August camp is now one week old at USC. The process of teaching and player development is unfolding for Lincoln Riley and his coaching staff.
Riley answered questions from the press after Friday’s practice session. He offered no eye-popping quotes or revelations (which is standard practice for him), but one theme came through at multiple points in his answers: USC has a lot more bodies on the practice field compared to spring.
Whether it was due to injuries or to players not yet being enrolled at the school, USC did not have a lot of active players for spring ball. Now, after summer enrollees have joined the program, and after players injured in the spring have had time to heal, the level of depth within the program is better. That doesn’t mean it is necessarily sufficient for the season ahead, but it is better than in the spring. Riley discussed the ability of his staff to rotate and shuffle players between different positions. There are now more bodies available, which enables the coaching staff to give more players a sense of how they can handle different positional assignments on the field.
Here is Riley’s short session with the press, via Inside Troy:
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