Lincoln Riley is confident that the USC Trojans’ defense is in a much better place than it was 12 months ago. Over the course of a full year, from one spring to another, Riley sees and perceives real development and evolution in this defense.
It might be true, and USC fans certainly hope it is. However, one shouldn’t take what Riley says about his defense at face value — not when Riley’s track record with defenses is so underwhelming.
One thing to keep in mind about USC’s 2023 defense is that even if some players learn more about Alex Grinch’s concepts and grow within his system as a result of having a second season with the program, those players were not great in 2022. If players do improve from 2022, it might not mean they are legitimately good in 2023. They might merely be “less than terrible.”
If one is to make the case that USC really does have an improved defense this year, the argument to make is that newcomers (Mason Cobb, Anthony Lucas) and previously injured players (Domani Jackson, Romello Height) will add fresh value to this 2023 unit. Retained players who played last season might be better than they were last year, but if they’re moderately better than 2022 — and their standard of play was low in 2022 — they’re not clearing a high bar.
The notion of “Year 1 to Year 2 improvement” isn’t that much of a talking point if Year 1 was such a low bar to begin with.
#USC HC Lincoln Riley said the defense is "at a totally different" point on April 8 this year versus April 8 last year.
One of biggest things is the competitive depth. (i.e.: There isn't a huge dropoff from starters to reserves.)
— Shotgun Spratling (@ShotgunSpr) April 8, 2023
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