Everything USC Coach Lincoln Riley Said Before Facing San José State

USC Trojans coach Lincoln Riley made an appearance on "Trojans Live" on Monday evening. Here is everything he said as the Trojans get ready for their season opener this Saturday against the San Jose State Spartans.

On Fall Camp and New Facility

usc trojans lincoln riley trojans live show san jose state spartans game week gary patterson defensive coordinator big ten — Jul 28, 2026; Chicago, IL, USA; USC Football head coach Lincoln Riley speaks during Media Days at Hilton Chicago. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“The new facility combined with training camp, it’s been awesome. It's honestly difficult to describe how much it changes what we do on a daily basis. I mean, the life of our staff, the life of our players, from how we meet. The recovery is maybe the single biggest advantage that this has versus what we were in before."

"Just the efficiency of the operation. And that's kind of the battle in college football right now. It’s like how efficient can you be with your team's time and your staff's time really, too, because it it's so limited."

"You're trying to get a lot done in a really, really short amount of time and then it compounds throughout the season. So the more efficient you are, you feel the effects of it early, we're feeling it now, but what's going to happen is we're going to feel it more and more as the season goes on. And then we're going to feel it more and more as these years go on."

"And that's where the value of having Bloom — this was something that we knew right away coming here, this needed to happen in some form or fashion. Fortunately give a ton of credit to everybody at USC, following through and not just getting it done and checking the box, but building the best facility in the country, which is what they've done."

"We were just talking off air. This place is fabulous. It blows your mind anybody that goes in there for the first time. It's incredible and we're learning more and more of how to use it and how to be better in it.”

What’s Been Special About This Fall Camp

“I would say the you know each year here the the depth, especially on the lines of scrimmage has gotten just better and better each year. I thought last year was our best overall year on both sides that way, but this is set up to be a different level there right now which is pretty exciting."

"And I think the the amount of talent, the amount of depth, the amount of position battles, the amount of reps we're able to get with this many guys out there on the field and this many quality players that you really want to develop. You envision these guys, whether it's beginning of this season, whether it's end of this season, whether it's in the future, having big roles on this football team, it's pretty cool to see."

"And so that that certainly changes like how you operate camp and the number of competitive reps you're able to get and the quality of reps that maybe when the ones go off the field that you don't feel that much of a dip and even now when the twos go off the field, there's maybe there's a dip in experience but there's not a much of a dip in talent and like that's what you want it to feel like."

"It creates competition at these levels. If you're not playing at a high level, you're going to get moved down. And even the guys that are taking reps as a two or three, you're taking them against other really good players. So, it's that whole iron sharpens iron, right? And that's real in football. And the more of that that you have, it's great on game day, but actually the preparation leading up to it like it's just as important for that.”

Team Chemistry After Spring and Fall Camps

“Further along in several areas with this team in training camp compared to the previous years. Further along schematically, I think because of all that time, and there's just less new guys. And then, as you said, the team chemistry point, which when you bring in as many new players as we've had between the transfers and the big high school class that we signed, that's obviously going to be important."

"I know that's been a big topic over the last few years in college football is how do you create chemistry with all these new people and having those guys, having over 90 percent of our roster here the entire calendar year and not just getting some of them in spring and some of them in summer is huge because those bonds have already started to form."

"We were able to lay out in the very beginning what we felt like was really important for the team in terms of this team's identity, what we're going to emphasize, and then that's got time to really take hold with the entire team. I think we were much further ahead in so many ways. It felt like you're like at the beginning of camp, and you almost felt like you were like mid camp, even getting closer to the season, like in the beginning in so many ways, which was cool.”

Wide Receiver Outlook

“We had a good room (last year) and we had some position battles that were close and sometimes as a coach you wanted to say, ‘All right, well, it's a close battle. Let's play them 50/50 in the game.’ And sometimes that's great. It builds depth and all that, but also it can hurt your rhythm at times."

"That was some self-evaluation for us last year is even battles that we felt like were close, we were going to try to play starters like starters and and play backups like backups, even if you know a guy won a battle, 51 to 49, right? We're still going to play them like starters and backups. And I think that served us well."

"We’ll still try to get to that, but we've obviously got some guys that we got to figure out. Where those are and obviously a lot of new names, new faces in there. My expectations for that room are no different than our expectations last year. Expect us to be extremely productive and think we got the guys to do it. But we got some guys that got to go prove it and they're going to get their chance here quickly.”

