{"id":71119,"date":"2024-09-26T18:07:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-26T23:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/lincoln-riley-on-dl-depth-after-bear-alexander-departure-i-dont-think-its-changed\/"},"modified":"2024-09-26T18:07:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T23:07:00","slug":"lincoln-riley-on-dl-depth-after-bear-alexander-departure-i-dont-think-its-changed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/lincoln-riley-on-dl-depth-after-bear-alexander-departure-i-dont-think-its-changed\/","title":{"rendered":"Lincoln Riley on DL depth after Bear Alexander departure: \u2018I don\u2019t think it\u2019s changed\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Life came at Lincoln Riley<\/a><\/strong> fast this week, as he went from saying on Tuesday that there was \u201cno story\u201d behind Bear Alexander<\/a><\/strong> seemingly being upset with his role<\/a><\/strong> to the defensive tackle on Thursday reportedly planning to redshirt and transfer after this season<\/strong><\/a>. But the USC<\/a><\/strong> head coach is still bullish on the defensive line room the Trojans have.<\/p>\n

Alexander, who transferred in from Georgia<\/a><\/strong> ahead of the 2023 season, was arguably the Trojans\u2019 most talented interior line defender. Even still, the Trojans have featured a deep rotation this year \u2014 Alexander was seemingly upset because he played 21 of 58 possible snaps in a loss to Michigan<\/a><\/strong> \u2014\u00a0that Riley expects to step up in the absence of Alexander.<\/p>\n

\n

CLICK HERE to go to PrizePicks and use code ON3 to receive a guaranteed $50 once you play $5 in lineups!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s changed, really. It\u2019s been high from the start of the season,\u201d Riley said<\/a> of competition and expectations from the defensive line room. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of guys in that room that are contributing, that are playing at a high level. We don\u2019t have some of the plays and results that we\u2019ve had defensively without that so it\u2019s going to be about the group and their effort. And yeah, just got our business as usual.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he did acknowledge that with Alexander gone from the lineup, it does leave a void for someone \u2014\u00a0or someones \u2014\u00a0to step up and make an impact.<\/p>\n

\n

Save $30 on your first month of Fubo by CLICKING HERE NOW!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

For a limited time, you can get your first month of Fubo for as low as $49.99. Stream ESPN, ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and 200+ top channels of live TV and sports without cable. (Participating plans only. Taxes and fees may apply.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWill that void create some opportunities for more snaps for other people or the ability for us to potentially move around some chess pieces? Sure it will, in the same if somebody injured or any other player wasn\u2019t available,\u201d Riley said. \u201cSo, that\u2019s how we\u2019re viewing it and there\u2019s a lot of excitement about the opportunities it\u2019ll create for some of these guys and I think we\u2019ll have several guys jump up this season and a lot of people want to play for this defense and this defensive line right now. We\u2019ve got a good, hungry group in there and excited to see those guys continue to go to work and affect games.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the Michigan game, Alexander\u00a0tweeted<\/a>\u00a0\u201cFREE 9-OWE\u201d along with pictures of himself in Michigan Stadium, as his guardian also agitated online.<\/p>\n

Asked about it on Tuesday, Riley\u00a0demurred on the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe played over a third of the game. People want to act like he\u2019s not playing snaps. He\u2019s doing a good job for us out here,\u201d Riley\u00a0said<\/a>. USC played 58 defensive snaps on Saturday.<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cThere\u2019s no story there. I know you guys are looking for one. There\u2019s no story there. Guy\u2019s out here working hard. He\u2019s in a new system, with a new coach. He\u2019s getting better, and I think he\u2019s going to get better. It should be hard to play D-line at USC. It ought to be kind of hard. It wasn\u2019t hard last year, that\u2019s why were weren\u2019t very good up front. You know what, we\u2019re pretty decent up there. And it\u2019s hard. The margins are thin. So sometimes, it\u2019s not what someone is not doing, but it\u2019s competitive, and there\u2019s tough decisions to make every week.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Lincoln Riley on DL depth after Bear Alexander departure: \u2018I don\u2019t think it\u2019s changed\u2019<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Life came at Lincoln Riley fast this week, as he went from saying on Tuesday…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71119","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\/71119","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=71119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71119\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}