Latest news with #Trojans'
USA Today
10 hours 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
a day 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
3 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.
USA Today
4 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
USC football countdown to kickoff—Javorius \
The countdown to USC's 2025 football season is officially on! The Trojans kick off their new campaign 37 days from today. You need something to help you while away the days and hours in the spring and summer. This is one way to do so. In this new series, countdown to kickoff, we will be counting down the days by highlighting a notable Trojan who wore each number. Today, we look at former USC running back Javorius "Buck" Allen. Position: Running back Years played at USC: 2011-2014 Career highlights: Allen did not see much playing time for the first 2.5 seasons of his USC career. After redshirting as a true freshman in 2011, he had just six carries in 2012, and only 12 across the first five games of 2013. Following the firing of head coach Lane Kiffin, however, Allen broke out under interim head coach Ed Orgeron and new offensive play caller Clay Helton. Allen finished the 2013 season with over 120 rushing yards in four of the Trojans' final five regular season games, and scored a touchdown in their final six contests. He was named USC's team MVP for the season. As a redshirt junior in 2014, Allen emerged as one of the top running backs in the Pac-12. He finished the year with 1,489 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns, to go along with 458 receiving yards and a touchdown reception. He earned first-team all-conference honors. After USC: Following his redshirt junior season, Allen declared for the 2015 NFL Draft. The Baltimore Ravens selected him in the fourth round. He would play five seasons in the league, the first four with Baltimore and the final one with the New York Giants. The two best seasons of Allen's career were 2015 and 2017. In both of those years, he had over 500 rushing yards, over 800 all-purpose yards, and six total touchdowns.
New York Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Lincoln Riley wants USC-Notre Dame to continue, but says Playoff AQs would make it easier
LAS VEGAS — USC coach Lincoln Riley wants to preserve the Trojans' historic college football rivalry against Notre Dame. But he said he won't work to do it at the expense of damaging a USC bid to qualify for the College Football Playoff. The Irish and Trojans have played 95 times since 1926, meeting every year but three during World War II and during the COVID-19 shortened season of 2020. However, the series has not been extended beyond 2026 as the USC administration remains noncommittal. Advertisement 'Do I want to play the game?' Riley said Thursday at Big Ten media days. 'Hell, yeah, I want to play the game. Absolutely, it's one of the reasons I came here. But also, my allegiance and my loyalty is not to Notre Dame. It's not to anybody else. I'm the head football coach at USC, and I'm going to back USC, and I'm going to do everything possible that I can, in my power, to make us as good as I can. 'I'm not going to let anything stand in between that.' In the current 12-team CFP format, a potential loss against Notre Dame stands to damage the Trojans' resume — arguably more than a win would help it against the backdrop of a nine-game Big Ten schedule. As Playoff expansion remains a possibility for 2026, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti backs a 16-team CFP model that awards four automatic bids to both the Big Ten and the SEC. According to Petitti and Riley, the fourth-year coach in Los Angeles, the Big Ten-proposed format would entice its teams to play more challenging nonconference games. 'There's a million reasons why we as a college football community should adopt the automatic qualifying in terms of the College Football Playoff,' Riley said. 'And this might be the most important one.' Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said in May that he wants to extend the series. 'It's a great rivalry for all of college football,' Freeman said. 'If it was up to me, we would play them every single year for the rest of college football time. It's pretty black-and-white for me.' When Riley left Oklahoma to take the USC job in 2021, he said, he felt immediate excitement to coach against Notre Dame, much as he savored coaching against Texas with the Sooners. 'All these rivalries mean a great deal to me,' Riley said. 'They mean a great deal to anybody that cares about college football.' Advertisement Riley said he remains hopeful the sport can reach a place that 'makes sense' for USC to play the rivalry game. 'It's one of those situations right now where the two schools are in radically different situations,' Riley said. 'I think we can all agree with that — with one having a conference affiliation and one not.'
