urban Meyer actually credited PSU’s defense (not the offense) with… Read more »
Had SC hired Franklin I could see a lot of fans moving on.
Instead, USC went over-the-top to magically steal legend-before-his-time Lincoln Riley, and I’ve never seen so many people suddenly intrigued by USC football, some of whom are former hard-core fans.
USC broadly owns the CFB media landscape in a way I haven’t seen before, even during the Bush years. Just insane national curiosity with villains and heroes all over the place, and LR in the middle.
Pitt/WVU, what a great game to open the college football season.
Perdue/Penn St is close back and forth.
Thanks….on it now
As an SC fan from 3000 miles away videos like this are just GREAT to view >>>>> (from today titled” Lincoln Riley Breaks Down USC’s 1st Depth Chart “) Lincoln Riley breaks down USC football’s first depth chart of the 2022 season – YouTube
Pitt-West Virginia 24 all starting the fourth. Fun to watch and it is very strange watching Slovis on another team, but he looks good and more decisive and healthier than last year. He definitely made the right decision to leave and reinvent himself. JT looks good, but still hangs on to the ball too long. Either Pitt’s D is better or West Virginia’s O-Line is making the one he had at SC look good . He’s taken a lot of hits. I wish them both much success.
Slower-than-molasses Slovis is gonna get sacked another 6-7 times a game if he doesn’t finally learn to throw the ball sooner. Some things never change.
Slovis 16/24 308 yds 1 td 0 int
Daniels 23/39 214 yds 2 td 1 int
After watching this very entertaining Backyard Brawl, I’m very glad neither one of these former Trojans is taking snaps for USC any longer.
USC is going to be so much better than both WV and PITT, with Heisman candidate Caleb Williams and Miller Moss dialing it up to far superior WRs.
May be just me, but it looks like Slovis is a smaller version of his USC self. Could it be Pitt’s o-line is bigger than USC’s was last year?
Penn St ranked 17????? They are not any better than 30. The east coast Franklin hype again.
Graham Harrell offense at it’s finest. Throw it to the same guy 35 times.
If Kedon’s receivers had hands they would be killing WV. I lost count all the catchable balls they have let go incomplete.
Ha, I was thinking same thing about Daniels’ WV receivers. Seems his receivers are dropping a lot too.
Neither PITT nor WV looks like much with 6 mins to go in the 2nd Q.
I’m rooting for JT (thankfully he finally ditched the bad semi-Tombstone stache) and the Mountaineers over all-world charmer Pat Narduzzi’s PITT Crybabies. Bad penalties, sloppiness, drops, turnovers. This reminds me of Clay Helton football so far. The long shadow of The Cat somehow lives. Go Mountaineers!
“semi-Tombstone stache”…Boom! Great call, I knew I had seen Daniels’ look somewhere, and you brought it home. Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday.
Anyone watching the game? So far both JT and Kedon have had good moments. I have no idea why, but I’m rooting for JT.
They look pretty even, neither is really mobile. Can’t wait to see Williams show his wheels.
The new era of college football. Two So Cal kids at QB, but JT Daniels looks like he’s from West Virginia. I can say that, as I grew up in that neck of the woods, and it was the woods. But on the West Bank of the Ohio from all those Pittsburgh and West Virginia yinzers.
I’m in the woods now in eastern washington.
Those are some beautiful woods.
My homeland woods are a hollowed out, meth, opioid addicted hellscape. Industrial capitalism > financial capitalism.
Really?
Who is Max Chadwick. I like his thinking. Is he from PFF?
Who ever he is I hope he is right.
Chicago — Washington meets with B1G “consultants representing the schools and the Big Ten” and not university presidents or conference commissioner Kevin Warren.
deseret.com
So Tom’s Life Isn’t Perfect After All “Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady‘s -still unexplained absence for 11 days of training camp continues to be a hot topic in league circles. And things are about to get even hotter, in more ways than one. “The New York Post reports, via its notorious Page Six gossip column, that Brady and his wife, Gisele Bundchen, have had “a series of heated arguments” after Brady decided to return to the NFL earlier this year, following a 40-day retirement… “To date, Brady has explained the situation simply by saying, “I’m 45 years old, man. There’s a lot of shit… Read more »
LOL ……Family member asked if I am planning my ENTIRE Saturday around USC’s opening game ….My response ? …….Absolutely ! ……….FIGHT ON !!!!!
EVERY Saturday is built around the USC game. Hope you enjoy it.
Yes, yes I am. I will be unavailable on most Saturdays for anything other than real emergencies.
Even then call 911 during a tv timeout.
Yes but do you have your game-day shirt and your Sunday go to meetin’ shirt laid out yet. (I wear one on Sunday and occasionally (when we win) put my “God is a Trojan” button on it.