One reality became apparent early in the coaching tenure of Lincoln Riley at USC: He was not going to praise players until they had earned praise. Riley and Alex Grinch did not want to pump sunshine the way Clay Helton did. They were not going to speak glowingly about players until they had demonstrated a reasonably high level of consistent quality on the practice field and had proven that they could carry the lessons of the practice field to Saturdays.
In light of that reality, it is very interesting to note what Riley said earlier this week about his USC roster, with the Trojans getting the weekend off and trying to get healthy for the back stretch of their season.
Riley identified several players as possible breakout candidates in the next several weeks.
Here they are: