Lincoln Riley: 'Watch out,' USC Trojans are 'gaining steam' ahead of Year 1in Big Ten | NBC Sports

Lincoln Riley on joining the Big Ten well I guess first of all welcome to the Big 10 right I mean so what what what feelings does that create for you I mean what does that feel like it feels a little more real it was I feel like the last whatever it's been year year and a half like we talked about it some but we were trying to keep what we were doing in the present you know the the real focus and like like now it's actually here um be like being here you know today um like seeing like all these all the logo goes together right like just like it's it's here and it's time and it's it's exciting there's it's Unique it does I think for those of us that are football you know purists and and you know long time just fans of the game it it'll take a little bit of getting used to but it's also going to be incredible like the matchups and what it's going to create from a competitive standpoint I think is going to be really great yeah Lincoln Riley on Big Ten football so I mean when you think of big 10 football I mean what what what comes to mind I think you think at the history of it I think you think of you know playing in in some of these different you know venues some of these different markets all across the country I mean I I I still whether I think about you know the old now Pack 12 or or the Big 10 I think about the Rose Bowl matchups I mean I I I think you think about the great players and teams that have been in it and so yeah I mean combining forces is is going to be it'll be it'll be very cool to see how the league continues to evolve you know how how teams adjust to teams coming in um how the teams coming in adjust to the new league like that's going to be to me a lot of the fun and kind of the chess match that'll be going on behind the scenes Challenges of joining the Big Ten yeah what are some of the specific challenges you think uh about joining this league and playing some of these games travel you know all the the things that are involved that'll be different yeah you know we've been we've been lucky on travel and that we've had a couple of games where we've had to do some fairly significant travel already I mean we played Notre Dame every other year so that for us we we haven't played just a very Regional schedule so I I know there's going to be a little bit more of it there's going to be times when we're on a plane a little bit longer than what what we used to be but I don't I don't feel like the travel is going to be a huge impact especially because we gain hours when we come back after the late game um I think the biggest thing is just getting ready for all these new matchups I think the quality of teams week in and week out you're going to be going up against you know new coaches new schemes new players playing in new venues so I think just getting ready for those challenges each and every week in a league where you haven't you haven't been a part of it you don't have maybe that that bank or that that huge knowledge base of of all that's going on and all of us are going to be learning each other in some ways on the fly yeah and obviously you Weather experienced this a little bit with the trips to Notre Dame but weather also is going to be a factor that's that's new uh no way to really prepare for that just got to deal with it right yeah maybe I'll take my guys up to a big bear or something get him in the snow but uh yeah no we'll we'll we'll end up uh you know we'll end up with some of those but those are the most fun ones yeah your Progress at USC third year now at USC um obviously you know you've had ups and downs I mean good and bad how close are you do you think to having the program where you want it to be we're we're gaining steam I mean we've won you know we took over a team that won four games the year before we got there and we've won 19 in the first two and honestly we've left you know in my opinion a handful of on the table that we we certainly could have had a chance to go get a few more so um are we are we excited about the progress that we've made in every area like absolutely like this thing was there was a lot more ready-made situations to go into I I'll put it that way and and I knew that I it's not not poor me or poor us we we knew we knew what it was we knew that we needed new facilities we knew we needed new staff we knew we needed overall the roster I mean we've there's not really one thing that has has not changed and hasn't changed drastically and all those things are improving at a rapid rate but when your starting point is where it was it's going to take some time and I'm proud of the progress that we've made in the first few years I'm proud of the product that we've been able to turn over and and put on the field the last few years where we've been right in the thick of it um now are we satisfied with it is it is it where it's is it right now where it's going to be here pretty quickly not yet but we are gaining steam fast and the power of of this place and the advantages that this place have are real and as this thing continues to gain momentum watch out one of the things obviously that you New defensive staff know needs to continue to pick up steam is is defense you know and how you play on that side of the ball and you know this was kind of not new to you even when you were at Oklahoma there were times where your defense was behind your offense talk about the changes with the staff now defensively and and what you expect from them this year yeah I think looking for a similar turnaround to what we had after my you know my first year and a half at Oklahoma you know we may we made a change there and and you know defense really the last few years when we won the Big 12 went to playoff I mean the defense really became the strength of those teams and excited you know for for this change obviously we brought in you know dant Lynn from UCLA who authored the biggest defensive turn around in college football last season and has extensive NFL history and certainly at every step of the way throughout that search felt like the right guy for our current team and our situation to help us take that step and not just Danton I mean we equipped him with what we believe is the best defensive coaching staff in the country hired Matt an the head coach at North Dakota State Who won six national championships you know I hired Eric Henderson who was coaching a guy named Aaron Donald for the Los Angeles Rams