Offensive Line

“We're going to start Tobias at center. I think it worked out well for us that Killian wasn't available in spring so Tobias took you know a ton of reps this spring as did several other players and we've still got four centers on the roster that can play. Which, I've never had five and even losing Killian, we’ve got four."

"Whether it's Kaylon Miller, whether it's Willi Wascher, Kannon Smith, a young guy we really, really like, we're still fine at that position and we do have the depth to withstand it. And I think the biggest thing with Killian is just, losing kind of that leader and that general, right?"

"But, we've got some other guys that are like that. I mean, Tobias, thank goodness, not only is a good player, but he's played a lot for us and is really emerging as a strong leader. And we got a really veteran group. And then we do have some young guys that are really pushing. And so yeah, the depth there in terms of not just the starting five, but then who are six, seven, and eight, who are who's the second O-line, who makes a travel squad. Like there's some there’s some tough decisions that are upcoming, but that's what you want it to feel like.”

Identify of Defense

“I think certainly the depth, talent on the defensive line. That's probably the headliner in some ways. But I tell you the group that I was maybe just as impressed or more impressed with any during camp was our linebacking core."

"I felt like leaving the season last year, I felt like that was a group that we really needed to take a a step up, in terms of especially the physicality at the point of attack. How we address blocks, how we close space. We've had some pretty good athletic guys that have been able to make some plays in coverage and plays in space."

"And obviously in this day and age, that's still really important, but so much especially in this league it's like inside drill, and you've got to be able to go take on big offensive linemen and close space. That's really the game is defensively, how much space can you close and offensively, how much space can you create, right? Obviously, people think about defensive line and obviously they have a huge hand in that as well, but yeah, our linebackers I thought really stepped up through spring and through camp."

"I think we have some high-end players there. I think some of the guys that have played for us in the past. I think Desman Stephens has made one of the biggest jumps as a player. He has been really, really good. Just really throughout this entire time. I think he's really taken to coach Patterson's scheme. And I think just like that going through that year last year and playing and he had some great moments. He had some tough moments. It feels like he's kind of really ready to come into his own as a player."

"Jadyn Walker continues to grow and he is maybe the most talented guy that we have in the room. I really have liked what we've seen out of Deven Bryant the transfer. He is maybe our steadiest guy there. Always in the right place, very physical. Always in a great frame of mind. I've been really pleased with him. And then and uh you know Ta’Mere Robinson's done some really nice things."

"We've really liked Talanoa Ili. A freshman that has come in and taken to it as well. That position was a little bit of a question mark coming in for me in terms of depth and like what's that going to look like and feel like a lot of the guys have just surged and what I felt like was a question mark now I expect to be a strength for us defensively.”

Gary Patterson

“You have to be a leader of men, right? You have to be somebody that can manage people and and control that side. That has to happen. And I think you feel that with with coach Patterson's experience. I mean, you just do. You feel like this guy's not just calling plays, right? This guy's not it's not just schematic."

"There's there there's kind of a next step to this and helping us cultivate the mentality that we want defensively. Making sure that everybody's on the same page and in the right frame of mind. And that's coaching staff, that's players, that's everyone."

"And that's the job of a that's a job of a head coach. That's a job in their own areas of a coordinator. And I think you feel him there as much as anything. And then I think too, defensively, there's a certain intensity level that's got to hit to play great defense. And you feel his intensity. I mean, you feel it every single day. You feel it on the practice field. You feel in the walkthrough. And I think that has certainly carried over to our players.”

Alex VanSumeren’s Leadership

“Once we got a chance to get to know him a little bit through that process, we felt like that was some qualities that he would bring and that was something that we were targeting honestly. We we knew we had a talented defensive line. We had some young guys and some guys that maybe aren't as experienced or maybe aren't as far along in the leadership world that are going to be really good players, but you need kind of those glue guys. And with Alex, we feel like we kind of hit both."

"We feel like we’ve got a glue guy for the defensive line. We've got an experienced player in this league and a guy who's also come in and been very impactful on the practice field. He ended up being the perfect fit for the D-line. I thought he represented us great at media days. He was he was phenomenal. He spoke Salute to Troy and obviously had everybody cranked up and you could kind of feel his intensity just right there."

"There's a seriousness and intensity about this guy that honestly meshes good with some of the other big personalities that we have in the defensive line room. And he leads that group and it's been very healthy.”

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