Latest news with #Trojans'
USA Today
17 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
USC football adds veteran coach Adrian Klemm to coaching staff
With just a month to go until the start of the 2025 season, USC football is still making additions to its coaching staff. On Wednesday, Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports reported that veteran offensive line coach Adrian Klemm is joining the Trojans' staff. Sure enough, Klemm was present at the Trojans' first practice of fall camp Wednesday morning. Interestingly, Klemm will join the Trojans as a defensive analyst. His background, however, is on the offensive line. Klemm served as the offensive line coach for the New England Patriots in 2023, Oregon in 2022, and the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2021. Klemm played offensive line at Hawaii in the late 1990s. He was a second round pick by the Patriots in the 2000 NFL Draft (easily the most famous player that New England took in that draft), and played five of his six NFL seasons with the team. Klemm's longest coaching stint came at UCLA, where he served as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator from 2012-2016. During his time in Westwood, Klemm established himself as one of the top recruiters on the West Coast. Now, Klemm will get to experience the other side of the Crosstown Showdown. If his track record is any indication, he should certainly provide a boost to Lincoln Riley, Chad Bowden, and the Trojans on the recruiting trail.
USA Today
17 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
USC men's basketball to face Boise State in Maui Invitational on November 24
Last year, it was announced that USC men's basketball will play in the 2025 Maui Invitational. On Tuesday, we learned who the Trojans' first opponent in Hawaii will be. USC will open the tournament against Boise State on Monday, November 24 at 2:00 p.m. Pacific time/12:00 p.m. Hawaii time. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU. This will be the first ever matchup between the two programs. Also featured in this year's tournament will be Seton Hall, North Carolina State, Washington State, Chaminade, Arizona State, and Texas. Every team will play three games in the tournament. 'The 2025 Southwest Maui Invitational features yet another competitive field and includes three teams making their Tournament debut and two previous Tournament champions,' Tournament Chairman and longtime college basketball head coach Dave Odom said in a press release. 'There's truly nothing like the energy and atmosphere that fills the Lahaina Civic Center each November, and we are excited for each of these programs to add to this iconic Tournament's history as they look to deliver Maui Magic for college basketball fans on-island and at-large.' USC is entering year two under head coach Eric Musselman. The trip to Maui will offer the Trojans with an early opportunity to test themselves prior to Big Ten play.
USA Today
3 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Elijah Paige hopes to take on leadership role for USC's offensive line in 2025
For seemingly quite some time now, USC football has gone into each season with one or more established veteran leaders on the offensive line. From Alijah Vera-Tucker, to Andrew Vorhees, to Brett Neilon, to Justin Dedich, to Jonah Monheim, the Trojans have seemingly always had a guy who has been around for four or more years and gone through the ups and downs with the program. This season, USC's o-line does not have that established veteran presence, meaning that the Trojans will be forced to turn to a new generation of leaders. One player who has been looking to step into a leadership role in 2025 is redshirt sophomore offensive tackle Elijah Paige. Representing USC at Big Ten media days in Las Vegas last week, Paige spoke about trying to take on a leadership role on the Trojans' offensive line in 2025. "Teaching [the young guys] everything that I know, the moments that I had that were the 'low points of the season,'" Paige said, via 247Sports. "Teaching them and guiding them so that they don't have to go through the same things that I went through. Telling them everything that I know, playing in different environments, playing against different players, how to go against different pass rushers, just giving them everything that I have, and obviously they know a ton too. They learn the same things that I learned. So yeah, we're just kind of a team. "We've gone through it. We know what it feels like. Obviously, you never want to lose a game, but we've learned a ton from it. Our team's learned a ton. We've learned personally a ton about ourselves, and we're just excited to go out there this fall and play." As a redshirt freshman starting at left tackle last season, Paige was named All-Big Ten honorable mention. Now entering his second season as a starter for the Trojans, Paige will look to develop into one of the top offensive linemen in the conference.
USA Today
4 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Former Trojan Matt Leinart is hopeful about USC football this year
Legendary USC quarterback Matt Leinart spoke at Big Ten media days last week. He offered his thoughts on the Trojans' chances this season in the Big Ten. With USC under a lot of scrutiny, who better to come to the Trojans' defense and give fans a little bit of optimism for this season other than Matt Leinart? In a recent article, Charlie Viehl with USC Trojans on Sports Illustrated highlighted Leinart's exact feelings of optimism this season, noting what the Trojans need to do to be a top team in the Big Ten "(Ashley) Adamson asked Leinart about his thoughts on USC's upcoming season, and Leinart revealed his expectations for USC coach Lincoln Riley in 2025. "You look at USC, UCLA. I mean, both teams need to get better. USC in particular. I'm actually very interested in this year. They made huge strides on defense a year ago. I think that we saw that. They were so close last year in a lot of games, and you can't have excuses. But those plays go the different way, maybe they're 10-3 and in a playoff or 10-2 an in the playoffs, so they need to learn how to finish." As for how to fix USC's problem of finishing close games? The former Trojans quarterback talked about how Riley and the current coaching staff is emphasizing it over the offseason. "I always say this and Pete Carroll at USC, our whole program was built on finishing. Whether it was schoolwork, whether it was in the gym, whether it was meetings just be the best and finish until the very end. You start to develop that mindset," Leinart said. "I know that's kind of been a big thing for them this offseason. Hopefully that translates into the games. I think they're preseason ninth (in the) poll, which means nothing, but people are gonna overlook them this year. I think they're going to be pretty good," the former Trojan continued. How far will "pretty good" get in this year's Big Ten? To Leinart's point, the Trojans did take a massive step forward with the addition of Rob Ryan. This defense should be even better this season. This new and improved defense should help them finish games. With more stability at quarterback and with elite weapons, the Trojans are aiming to right all of last season's wrongs. The Trojans should not be overlooked this season with everything they have, but maybe for Lincoln Riley and the rest of the team, that is exactly how they should want it.
USA Today
6 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Lincoln Riley believes USC's defensive depth has improved significantly from last season
This past week marked Big Ten media days. USC head coach Lincoln Riley kicked off the 2025 season by speaking to the media in Las Vegas. Duding his press conference, Riley touched on a number of topics. One area that he talked about a bit was the Trojans' depth in defense in comparison to last season. 'The depth, certainly, it's going to matter,' Riley said. 'When you play a schedule like we play, it's paramount that it's great because if not, it's going to show up and get you at some point. I think the depth, the talent level and the size of the defensive line. I mean, there's honestly, really no comparison to this time 12 months ago. There's young talent. There's experience. 'I think we've done our part on the roster, and now we've got to develop them and go put it on the field this fall.' Last season, USC's defense took a significant step forward in year one under defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn. With Lynn back for another season, the Trojans' unit will look to take another step forward and emerge as one of the top defenses in the country.
