Lincoln Riley on Stanford, USC’s physical presence and other Trojan topics

The No. 6 USC Trojans (2-0) kick off their 2023 Pac-12 schedule this Saturday night with a home game against the Stanford Cardinal (1-0). Here’s a look at the news and notes from USC head coach Lincoln Riley this week.

Riley on the Stanford Cardinal

Stanford underwent a significant coaching change this offseason, bringing in head coach Troy Taylor from Sacramento State. Taylor spent four years at Sacramento State, compiling a 30-8 overall record while going 23-1 in the Big Sky Conference. He served previously as the offensive coordinator at Utah from 2017-2018 and before that, was the co-offensive coordinator at Eastern Washington.

Riley and the Trojans will have one game of film with Taylor at Stanford, a 37-24 win at Hawaii last week, but they’ve looked at his offense at previous stops as well.

“He’s always done a great job, been very creative,” Riley said. “He does a good job of mixing in both the run and throw game. Throws a lot of different looks at you and has continued to evolve as time has gone on, and continues to find ways to create advantages for his guys.”

Perhaps the best player on Stanford’s roster lines up on the other side of the ball. Outside linebacker/defensive end David Bailey was a major recruiting target for Riley out of Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei when he arrived at USC. He had very little time to work the recruiting trail with Bailey, who ultimately wound up committing to and signing with Stanford.

“He’s a neat kid,” Riley said. “Really smart kid…I thought he was a really talented player and it’s been no surprise to me to see that he’s done well at Stanford. Athletic kid, obviously came out of a great program…We thought he would have been a great fit here. But he’s obviously done a great job at Stanford.”

Bailey set the tone for the Stanford defense against Hawaii, recording six tackles, including four for loss and three sacks. He was named the Pac-12 Defensive Lineman of the Week for his work.

Raleek’s potential redshirt

Riley addressed the reports that Raleek Brown could utilize his redshirt this season. The sophomore did not appear to be in attendance for USC’s game against Nevada, but was present for practices this week.

“He’s looking at the possibility of redshirting,” Riley said. “That’s a part of the world right now. We’ll see what happens.”

Riley rarely locks into anything permanently, especially so early in the season. So he’s certainly leaving the door open to the possibility that Brown could still see the field this season.

“I could still certainly foresee him being a big part of the team this year,” Riley said. “You just never know week to week, and you never know as years go on and different opportunities present themselves. So he’s going to continue to work. We’re going to continue to develop him like crazy. I still believe he’s got an outstanding skill set that fits us in a lot of ways.”

Brown previously said the plan for him was always to learn running back first and then shift into learning the wide receiver position. That slot receiver position is loaded with veteran options in Tahj Washington and Mario Williams, plus the explosive true freshman Zachariah Branch.

“It is a big change and it’s not always perfect in the beginning,” Riley said of position switches. “I think, a chance to continue to improve and work on those skills and get better as a player. He’s got to make the most of this time and then when the opportunity presents itself, whether it’s this year or next year, be as ready as you possibly can be.”

Riley pleased with USC’s physical presence

It was clear this offseason that Riley wanted the Trojans to look the part of a championship team. He stressed the benefit of having Rachel Suba and her nutrition staff around for a full season. He stressed how much the Trojans were working under Bennie Wylie and the strength staff. Riley said it’s so far, so good on that front. It’s notable that the Trojans will have their first in-conference opportunity that they can bully opponents against a Stanford program that did just that to USC several times over the past decade-plus.

“I feel like we’ve been pretty physical,” Riley said. “We’ve had some things that we have to clean up, but I have not seen a moment this year where I’m like, alright, we’re just getting overpowered…We are a thicker, stronger football team. We are a deeper football team than we were a year ago and I feel a significant difference there.”

Two-minute drills

Riley said the Trojans worked a lot more on situational offense and defense during this camp. He said a lot of that was about being in Year 2 and being able to focus a little bit more on the more intricate things rather than installing an entire offense and defense. But there have been mixed results when it comes to the two-minute game at the end of the half.

Against San Jose State, the USC offense took a bad sack deep in its own territory and then the defense gave up a touchdown on a deep ball with just seconds remaining before halftime. Against Nevada, the offense fumbled a snap and turned it over.

“Terrible in the first game,” Riley said. “Offense has been awful. Defense, bad in the first game, and then about as good as you could possibly do in the second game.”

Riley said he pointed out to the team in the locker room the defensive stop immediately following the turnover.

“It’s going to be big, it’s going to be important,” Riley said of the final two minutes before halftime. “There’s going to be a lot of games decided by that. Especially now, you know, with the clock. Even if you’re one possession per game less, that’s going to shrink the game…By nature, you’re going to create probably a few more tight games at the end. And some of those instances where two-minute offense or defense is going to decide who ends up winning the game. So, something that’s got to get better here.”

A few USC defensive standouts

True freshman rush end Braylan Shelby teamed up with defensive lineman Stanley Ta’ufo’ou to creat the defensive highlight play of the game against Nevada. Riley called that “a big step” for Shelby.

“He’s done a lot of good things at practice,” Riley said. “You see his ability flash. I think the next step we were hoping to see in the Nevada game, and we did see, was, just get out there and go turn it look. Don’t think too much.”

Riley said if that continues moving forward, Shelby will “have the opportunity to have an even bigger impact, for sure.”

USC gave up a couple of deep balls against Nevada. But Riley said they’ve been pleased with the secondary to this point. He said the coaches have been “really pleased” with Max Williams at safety. And the same was said of Jaylin Smith at nickel.

“I know we kind of talked about production at that nickel position, but he’s a guy I really see improving rapidly right now,” Riley said of Smith, who finished the Nevada game with 2.5 tackles for loss.

Smith’s play has allowed USC to use Christian Roland-Wallace mostly at outside cornerback through two games. Riley said Roland-Wallace, Domani Jackson and Ceyair Wright will likely continue to see a bulk of the reps at cornerback.

Zion Branch will be a player to watch against Stanford. He came onto the field for a lot of passing downs as an extra defensive back lined up in a few different spots on the field. He’s a piece who could continue to see more time going forward.

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