USC Fans Will Love What Anthony Jones Said About Running Back Riley Wormley

USC Trojans redshirt freshman running back Riley Wormley suffered a significant knee injury midway through his senior season of high school.

The Lone Star State native enrolled early last spring but continued to work his way back during the 2025 season. USC has been cautious with injuries, and the Trojans were in no rush with Wormley’s rehab process. And over a year after his initial injury, Wormley made his collegiate debut in early November in a win over Northwestern.

Valuable Experience in Freshman Campaign

USC Trojans Lincoln Riley Injury Riley Wormley King Miller Waymond Jordan Deshonne Redeaux Recruiting Spring Practice — USC Trojans redshirt freshman running back Riley Wormley | USC Trojans on SI

Wormley saw reps down the stretch against UCLA in the regular season finale, where he served as the teams No. 2 running back and TCU in the Alamo Bowl.

Overall, Wormley saw action in three games. He was able to redshirt and gained valuable game experience, especially considering there were questions whether or not he would be available at all during his true freshman season.

“That kid has been itching at the bit. You have to calm Riley down sometimes because he only knows one speed,” said running backs coach Anthony Jones. “There's no such thing as a walk-thru for him. He doesn't comprehend what the word walk means because everything he does is full speed, which is one of the things that you love about him. He's a young man who just loves football. He's over the top and loves it, and his injury didn't derail him at all.

"He had to go through the process of getting medically cleared, and I'm pretty sure, just like he bugged me every day, he bugged out medical staff about clearing them, and they finally cleared him, and he hasn't looked back since. Since they cleared him, he hasn't missed a day of any offseason activity, any practice, any training, any reps at all. We’re excited about him.”

This is Wormley’s first true offseason with the program. A real opportunity to work with Jones on the field and strength coach Trumain Carroll, not just on a rehab basis.

Running Back Depth

USC returns its two leading rushers from last season in King Miller and Waymond Jordan.

Jordan underwent a cleanup procedure on his ankle, which kept him out of spring practice, but he is expected to be fully cleared in the summer and give the Trojans a dynamic one-two punch in its backfield. The question becomes what does the rest of the running back look like. Wormley is competing with a pair of four-star running backs from USC’s No. 1 recruiting class in Deshonne Redeaux and Shahn Alston to be the No. 3 tailback.

Last season, the Trojans used a ton of two back formations with Jordan and Eli Sanders. But after numerous injuries to the room by the midway point of the season, those formations were used less often. Could we see Lincoln Riley get back to the former in 2026 with a retooled backfield?

"At the end of the day we just want to help each other win," Jones said. "One of the things I love about this room is their unselfish accountability of being who they are, being their true self and they truly love to see each other succeed. Whether it's one back on the field or two backs. Number one, they know they have to do their job at a high level, and the second thing is when one person has success, the other person has success too and that's how they feed off each other.

"I think coach Riley is awesome when it comes to packaging personnel and doing right by our young men. We understand there's one football but its multiple ways to get those guys the ball in space."

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