Tag: lincoln riley

USC’s Lincoln Riley talks about Caleb Williams’ character at NFL draft

Lincoln Riley knows what Caleb Williams is made of.

USC football head coach Lincoln Riley, on site at the 2024 NFL draft in Detroit, told Rich Eisen what Caleb Williams has in common with his previous No. 1 draft picks, quarterbacks Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray.

We noted how much of an imprint Riley has made on the NFL draft:

“Here’s a fun fact for you: USC and Oklahoma are the only two college football programs to produce back-to-back No. 1 NFL draft picks. Phrased differently: USC and Lincoln Riley have produced the only pairs of No. 1 NFL draft picks in the history of football. USC’s back-to-back No. 1 picks were produced in the late 1960s. Half a century later, Riley produced back-to-back top picks. It’s quite a story.”

Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray are the back-to-back No. 1 picks Riley coached at Oklahoma. USC and Riley truly do stand alone in the history of football in that regard. We will now see if Caleb Williams can rise to a level of stature and achievement which is higher than what Mayfield and Murray — two good but not great NFL quarterbacks — have done.

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Caleb Williams was pushed by Lincoln Riley from the start

Lincoln Riley sent a message to Caleb Williams at Oklahoma. It planted the seeds of a historic college career.

The journey Caleb Williams and Lincoln Riley have made will culminate with the 2024 NFL draft on Thursday in Detroit. Caleb Williams finished his college career at USC, but the Oklahoma portion of this story involved some friction. It wasn’t anything jarring or eye-popping; it was merely the product of Caleb’s competitive qualities and an athlete’s belief that he was the best player in the Sooners’ quarterback room. In this story from Austin Curtright of The Oklahoman, there’s a snapshot of just how much Caleb Williams believed in his talent and ability at the beginning of his collegiate career.

“I told many people before I went there, and there’s a backstory to it all of why I was so fired up,” Williams continued. “I told people before I went there that I was going to start and play and beat (Rattler) out. I thought I beat (Rattler) out in spring, and he was projected No. 1 and all that, so he started for six games. And so, I prepared. Lincoln told me, ‘Keep going.’ And that’s something I didn’t understand. Those two words I did not understand when he told me because I wasn’t asking him, I wasn’t going to him to beg for playing time.”

Williams explained how Lincoln Riley challenged him in that first year at Oklahoma and pushed him to work to get better even though Spencer Rattler started the first few games of the season and got the practice reps with the other starters on the OU roster.

We know the rest of the story: Williams got his chance when Rattler continued to struggle. Caleb took over the starting job, demonstrated on the field how talented he was, and followed Riley to USC when the Trojans made the stunning hire in the coaching carousel in November of 2021.

Fast-forward to Thursday in Detroit: Caleb Williams will become the third quarterback coached by Riley to win the Heisman Trophy and become a No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, joining Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray. All three quarterbacks began their journeys with Riley at Oklahoma.

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‘So angry, so frustrated’: Caleb Williams describes how he felt in backup QB role at Oklahoma

Caleb Williams felt he should have been the starter at Oklahoma and finding out he wasn’t made him upset during his freshman season.

The 2021 Oklahoma Sooners’ football season needs an ESPN “30 for 30” documentary one day. It’s one of the wildest seasons in recent memory.

[autotag]Caleb Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Spencer Rattler[/autotag]’s quarterback battle was one of the biggest storylines of the season. For those who don’t remember, Williams was one of the top quarterback prospects coming out of high school. Rattler was the projected top pick ahead of the 2022 NFL draft.

In an interview with the Pivot Podcast, Williams said even with all of that, he felt he should have been the starter the whole season. “I told people before I went there that I was going to start, play and beat him out. I thought I beat him out in spring. He was projected No. 1 and all of that. So he started for six games, and so I prepared. I kept preparing, and Lincoln (Riley) told me to keep going.”

But when he wasn’t the starter, he admits he became “so angry, so frustrated” at the situation. Still, Williams would keep going as his coach encouraged and ultimately received his chance in the Cotton Bowl against Oklahoma’s archrival.

Williams entered the game with the Sooners down 28-7. On fourth-and-1, he received the call for a designed quarterback run and broke free for a 66-yard touchdown. The rest is history.

“I watched and learned Tom Brady for Drew Bledsoe,” Williams said. “You prepare and prepare but when you get your moment, you never know how long it’s going to be and you never know what’s going to happen but when you get your moment, you don’t give it back. So, that was my mindset and plan.”

Credit to him because he did that. He earned his moment and he didn’t give it back. Now, the irony is the guy he was so angry and so frustrated with was the coach he followed to a new school. It was nothing the school did; it was something his coach did that made him feel that way.

Still, Sooner fans shouldn’t be mad at Williams. Williams came to Oklahoma because he wanted to be developed by Riley. He even admitted in the interview that Riley was the best when it comes to development. So, following Riley made all of the sense in the world.

Williams is about to be taken first overall in the 2024 NFL draft. His story is one of the great “what ifs?” in college football. He’s no doubt a great player and one of the best talents college football has seen this millennium, but the fact that he and Riley were never able to win a conference title leaves a little to be desired.

Still, as he heads to the NFL, Williams will continue to provide highlight-reel moments with his athleticism and passing ability.

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Lincoln Riley appears on Big Ten Network before USC spring football game

It’s weird: Riley appeared on Big Ten Network just before USC’s spring game airs on Pac-12 Network.

