The offseason gives coaches time to relax and reflect. Months removed from USC’s 2024 campaign where the Trojans went 7-6, Lincoln Riley shared some insights regarding what he learned in his third year in Los Angeles after his team’s fifth practice of the spring Thursday. For Riley, last year’s struggles largely came down to growing pains.
“I know you guys probably get tired of hearing me say it, but in terms of lessons learned, we’re just on our climb, man,” Riley said. “We’re just growing. We’re just continuing to get better, and that’s not really relative to the Big Ten or to anything else. We’re continuing to try to grow and take steps as a program. And like I’ve said, we want to fix the things that aren’t championship level and try to continue to enhance the things that maybe we think are right now.”
There have been two clear “fixes” at USC so far this offseason. Riley and athletic director Jen Cohen have overhauled the program’s recruiting department with the additions of general manager Chad Bowden, assistant GM Dre Brown, executive director of personnel Max Stienecker and assistant athletic director of recruiting operations Zaire Turner. While it’s still early, those hires have worked wonders for USC so far as the Trojans currently have the No. 1 ranked high school recruiting class in the 2026 cycle…by a wide margin.
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The other fix has come on defense. USC prioritized adding size to its defensive line this offseason, which is something the program lacked in 2024. The Trojans brought in 6-foot-4, 331-pound nose tackle Keeshawn Silver and 6-foot-5, 349-pound Jamaal Jarrett from the transfer portal in addition to signing 6-foot-5, 290-pound true freshman Jahkeem Stewart from the high school ranks. The team’s defensive line will be much, much bigger in the fall. But will it be championship level? Time will tell.
ANY OTHER LESSONS LEARED?
With so much roster turnover year to year, Riley explained it can be challenging to grow from past experiences in the current college football climate.
“Each team is so new that there’s some of the lessons that are learned, but like, some of the lessons will be a little bit different this time around,” he said. “You just got to be ready for all these different challenges that are coming, and that’s why you prep so hard, and why you try to grow as a program so that you’re more ready for that year after year. And I think we’re absolutely heading to that direction.”
Riley did vocalize one potential change from last season in his remarks though. The program may end up tweaking how they travel for road games in 2025.
“We’ll take a couple of internal notes on some of the travel, and obviously that’s heavily affected by what time you play and all of that,” he said. “But I think when you’re traveling a little bit more, you pick up on a few things that you think you can do better there.”
Those remarks will be well received by USC fans. The Trojans went 0-4 in true road games outside of Los Angeles last season. Changing up the travel itinerary could definitely help this fall.
USC’s 2025 spring camp will continue through April wrapping up with a practice on Saturday, April 26th. There will be no spring game this year.
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