When discussing the central virtues and positive qualities of Lincoln Riley as a football coach, his relationships of trust with his quarterbacks stand out.
Kegan Reneau, who covered Riley closely at Oklahoma, elaborated on this reality in our Riley Files series:
“On a personal deep level, like Lincoln is a very loyal person to a fault,” Reneau said. “Should he have given Spencer Rattler as much wiggle room? Should he have given Baker Mayfield as much? Yes. The answer is yes, because Baker was awesome to watch play football and was making him be more reserved, a little bit different.
“Kyler Murray was, in the summer of 2017, academically ineligible. They did a really good job of protecting him from that news ever hitting the public. It did eventually, but it never really hit (as forcefully) like it probably would have at the time. Right. He’s loyal to people that are loyal to him.”
This dynamic of trust and loyalty displayed toward his quarterbacks has carried over for Lincoln Riley at USC. Riley has already molded Caleb Williams into a Heisman Trophy winner, and Williams has one more season as a Trojan in 2023. The results should be spectacular.
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