USC's Lincoln Riley Teases Future Scholarship For Breakout Star King Miller

The USC Trojans picked up a statement win on Saturday, beating the Michigan Wolverines 31-13. Trojans coach Lincoln Riley made his weekly appearance on Trojans Live to discuss his biggest takeaways from the game. Riley was extremely impressed with King Miller, who is currently a walk-on and rushed for 158 yards and a touchdown in the victory.

What Lincoln Riley Said

USC Trojans Lincoln Riley Michigan Wolverines Notre Dame Fighting Irish King Miller Walk-On Jayden Maiava Big Ten Coliseum — Oct 11, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley (wearing white visor) celebrates along with defensive end coach Shaun Nua after kicker Ryon Sayeri (48) hit a 54-yard field goal in the second half against the Michigan Wolverines at United Airlines Field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

King Miller, Kaylon Miller, Walk-On Steals

"He’s (King) a heck of a player. He was actually one of the first, him and his brother Kaylon who’s obviously a walk-on lineman for us, neither one of them for long. I and a couple other coaches saw them pretty quickly after I got the job here out recruiting and just kind of kept our eye on them."

"We liked them. We weren’t at the point where we were going to offer them, but just kind of kept an eye on them and nothing shook through and it was able to work out for those guys to enter the program that way. They’re both great kids. Come from a tremendous family. They’re both really good players," Riley said.

"They’re both impacting our team already. They’re both going to have the opportunity to do it more and more as time goes through. That was a total steal for us to be completely honest," he continued.

Coliseum Atmopshere, Home Field Advantage in College Football

"With the way the team competed and performed. The way that the Coliseum and our home crowd was a big factor in the game like it should be in a big time home game. It’s important. You look at the statistics across college football through the years...it’s more slanted in college football than virtually any other team sport."

"It shows you great teams got to go play great on the road, but your home field has to be an advantage. You create that different ways. The team coming out prepared with energy and playing well, but certainly having that support and that atmosphere and making life difficult for the opponent is a real thing."

"How fun was that? For everybody to be involved. For our players, our team, for our fans. When we’re all engaged, when we’re all passionate about it, when everybody is really invested in doing their part, it makes for memorable nights like that and there’s many more to come."

Gameplan vs. Michigan

"Every week there is a plan, and there’s obviously always an opponent in the way and in this case there was a really good opponent in the way. Whether it starts like you want it to, we had a chance to be a great start if we don’t turn it over there in the red zone. We had a really good start and we were able to capture some momentum."

"Then I thought it was really important, we grabbed momentum early, had a chance to go up maybe 14-0 right there off the jump. We turn it over, they end up scoring a little bit later on. It’s tied and then I thought there at the end, people talk about the middle eight; that’s the last couple minutes of the first half and the first few minutes of the second half," said Riley.

"A lot of time that’s an important part of the game. Our ability to come back and take the lead, you hold them down to seven points in the first half and then come out the way that we did in the second half. To me as much as I loved the start, I loved the response after they got some momentum and we were able to grab it back."

What A Good Week of Preparation Looks Like

"I just think the attention to detail, everybody being locked in. I thought our scout team really did an outstanding job. That’s one part of building this roster. Everybody maybe sees depth on the field or if a player goes out are you able to continue to product."

"What a lot of people don’t think about, that also your scout teams are such a huge part of that. If you have an injury and a guy moves up kind of to the varsity group, then does it dilute your scout team where maybe you’re not getting the type of competition or quality looks that you really need to prepare. It was a dialed focus intense week. You could sense all week that we were going to be ready to play."

Offensive Line Creating Clean Pockets For Jayden Maiava vs. Michigan

"We definitely did a much better job. I was god awful last year and I’m still mad about that one honestly, I’m not past that one…The guys really executed well up front against a challenging group. To do it with really without three starters against that defensive line, I thought was impressive."

"We had a couple of decent screen plays and all that, but we still had to block those guys. We’d still block them in the run game. We’d still block them in pass pro. Our guys did a good job, competed hard. J’Onre Reed did a great job at center."

"Tobias Raymond I think still continues to be the unsung hero of our offensive line. He’s now started games at three different spots this year, which is ridiculously hard to do. Alani Noa played one of his better games as a USC Trojan. He was awesome. That group deserves a lot of credit because it was a battle. It wasn’t easy. It was a battle every single play and you knew it was going to be against that group."

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Running Back Depth, Injuries

"Every now and again stuff like that happens that you can’t always spend practice time ‘alright, here’s what we’re going to do if five guys get hurt.’ You got to know your roster and be ready to think outside the box."

"There’s things that happen that sometimes you just can’t predict. I thought our guys mentally stayed into it even with a couple of those guys going down. King ran well. Bryan came in and certainly did a great job considering the circumstances and I thought the offense as a whole, we didn’t panic."

Ryon Sayeri's 54-Yard Field Goal

"He’s given us a lot of confidence. Obviously the way he’s performed in games and also how he’s done in practice…He’s got a lot of confidence right now…There’s a lot of confidence there with the field goal team. That was a big play."

What Stands Out About Notre Dame Matchup

"There’s some similarities with us and some similarities with them, but also in this day in age as you rosters evolve and coaches changes and all of that, there’s definitely some differences I think to both teams. They’re a good football team. They’re playing well offensively right now."

"Quarterback is doing a nice job. Different style of quarterback than what they played with last year. They’ve got a good group around him. Lot of really good skill around him. Defensively, doing a lot of really good things. I think it’s been really stout against the run. It’s continuing to make plays in the back end like you normally see on tape coming into this game."

"They’ve got a couple of guys in the return game that have done a really good job…It will be two good teams going at it. It will be a fun night. Fun challenge. Obviously one that we always look forward to."

On Bishop Fitzgerald

"He's been steady for us, he has. He's made plays when they've come to him. You got to give the kid a lot of credit. He's just continually has been in the right place at the right time and when the opportunity to make plays has come up, he has made a high percentage of those. He's got a good feel in coverages. He's got a good feel for how teams are trying to attack us."

Recruits at Coliseum For Michigan Game

"We had a great group there. A lot of guys that have already committed and decided to be USC Trojans...It was cool to see all those guys together experiencing that and I think those guys talking about kind of what it is now and thinking more about what it can be when they get here."

"Definitely a buzz and excitement. We had breakfast with a lot of those guys Sunday morning over on campus. You could still feel the energy. That's an atmosphere like that in the Coliseum that's pretty tough to beat."

Makai Lemon's Touchdown; Better Throw From Maiava or Better Catch From Lemon?

"Pretty good on both. Elite throw, probably a better catch."