Kliff Kingsbury reunites with Lincoln Riley at USC

Kingsbury and Riley will be on the same sideline for the first time since 2002.

In 2002, while at Texas Tech, Kliff Kingsbury was the starting quarterback for the Red Raiders. One of the backup quarterbacks was a walk-on from Muleshoe, Texas. His name was Lincoln Riley.

After one season as a player, Riley became a student assistant and eventually worked his way up the ladder under head coach Mike Leach. In 2009, Riley would be the play caller for Tech in the Alamo Bowl against the Michigan State Spartans following the firing of Leach. He would leave for East Carolina following then-interim head coach Ruffin McNeill.

Kingsbury would go on to the NFL before finding his way back to the collegiate game as a quality control coach with the Houston Cougars. He, much like Riley, worked his way to offensive coordinator. Kingsbury would make a name for himself at Houston with quarterback Case Keenum and at Texas A&M with Johnny Manziel.

In 2016 Kingsbury and Riley would be on opposite sidelines and were responsible for the offensive onslaught that would ensue between Baker Mayfield and Patrick Mahomes. Now, for the first time since the 2002 season the two will be working together once again. This time with Kliff helping out the quarterbacks for Riley.

This is the second time that Kingsbury has agreed to join the staff at USC. Originally, he was supposed to be the offensive coordinator under Clay Helton but ultimately chose to take the head coaching job with the Arizona Cardinals. Maybe the second time is the charm?

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