USC Trojans' Lincoln Riley Gives Injury Updates Before Missouri State

USC Trojans coach Lincoln Riley is spoke to the media after practice as USC prepares for their game against the Missouri State Bears on Saturday, Aug. 30 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. This will kick off Riley's fourth season as USC coach.

Jul 24, 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA; USC head coach Lincoln Riley speaks to the media during the Big Ten NCAA college football media days at Mandalay Bay Resort. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images | Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images

The USC Trojans finally get their 2025 regular season underway on Saturday, Aug. 30 against the Missouri State Bears at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. 

Trojans coach Lincoln Riley spoke to the media on Tuesday as he prepares to begin his fourth season as USC coach.

What Riley Said:

Dec 27, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley reacts after the game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Injury Updates to Jahkeem Stewart and Caden Chittenden

Chittenden won’t play. He’s not ready yet. Jahkeem, probably 50/50 right now. Will be close, end up being a game time-decision on if we end up playing him or not. He’s close either way so it’s not going to be long term. Got to see how he progresses. 

Plan at Kicker

Ryon (Sayeri) will handle both kickoff and all the field goals and extra points. He’s had a great camp. Kicking at a really high level. We’re fortunate to have two good ones and obviously working to get Caden back healthy. He’s had just a couple little setbacks here…We’re not comfortable yet turning him loose full go so. No matter what’s happened there, Ryan has been outstanding all camp…He’s been awesome.

Younger Guys

There’s a lot of excitement. Especially for your freshman, they are so used to playing scrimmages and doing all that in high schools and all of a sudden you don’t have that. And this camp is long and all of a sudden you’re going to be in the Coliseum and somebody is going to be on the other sideline. It’s going to be real.

Starting Line

Killian (O'Connor) is going to start. He’s been the most consistent player. I think we’ll certainly play J'Onre (Reed). J'Onre is absolutely going to factor in for our offensive line, no question about it. That was and has been and continues to be a good battle, but those guys have helped each other and are kind of feeding off on another which is been good for our entire offensive line. I just think for us right now it’s trying to get the best five on the field. 

Running Backs 

I think we’ve obviously seen Waymond (Jordan) carry the ball a lot. He’s had a lot of college carries and so I think there’s a confidence there and that combined with what we see on the practice field, we felt like he was the most steady guy. But Ell (Sanders) is right there. Bryan (Jackson) and King (Miller) are right there. 

Riley’s Fall Camp MVP

I think Elijah Newby has really improved…I feel like (Kam) Fountain has really improved. I think Christian Pierce has really improved. I think Walker Lyons has really improved. 

Jayden Maiava to Start Week One for Trojans

Nov 23, 2024; Pasadena, California, USA; USC Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava (14) celebrates the win over UCLA at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images | Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

Lincoln Riley named Jayden Maiava the USC starting quarterback at Big Ten media days back in July. This didn’t come as a surprise, but many teams around the country typically don’t name their starter that early on. This shows that Riley has confidence in Maiava. 

Maiava started the final four games for Riley and the Trojans in 2024. He went 3-1 in those games with wins over the Nebraska Cornhuskers, UCLA Bruins, and Texas A&M Aggies, while losing to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. 

Maiava transferred to USC after redshirting and then spending his redshirt freshman season with the UNLV Rebels in 2023. For the first nine games of the 2024 season with USC, he sat behind quarterback Miller Moss. USC had a record of 4-5 with Moss. This was while USC’s defense was completely revamped and improved under first year defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn.

While Moss had some good games, the inability for USC to close games was still enough for Riley to make the move from him to Maiava. Now, Maiava enters Week One as the starter. 

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Year Four for Lincoln Riley

Nov 23, 2024; Pasadena, California, USA; USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley during the fourth quarter against the UCLA Bruins at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images | Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

Lincoln Riley’s tenure with the USC Trojans got off to a red hot start, turning a four-win team in 2021 to an 11-win team in 2022. Since then, their win total has gone down dramatically, In 2023, USC went 8-5 and then in 2024 they went 7-6. Will 2025 be the season where Riley gets his team back to the double digit mark?

It won’t be easy as they enter their second season as a member of the Big Ten. USC will have an expectation to be towards the top of the Big Ten. This doesn't necessarily mean they should make the College Football Playoff, but finishing tied for ninth in the conference like they did a year ago will not be considered a success.