LOS ANGELES — When Lincoln Riley arrived in Southern California in November 2021, less than a month remained until much of the 2022 class would put pen to paper, and USC walked away that year without a single offensive lineman up from the high school ranks.
In many ways, that barren cupboard has signified – and shaped – how Riley has built an entire program at USC. A few returners stayed, and in came a couple transfers, to patch together a 2022 line. In came more transfers, by sheer need, to fill a front in 2023 that collapsed. They’d tried to build the house at the same time as they built the bedrock, aiming to compete at a national level while importing a slew of three-and-four-star high schoolers to matriculate in the background.
In 2024, there’s been no hedging bets. Their chips are in. They didn’t add a single offensive lineman in the portal, in the winter or spring, and banked on development from returners and a sophomore at right guard and a redshirt freshman at left tackle who’d played less than 160 collegiate snaps combined.
It could’ve been wholly expected then, to see USC’s front struggle against a national-championship defensive line in Michigan last Saturday. But nobody expected, really, just how much.
“Obviously we didn’t execute to the standard that we needed to,” center Jonah Monheim said Tuesday, “on multiple different occasions.”
It was technique, burned every which way off the edge and inside. It was communication, amid a roaring Big House. It was schematic, as Riley could’ve “put them in better position,” he admitted Tuesday.
USC gave up 21 pressures against Michigan, and its three tackles – Elijah Paige, redshirt freshman Tobias Raymond and redshirt junior Mason Murphy – each finished with Pro Football Focus pass-blocking grades of 0.0 out of 100.
The Trojans made second-half shifts, pulling a cramping Paige, shifting Murphy and inserting Raymond in his place. And if there was an adjustment that needed to be made, as Riley said Thursday, they’d explore it. But there’s little else to do, little changes to be made, other than sheer growth, as Riley made clear they had “a few guys that are pretty entrenched right now.”
“They’re getting tested,” Riley said, speaking of a “spirited” week of practice in the room. “But, these guys are going to respond.”
“You’ll see. They’re gonna respond.”
That next test comes with a cushion in Saturday’s Big Ten home opener against Wisconsin, the Badgers’ defensive front struggling to affect pockets in the early going in 2023, ranking last among all Big Ten programs thus far in average pressures generated per game. It’s a prime chance for USC to rediscover the cohesion it displayed in a season-opening win over LSU, and boost their young guns’ conviction.
Paige has faced adversity before, the 6-foot-7 Arizona product taking a massive leap in development last season after a placement on scout team. Sophomore Alani Noa, meanwhile, is in an ongoing battle with redshirt freshman Amos Talalele at right guard and a battle with his own confidence.
“He’s got so much talent,” Monheim said of Noa, “and it’s our job to just get that out of him in every way that we can.”
An improved showing against Wisconsin, too, would do wonders in giving quarterback Miller Moss time to work against a familiar face in Badgers safeties coach Alex Grinch. Moss disagreed with an assessment Tuesday that USC was looking downfield less often than the previous season, but his average depth-of-throw this year has been 2.5 yards shorter than Caleb Williams’ in 2023.
Either way, how USC’s front responds Saturday could set the tenor for an entire season.
“What we believe that group can be is really damn good, and I expect them to be that way this year,” Riley said Tuesday. “And they’re going to need all of our help.”
When: 12:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
TV/radio: CBS (Ch. 2)/710 AM
