Whereas the remainder of the faculty soccer world spent the summer season whipped right into a frenzy, swept up by the specter of income sharing or congressional intervention or one of many many different landscape-altering adjustments looming over the game, Lincoln Riley was in a position to really step away and take a breath.
In 4 years as USC’s coach, Riley hasn’t had many possibilities to essentially unplug. There was the dash forward of his first season, and the heavy portal push forward of his second. The third got here with a brand new convention, new protection, new expectations, new stress.
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The fourth, by comparability, is beginning on a extra relaxed observe than Riley is used to. There have been no telephone calls taking on half a day of his household trip. His fly fishing went largely unbothered. He even golfed at Pebble Seashore in Might.
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“I’d say I’m feeling as refreshed and recharged as I’ve been in a very long time,” Riley mentioned Thursday throughout Large Ten media days.
By no means thoughts that the stress for Riley to win at USC has maybe by no means been so excessive, coming off a 7-6 marketing campaign during which the Trojans wanted a comeback bowl win to scrape previous .500. The trail to successful has arguably by no means been so unsure, both, with the appearance of income sharing utterly upending how championship rosters are constructed.
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Despite that backdrop, this previous summer season nonetheless felt much less formidable to Riley than the remainder. He says he did not really feel the offseason chaos that a few of colleagues have described within the wake of the Home settlement. A few of that added calm he credit to Chad Bowden, USC’s new normal supervisor, and his handpicked entrance workplace, who’ve taken personnel issues largely off Riley’s plate. Instantly laying declare to the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class for 2026 hasn’t harm in constructing that belief, both.
But it surely’s greater than that, in response to Riley.
“There are much less massive fixes occurring proper now, you already know?” he mentioned. “It’s such as you’ve obtained the home constructed, and it’s form of all in regards to the finishes now. You’re not making an attempt to place up a wall or something like that.”
Whether or not USC is definitely that near being a completed product is up for debate. The Trojans’ win whole has declined in every of Riley’s first three seasons, throughout which his document is worse than that of his predecessor, Clay Helton. Now the Trojans enter his fourth with a uncooked, unproven commodity at quarterback, a threadbare linebacker room, and an inexperienced offensive line that might already be down a projected starter.
There’s additionally the matter of their fourth-quarter points final season, which noticed the Trojans inexplicably cough up leads in 5 of their six losses.
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However Riley seems to be at it in a different way.
“It’s the primary time the place we had a chance on the finish of the sport to win each single sport that we performed,” he mentioned.
“The actually good groups separate in lots of their video games, and so they win the shut video games they find yourself in. That’s sometimes the way it occurs, and that’s what we’ve obtained to grow to be. And so the best way to do it, each a part of your program needs to be fairly robust.
“We’ve graduated from being method behind on this space, and being fairly respectable on this space to, like, each proper now could be both good or fairly darn good. Now it’s nearly taking these small steps in all these areas to, I suppose, hypothetically push you over the hump.”
USC defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn walks on the sideline throughout a sport towards Nebraska on the Coliseum in November. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Occasions)
The largest leap in that regard might as soon as once more be on protection, the place USC went from one of many worst models within the nation in 2023 (121st in scoring protection) to respectable (56th) beneath defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn.
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That was no small feat, contemplating the place they got here from. And the Trojans have added appreciable expertise to its protection since. The entrance seven ought to profit significantly from the return of linebacker Eric Gentry and defensive finish Anthony Lucas from harm. And on the inside, USC introduced in two large transfers on the inside, in addition to a five-star freshman.
“I believe the depth, the expertise stage, and the scale of the line of defense, I imply, there’s actually actually no comparability to this time 12 months in the past,” Riley mentioned.
However the Trojans’ path will inevitably, in some unspecified time in the future, come right down to their quarterback. Riley reiterated his confidence in Jayden Maiava because the Trojans’ starter, whilst he as soon as once more heaped reward on five-star freshman Husan Longstreet.
Left sort out Elijah Paige mentioned Thursday that he has seen a serious change in Maiava since he entered the offseason because the presumptive starter.
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“He’s taken a whole 180,” Paige mentioned of USC’s quarterback. “[In the spring,] he commanded the offense, and that’s what this crew wants.”
In fact, everyone seems to be feeling optimistic this time of yr, with greater than a month nonetheless remaining earlier than USC kicks off towards Missouri State.
However Riley isn’t the one one who feels these ending touches underway.
“We’ve gone and gotten a number of the easiest folks within the enterprise,” Riley mentioned. “They’re not going to connect themselves to one thing the place they don’t see the progress.
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“And you don’t get a recruiting class like this except there’s a loopy quantity of momentum inside the program. Like, I don’t care what else you’ve gotten. When you don’t have momentum, you don’t get a category like we’ve got.”
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This story initially appeared in Los Angeles Occasions.
