Several position battles set to continue into USC’s season opener
Eleven players on offense and 11 players on defense wearing cardinal and gold will take the field Saturday for the first snaps of the game on their respective sides of the ball. Some of those starters have separated themselves, but some will be determined this week as USC prepares for its season-opener this Saturday against San Jose State.
USC head coach Lincoln Riley appeared on Trojans Live this week and talked about some of those battles as well as position groups that will have virtual co-starters on Saturday.
“I do think we have a few positions where some guys have started to separate themselves and I would say likely that they’ll trot out with the first team on Saturday,” Riley said.
USC fans probably shouldn’t be surprised to see center Justin Dedich snapping to quarterback Caleb Williams to open the game for the Trojans. But Riley said there are a few positions where the coaches know that multiple players will take the field throughout the game and this week will determine who plays first or who takes a majority of those reps.
Whoever takes the field on Saturday, Riley is hopeful that those aren’t the only players to log time this season. His hope is that in comparison to last year’s freshman group, this massive and talented 2023 recruiting class continues to mature throughout the year so that by the end of the season, there are additional players ready to contribute. The lack of depth throughout the roster last year showed up in a big way in those final two games.
Wide Receiver
The wide receiver positions (all of them) will be fascinating to watch on Saturday. Riley said there isn’t a receiver on the roster who isn’t ready to see the field right now.
“Typically, even if you have a good room, you might have a couple of guys that aren’t quite ready to play,” Riley said. “The reality is, every one of the freshmen are ready to play. Every one of the transfers are ready to play. And every one of the guys that we brought back are ready to play. Obviously it’s a good problem to have. We’ll have guys in and out of the lineup. We’ll use those guys in a lot of different ways. Those guys are going to have prominent roles on special teams. We’ll certainly get a lot of great work and mileage out of all of them.”
Dorian Singer, Brenden Rice, Tahj Washington and Mario Williams are the four most experienced receivers and could very well be the four starters. But it’ll be interesting to see how quickly Zachariah Branch sees the field on Saturday, how Riley uses Raleek Brown as a receiver, and how much work the other three true freshmen get.
And that’s not to undervalue what Michael Jackson III and Kyron Hudson bring to the group and could contribute this year. This position looks so strong and advanced that every time possible starters or heavy contributors are mentioned, it feels necessary to list double-digit names.
Inside Linebackers
Mason Cobb is a sure-thing starter at inside linebacker. He grabbed that spot when he arrived this spring and only solidified it over the following months. But Eric Gentry, Tackett Curtis, Raesjon Davis and Shane Lee are all deserving of reps this season.
“There’s a lot of guys in there that you’re ready to see on the field,” Riley said of that group.
Cobb said he worked at middle linebacker in the spring and then added the weakside spot this fall. That versatility should allow the Trojans to do different things with that group in terms of rotations or situations.
Cornerbacks
Ceyair Wright continues to impress at cornerback. Jacobe Covington and Domani Jackson seemed to grab much of the offseason momentum. But there’s Wright, looking like a sure-thing starter for the opener.
“From spring on, he’s probably been our most consistent performer there and probably one of our most improved players on the entire team,” Riley said of Wright at cornerback. “He just continues to do it day after day.”
Riley said Jackson and Covington have definitely earned playing time. Christian Roland-Wallace is expected to get some time at cornerback as well as other positions in the secondary. And Riley added that Prophet Brown has put himself in the mix as well.
Jackson’s run of good health through spring, summer and now fall has been huge for his development.
“He’s now been on the field for a real sustained period of time,” Riley said. “A year ago, we would have all, including him, begged for that…You can see his improvement.”
Defensive Line
USC coaches have talked all fall about the depth along the defensive line and how many more players they feel comfortable sending out there this season.
Riley didn’t mention specific names, but said it’s similar to the linebacker position, where the coaches are looking forward to getting a number of different guys some playing time.
“It’s certainly feeling a little bit more like the depth that you need to make a championship run,” Riley said.
Bear Alexander and Anthony Lucas were the headliners in terms of offseason additions. But Kyon Barrs, Jamil Muhammad and Jack Sullivan will be equally important. And both Tyrone Taleni and Stanley Ta’ufo’ou will be used heavily. It’s going to be a group effort up front for USC. Riley talked about how getting one guy to win a one-on-one up front just isn’t going to mean much if the rest of the line isn’t collapsing the pocket and making life tough on the opposing quarterback. The Trojans need production from all four spots up front and from at least a handful of backups coming off the sideline.
Running Back
Riley mentioned running back as an ongoing position battle and this is going to be an interesting one. Austin Jones took over the spot at the end of last year. But it’s clear that MarShawn Lloyd gives the position a burst and some electricity that it was lacking at times last season.
Who takes the field first (or do they both go out as co-starters) and how are each utilized within the offense? And maybe even more interestingly at this position, where does Darwin Barlow fit and just how long can Kiel McDonald keep those exciting freshmen on the sideline?
Offensive Line
This one is less of a position battle and more a result of USC probably going into this game with seven players capable of starting. It won’t be surprising when Jonah Monheim, Emmanuel Pregnon, Justin Dedich, Jarrett Kingston and Michael Tarquin come out as the starters from left to right. But that doesn’t seem to be completely, completely locked in at this point. Or if it is, Mason Murphy and Gino Quinones are still making it difficult on the coaches.
“The O-line deal is still–we’re excited about it, there’s a lot of good players,” Riley said. “That’s one of the positions kind of working through exactly how we’re going to rep because I do think we’re going to play more than five guys. I think we’ve got six or seven that are ready to play, that have a legitimate chance to be a starter and there’s still certainly some competitions ongoing.”
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