The USC Big Ten era doesn’t officially begin with Saturday’s spring football game, but unofficially, it certainly does feel like the start of something new. Lincoln Riley appeared on Big Ten Network and the “Big Ten Today” show to promote the spring game and discuss other USC subjects. The weirdness of the moment is magnified by the reality that even though Big Ten Network is now leaning into USC coverage, no one was able to find a way to put the USC football spring game on BTN. Pac-12 Network still gets to show the 2024 spring game even though the Trojans’ next regular-season football game will be as a Big Ten member school.

Despite the lack of BTN coverage for Saturday’s spring game, it’s still exciting to see USC get so much coverage and visibility from Big Ten Network. This is what USC fans can look forward to in the years to come. It’s a preview of what’s ahead for the Trojans this fall and beyond.

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Lincoln Riley is blocking out negative noise in 2024 at USC

Lincoln Riley is starting fresh in 2024, an intentional way to remove the bitter taste of 2023.

CBS Sports recently named USC head coach Lincoln Riley among those feeling the most pressure heading into the 2024 college season. Riley is entering his third season with the program. He enters the 2024 season with a 19-8 record as the Trojans’ coach. He is coming off a highly disappointing five-loss season in 2023.

Last year, all five losses came in his final six games. The Trojans head to the Big Ten in 2024 with a tough schedule.

USC opens against LSU in Las Vegas and will also play defending national champion Michigan on the road. The Trojans will visit 2023 runner-up Washington on the road. They will host Penn State and Notre Dame.

The Trojans’ football spring game kicks off this Saturday at noon local time inside the Los Angeles Coliseum.

“I’ve said it before, USC belongs at the top of college football, and this coaching staff is going to be instrumental in making that happen in 2024,” Riley said. USC has a coach who intends to quiet the storm and silence doubts with a big 2024 performance in the new and expanded Big Ten Conference.

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Matt Leinart and Lincoln Riley welcome Mike Williams back to USC

Matt Leinart joined the call with Lincoln Riley in a feel-good moment for every USC football fan.

USC football fans will be talking about the new Trojan defense at the 2024 spring football game on Saturday. They will also talk to each other about Big Mike Williams (BMW) driving the car as the program’s new director of player development. Lincoln Riley made the move, but he consulted with Matt Leinart as well. Riley and Leinart were on the call as they welcomed Mike Williams back into the fold at USC, in a move which has Trojan fans feeling warm and fuzzy all over.

Matt Leinart and Mike Williams teamed up to give USC a potent offense under coordinator Norm Chow in the 2003 season, when the Trojans ascended to the mountaintop and won the Associated Press college football national championship. USC finished No. 1 in the Associated Press Poll, while LSU won the Bowl Championship Series national title by winning the 2004 Sugar Bowl over Oklahoma. Mike Williams now tries to ride the BMW back to national championship contention, helping Riley with player development, an area of the program which needs to improve.

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USC legend Mike Williams joins Trojans’ football operations staff

Lincoln Riley reaches out to Mike Williams and brings him back into the USC program.

USC football has hired Trojan legend Mike Williams as the program’s director of player development. The report comes from SBLive’s Andy Villamarzo, who broke the story on Williams’ return to USC. Lincoln Riley has reached out to a cherished member of the Trojan family in a widely popular move which will have Trojan fans smiling as they gather to watch the 2024 spring football game on Saturday.

At USC, Williams had 176 catches for 2,579 yards and 30 touchdowns.

Williams went on to be the No. 10 pick in the 2005 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions. Williams played in the league for seven seasons. He caught 127 passes for 1,526 yards and five touchdowns in his NFL career.

Williams was previously a head football coach at Robinson High School in Tampa. He spent one year as head coach at Robinson, leading the team to a 9-3 record.

The former national champion, Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, and consensus All-American from 2002-2004 will bring recruits in from all over the country, especially the talent-rich hotbed of Florida, his home state.

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Lincoln Riley directly identifies USC’s top need in spring transfer portal

Lincoln Riley is not trying to be clever or keep his cards hidden.

The spring transfer portal is open for business, and everyone around USC knows the Trojans don’t have the full roster they need to compete for a Big Ten championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff. Players have transferred out of the program, opening up roster spots with spring practice still going on. The USC football spring game is this coming Saturday, April 20. Lincoln Riley is preparing for that game, but in the meantime, he and his staff have to pounce on transfer portal opportunities.

Which position is paramount for Riley and the Trojans? Riley did not evade the question, and he didn’t try to hide his cards when he talked to 247Sports national college football reporter Brandon Marcello.

You can see and hear for yourself in the video below, but the long and short of it is that Riley is focused on defensive tackles. That position comes at a premium, and USC’s NIL shop needs to be robust enough to get the job done in tandem with defensive line coach Eric Henderson.

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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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Four-star athlete, projected running back Daune Morris commits to USC

USC is getting some offensive recruits to balance out its defensive recruits.

It’s another recruiting win for new USC running backs coach Anthony Jones Jr. Jones and Lincoln Riley have to be really happy today. They have landed four-star running back and athlete Daune Morris from Chattanooga.

Jones coached at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and is from Chattanooga. He developed a connection with Morris while he was coaching at TCU.

Morris ran for 2,012 yards last season, adding 565 receiving yards and scoring 36 total touchdowns.

Morris is rated the No. 428 overall prospect and the No. 23 athlete, according to the 247Sports composite. He is the No. 63 athlete in the 247Sports rankings. He also plays safety but is fully expected to play running back at USC under Lincoln Riley. Morris gives USC even more depth in the running back room, something the Trojans will need when they move to the Big Ten Conference and play a more rugged style of football than what we have seen in the Pac-12.

Morris picked USC over Auburn, Missouri, Duke, Florida, Georgia Tech, Texas A&M, Tennessee,  and Wake Forest among many others.

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