Spring camp came back from taking a spring break last week and Lincoln Riley is spending more time with the defense in 2023. There\u2019s so much to think about coming out of the weekend, each week Monday\u2019s Morass will keep your USC\u00a0sports\u00a0mind clear from anything you might, or might not be aware of to start the new week.<\/p>\n
So here are a few \u201cwhat ifs\u201d to think about while spring camp resumes.<\/p>\n
Lincoln Riley sat down with the media on ZOOM following Saturday\u2019s spring practice No. 6 and said, \u201cYou can have perfect scheme, perfect technique, perfect fundamentals, all of that.\u2014\u2014If the mentality is not where it needs to be for every individual player out there, the product\u2019s not going to look the way it needs to,\u201d Riley said. \u201cI\u2019me Excited about the edge that we\u2019re competing with right now.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n So more than a year after taking over the program, Riley is making sure the 2023 USC defense plays with the same \u201cmentality and edge\u201d the offense showed in 2022.\u2013The offense was pretty good.<\/p>\n Despite leading the country in scoring and winning the Heisman, the offense wasn\u2019t perfect in year-1. <\/p>\n However, it was still good enough to cover up most of team\u2019s zits and blemishes. Trying new things and new players, their defensive counterparts had different results when things weren\u2019t going perfectly. <\/p>\n Riley believes it\u2019s the mentality that needs an attitude adjustment.<\/p>\n Here is what Bryson Shaw<\/a><\/strong> said last week when he spoke with the media. \u201cI think Coach Grinch, is a fantastic coach, I love playing for him. He gets us fired up every day, he gets us ready to attack. We all love playing for him.\u2013It\u2019s not on him, it\u2019s on the players for not executing.\u2013\u201cWe all feel like we let him down.\u2013We just wanna get this year for him. I feel like you can feel that in how we\u2019re practicing.\u201d<\/em> Here is what Bryson Shaw said last week when he spoke with the media.<\/p>\n Off the record, I\u2019ve spoken to other players on both sides of the ball and not everyone on defense has Bryson Shaw\u2019s mentality of accountability.<\/p>\n The game film doesn\u2019t lie.\u2013Grinch\u2019s defense was inconsistent in 2022. <\/p>\n The schedule is more challenging this season, however, last year they won 11 games and return Superman at quarterback. <\/p>\n If all of the Trojan defensive players can play with the same mentality that Riley\u2019s offense plays with, USC will make the college football playoffs in 2023.<\/p>\n That would be good news\u2013No, that would be fantastic news! <\/p>\n It also means depth on the defensive line is developing faster than Korey Foreman<\/a><\/strong> stacking back-to-back positive practice days together.<\/a> \u201cHe\u2019s been able to stay on the field.\u2013He\u2019s been able to stay in workouts. He hasn\u2019t had a lot of times where he\u2019s in and out of stuff. So what happens is you\u2019re starting to see him stack good days on top of each other<\/em>,\u201d said Riley. \u201cHe has improved and is such a better player right now than he was 12 months ago,\u201d Riley said. \u201cIt\u2019s not even close. It is not even close and the kid is really working hard. He\u2019s really taking some steps.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n I said not too long ago that Coach Shaun Nua would have a positive impact on Foreman. <\/p>\n Solomon Tuliaupupu<\/a><\/strong> is another player developing in the defensive line room and is having a dominant spring camp. The transfers have gotten the lion\u2019s share of attention this spring from the media while others are just taking care of business quietly without much notice. <\/p>\n That silence could be changing. I keep hearing from players that \u201cSolo\u201d is putting guys on their backsides during practice. \u201cHis bullrush is fierce!\u201d<\/em> was just one of the ways to describe Tuliaupupu\u2019s tenacity. Basically Solo plays with the type of mentality Riley wants and it\u2019s probably why he\u2019s still on the roster.<\/p>\n Riley loves to bring up players from his past coaching that developed and helped the team reach its goal. When Foreman arrived at USC on day-1 the anticipation was high but it\u2019s been dipping. Tuliaupupu had high expectations too, however, injuries have been an issue. <\/p>\n Korey and Solo becoming standout defensive ends in 2023 will serve two future benefits. <\/p>\n No. 1, it means the 2023 USC defense is pretty good, they have depth, and they\u2019re producing Tuli Tuipulotu<\/a><\/strong>-type of results. Coach Manning said it best last week<\/a>; he\u2019s coached both Solo and Foreman.\u201cJust a huge need for guys that can get to the quarterback.\u2013That was just a big focus this year, something we thought we lacked a lot last year, to be honest. Need guys that can get to the quarterback.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Secondly, and this cannot be overstated enough, local defensive prospects who have been avoiding USC because they wanted to see players better developed, they\u2019ll have two solid pieces of evidence to help change their minds.<\/p>\n The process doesn\u2019t take very long and Riley has said there is a certain amount of trust involved, but if the player transferring passes the vetting process Lincoln Riley and the player committee puts them through, great! <\/p>\n The Trojans have used the transfer portal to build a championship-contending roster on both sides of the ball, and the work isn\u2019t done yet. Riley admits, there is going to be more player movement. \u201cThere\u2019ll be more movement on the roster.\u2014You can\u2019t predict exactly how many guys are going to leave. You don\u2019t have control over other guys getting into the portal. That\u2019s going to depend on what\u2019s there and how many upgrades we think are available.<\/em><\/p>\n Bringing in any player who can help the team get over the hump and become a championship winner is a risk. Especially, if the player is doing it mostly for NIL reasons. <\/p>\n Say a player like Marvin Harrison Jr.<\/a><\/strong> decides in May that he wants to play with Caleb Williams<\/a><\/strong> for a year before they both head to the NFL. I doubt that Lincoln would say no, and I know the fan base would be pretty happy.<\/p>\n But what if it wasn\u2019t Marvin\u2019s idea to make the move? There is no reason for the future 1st round draft pick to leave his current situation in Columbus Ohio unless it\u2019s for financial considerations. Caleb Williams came to Los Angeles and it has paid off in more ways than you can count from a NIL perspective, and maybe Marvin wants to experience some of the types of return by changing locations. <\/p>\n If Harrison\u2019s representatives make a NIL decision, does that force Riley\u2019s hand to take the transfer if the roster has other needs?<\/p>\n This was hypothetical, and playing with Caleb Williams is an opportunity any wide receiver would relish but not every transfer is making their own decision.<\/p>\n The post Monday\u2019s Morass: What If Lincoln Riley Makes A Difference With The Defense?<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spring camp came back from taking a spring break last week and Lincoln Riley is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What if Korey Foreman and Solomon Tuliaupupu become stand-out defensive ends at USC?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What if a player wants to transfer to USC because of NIL opportunities?<\/strong><\/h2>\n