Tag: Alani Noa

Lincoln Riley challenges young USC offensive line to improve consistency

Lincoln Riley knows how central his offensive line is to a successful 2024 USC season.

USC football news is flowing from August camp.  All spring camp and during USC Media Day last month we hear offensive line coach Josh Henson talk about the need for someone to step up and show consistency at the right guard position. Coach Lincoln Riley discussed consistency in play from members of the right side of the USC offensive line here in week two of fall camp.

Riley explained after practice:

“The young guys are talented, inconsistent. It’ll be kind of this second half of camp of who can really take that jump from a consistency standpoint they all have talent to be able to potentially contribute but they are going to have to show more consistency to be able to trust them.”

“I mean there’s still definitely some position battles going on on the o line you know. As that plays out we’ve had a couple of guys banged up through camp. Nothing serious, but  there’s always positives and negatives.”

“There hasn’t been as much continuity. There’s a few guys that we wanted to see a little bit more, but we have had to move a lot of guys around — which has been a positive because you build like what’s going to happen in the season at some point and you build that experience.  So for the ones that have been healthy, it’s been a great thing, but excited to get those guys back and try to get some clarity on that as we get a little bit closer to the first game.”

Can Alani Noa, who started games for the Trojans as a true freshman in 2023 hold off the versatile veteran Gino Quinones or Noa’s 2023 freshmen classmates Micah Banuelos and Amos Talalele?  The battle for the right guard position will be one to watch as fall camp winds down.

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Is the USC Trojans’ offensive line ready for LSU’s pass rush?

USC’s offensive line has to make sure Miller Moss has time to find open receivers against LSU.

USC football offensive line coach Josh Henson has an early opportunity to silence criticism of the poor performance of the 2023 Trojan offensive line. Henson’s first really big test of 2024 arrives quickly, when the Men of Troy play the LSU Tigers at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas in Week 1 of the college football season. LSU Wire recently discussed if the Tigers in Baton Rouge could replicate coordinator Blake Baker’s attacking pass rush last year at Missouri.

In 2023, Missouri’s defense under Blake Baker ranked No. 8 nationally in sack rate. Arriving at LSU along with Baker was defensive ends coach Kevin Peoples, who was a key to Missouri’s elite pass rush last fall.

Baker and Peoples will look to achieve similar numbers at LSU, but whether the Tigers can reach that mark in 2024 remains a question.

Bradyn Swinson proved to be a valuable defender down the stretch, but he needs to put it together over the course of an entire season. A promising breakout candidate is former five-star Da’Shawn Womack as he enters his sophomore year.

With LSU’s liability at corner and thin depth on the interior defensive line, the pass rush needs to be strength of this defense.

USC fans are confident about the emerging combination of Emmanuel Pregnon and Elijah Page. They are excited to see how the Trojans’ Swiss Army Knife on the offensive line, Jonah Monheim, will perform in leading his younger but skilled teammates.  On the right side of the line it will all come down to consistency, and offensive line coach Josh Henson has made it clear that the guard who can lock down that stability on the right side will be the guy. Last year’s early season injuries and off season roster issues thrust Alani Noa into a starting role early on. If Noa can establish cohesion in his sophomore year with Mason Murphy, another skilled lineman who has struggled to maintain consistency, the Trojans’ offensive line should see significant improvement.

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Lincoln Riley challenges veterans on USC offensive line to step up in 2024

Lincoln Riley needs Emmanuel Pregnon to evolve and perform this year.

USC’s offensive line room never quite came together as a unit in 2023.  I asked Lincoln Riley during his weekly press conference on Saturday about the offensive line’s play last year. He said there were games when the unit struggled and lost: UCLA, Notre Dame, and Oregon.

“Yeah, we had a we had a handful of games last year we didn’t play good enough you know, handful of the games that we lost,” answered Riley. He clarified the games were at Notre Dame and at home against Washington and UCLA. “We certainly didn’t play good enough in those games to win.  We had some good moments but we were too inconsistent.”

The problems with the line started before the season kicked off. USC had to replace two huge pieces who anchored the veteran unit in 2022, All-America left guard Andrew Vorhees and multi-year starter Brett Neilon at center.  USC had luck in 2022 bringing in Bobby Haskins as a grad transfer from Virginia to help shore up the line.

The hope was to slide Justin Dedich over from right guard to center in 2023 and bring in players from the portal. It began to fall apart when second-team All-SEC selection Ethan White, who transferred from Florida, suffered an injury which kept him from joining USC. He medically retired before he arrived on campus.

Riley went on to explain what went wrong last year, with the Trojans’ offensive line never coming together as a cohesive unit.

“I would agree, I don’t know that we ever completely gelled as a unit. I think it starts with your your older players. Your older guys, your leaders have got to play their best; they’ve got to be great leaders: they’ve got to set the tone.  I think at times last year that did not necessarily happen all the time.

“So you know there’s obviously Jonah [Monheim], you’re talking about [Emmanuel] Pregnon — some of the guys that have now played some snaps for us. Mason Murphy, you need those guys to step up.”

Veterans will need to step up. The members of the 2023 class, who were true freshmen last year, are looking for leadership while competing for playing time this fall. During a press conference, Riley named all five offensive linemen from that class: Micah Banuelos, Elijah Paige, Alani Noa, Amos Talalele, and Tobias Raymond. Riley is relying on his upperclassmen’s consistent leadership to bring this group together.

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3-star Oregon OL target Alani Noa announces commitment

3-star Oregon OL target Alani Noa announces commitment

Though Dan Lanning and the new staff for the Oregon Ducks have done a good job of bringing in some of the top talent in the nation over the past 9 months since taking over in Eugene, there’s one glaring weak spot in the 2023 recruiting class — the offensive line.

Oregon is yet to land an OL in 2023, and they unfortunately missed out on one of their prospects on Tuesday. 3-star OL Alani Noa, a 6-foot-4 player who weighs in a 320 pounds, announced his commitment to the USC Trojans, picking them over the Ducks. Noa ranks as the No. 57 IOL and No. 779 overall player in the 2023 class.

Missing out on Noa certainly won’t tank the Ducks’ recruiting class, it is fair to start feeling concern growing over the lack of offensive linemen. While Oregon has a deep roster at the moment in the position, it’s always good to be continually bringing in more to replenish the depth. We will see how the coming months go, and if Adrian Klemm and Lanning can land some solid blockers.

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Alani Noa’s Recruiting Profile