as their dline coach I brought in Doug Bel who was a defensive coordinator at Houston I mean we really assembled I think a phenomenal staff and I think it starts with that uh the talent base is continuing to grow and we think combined with that staff we're going to have a chance to gain some real momentum there and play the kind of defense that we know we can play Transfer portal yeah and obviously you know in the last couple years you you put a staff like that together and the transfer portal allows you to to find some guys that you can improve quickly right it does it does it's it's we we've certainly used it here early on um to kind of shock the system if you will of this roster a little bit to get competitive early now I do still very much deep down believe that the best way to build programs is developmental um and we've certainly kind of begun our shift from being pretty transfer portal Reliant in the first couple of years to what we want to be longterm which is a developmental program that uses the portal here and there as needed and and this year was quite a few less transfers than than what we've done and I think that Trend will continue for us especially as we build a talent base and we' got two full recruiting classes in right now that just simply wasn't there when we took over and you know a place like SC uh Recruiting obviously there's great talent along the west coast to recruit but has to be one of the few National Brands too that you could go anywhere and people know know the brand right you can you can there's not a place in the country that you can't go recruit people understand that people pay attention to it um when you bring a recruit and their families out to Southern California and they get to see it especially those have never seen it before I mean the look on their face you can tell it's there's just there's something really special about this place and so you know we still we certainly want to do a great job you know in our home state and on the west coast first and foremost but you know to to to win this league to get this program back to in my opinion where it belongs uh we don't want to close the door on recruiting anywhere and certainly you know going into a league like this where we're going to play more games all over the country lends itself to I think you know maybe getting in a few different areas that maybe we haven't been in quite as much before and and you've started to see that with our recruiting here in the last year so Caleb Williams is gone right um Miller Moss brilliant career generational kind of talent and player um Miller Moss played exceptionally well in your bowl game all right what what how does that make you feel where where do you think he is and and his development and his Readiness to to take over yeah I I I don't get too high low about it probably being lucky enough to have had a few of the other guys that left and then everybody was worried about oh my God what are you going to do when this guy leaves like now the next guy's going to go in and we expect him to play pretty good too and uh you know Miller you know was able to do that I I think the you know for the future of this program the bowl game was such a just how it all unfolded was was I don't know that you could have scripted it any better honestly where we just played at all of our young guys um and and they went out and really showed out on a national stage against a good football team um you know both Miller and a lot of our other young players just stepped in there and and really not just handled that night well but it was it was six weeks from the end of our regular season until our bowl game it's a long time almost like another Camp it was and it's like that was like the beginning of this year's team in in a lot of ways you du kind of the heart and soul of this year's team you just you could feel it I feel like that that's continued uh Miller's done a great job and and and handling I think all of it and we've got a we got a good room in there it's a good quarterback room we've got experienced guys we got three guys that have played college football uh three guys that know our system they have talent they work hard they're about the team like it's uh it's got the makings of being a really great group Quarterback Whisperer yeah your whole career I mean you've kind of been the quarterback Guru Whisperer kind of Coach uh I mean just where what has made you able to do that so well I mean what what in your background in your some of your mentors you've done a great job with quarterbacks how has that evolved for you well I mean it starts with getting a chance to coach the right guys I mean it's still about the guys on the field um always will be I've had a chance to coach some some phenomenal you know teammates players uh talents um yeah I mean I think I think we have a a a system and not just a system of x's and o's but just a belief system in the way that we recruit develop and Coach that position that we we believe in very much um we've tried to adapt it through the years to make it as good as we can it's not saying it's perfect but it's there's just a lot of lot of lot of trust and belief and kind of verification of trust based on kind of How It's win and so um yeah it's it's it's been a fun run with those guys and um hopefully we have a bunch more just like that College Football Technology yeah one of the things they have the couple uh exhibits out here you know with some of the new technology that's going to be allowed in college football this year what do you think about those I mean the communication and the iPads on the the sideline pretty incredible yeah I think the communication piece is great um it's I mean for obvious reasons which this league knows better than most it's it's it needed to happen um and I I I don't I I think that's a great piece of it I don't think that necessarily gives one team any advantage over the other I mean you could argue maybe some points but I think that was a necessary step we'll see on the video piece I I was probably one of those that wasn't very much in favor for that I think there's there's a the the purist to me thinks you ought to be able to look at a play one time while it happens then you got to decipher it and remember it and and be able to figure it out so I especially us kind of skipping the NFL and going straight to like live video and not just the still shots on the sideline to me was um a little bit of a head scratcher but listen I don't decide the rules the rules are the rules and we're going to try to make them an advantage as much as we can yeah I think Bill belich said something about the Physicality similar thing that the video can make uh make an average coach look really smart that's uh yeah that's that's been a little bit that was our argument with it in the first place yeah um so I guess one other thing just the Big 10 a lot of times is physicality you think of now you know they've evolved as well right they throwing the ball and playing more wide open but still particularly when you get into November the ability to run the football defend the Run be physical becomes Paramount uh what are some steps that you guys have taken I know there's the one thing with your the the diet and some of the things nutrition wise talk about how you're preparing your team in that way yeah and I I totally agree I mean I think to win championships in in any League you got to be able to do that especially at the end of the year when you get into some of those games where whether it's whether the weather's a factor or not where you've got to go grind it out and and finish a game or or go have a tough drive to to to win on the road you know we became that's something we became really good at at Oklahoma you know my years there and those those times of the year we were able to do that and and so certainly building that regardless of what conference that we were going to be in here has has certainly been a big part of it um you know we've we've continue to build the line of scrimmage and there certainly especially on the defensive front been a major push to add more more size um a little more more girth more strength um and and we've worked to do that both through the guys that we've recruited the way we've developed them you know we were a single single Gap defense here previously that relied on you know athleticism and getting in the back field and and and creating uh you know penetration to where you could you know obviously disrupt what what teams were doing you know we're we're going to be a little bit more traditional in terms of the style of front and so our body types that way have changed even the guys that have already been in our program so I think it it fits well with the move that we're making and you could certainly feel a difference in Spring ball you came from a place Oklahoma Expectations where there were great expectations right fan base spoiled in some ways expected championships conference national championships USC same kind of place right um it's been 20 years since sc's won a national championship um what's it going to take do you think to get yourself to that place to to be able to be competitive for that I think I think we have to stay steady I I think we've had to and we have to it's like a combination of being aggressive in the areas that we've needed to be aggressive in that we're way behind you know we're in the process we our facility right now would rank you know in the bottom part of college football our facility that's being built right now next year will be you know probably in the top two or three if not the best one and and that's something that USC deserves right got brand new athletic Administration brand new ad who's done a phenomenal job we're in a new conference it's a brand new staff it's a brand new roster I mean we have the the overhauls that have happened in the last two years have been so massive um and they needed to and we've been aggressive and now once you make those changes doesn't mean necessarily that everything is perfect the way you want it now those things have to start to take hold and that's when the building really starts to happen so I think now that a lot of those things are in place I think it's we've got to stay steady and we've just got to continue our climb we're getting better we're making progress we're doing the things we need to get us back to being a championship program the the advantages at this place are so real and they are so significant that we've just got to get the other stuff back right so those advantages can can put it up above again like it was for so many years uh before back in the 2000s when when Pete was there and obviously all the history before like it'll be that again I'm tell like it's going to be that again but we have to get these other parts right so that it can shine like it really can last thing uh just the expanded playoff College Football Playoff I mean your thoughts on that and just the the potential for more access it's it's good it's good it's um it needed to happen um you know we we were we were fortunate you know the years that we've been in the playoff mix I mean that we we never really were like that fifth team out you know I've never had to feel that I mean we got in all the years at Oklahoma our first year here had we you know finished off the Pack 12 Championship we would have been in it that year too I mean so I I can't complain from a personal standpoint but the fact you could be a conference champion and not be in the playoff has just never sat right with me because conferences are are not equal certainly now uh and non-conference schedules are still not equal not even close and so there's got to something that like if not no matter what happens if you're good enough to win your league you ought to be playing for a national championship so that needed to happen and then I think with with us expanding with the SEC expanding and now you got two leagues that the quality of teams far surpass the other leagues you you don't want it to be a penalty for being in such a great league so to have you know more spots is certainly I think just the right thing yeah one uh kind of Favorite Caleb Williams story random question this is for Sunday Night Football for NBC uh just your favorite Caleb Williams story that maybe defines what kind of person player he is oh man let me my my my favorite story of Caleb on the field is you know still probably him taking over in the in the U Texas game I mean just as a as a freshman um and the way he handled that moment and that type of a rivalry game um that was that was a you a really special moment in a game obviously that's it's a you know really really important game and then and then the other one I would say is you know here at USC when he when he won the Heisman he's was the first player in history to take he took his entire offensive line even the guys that were backups you know to New York to be a part of the Heisman you know ceremony and and all the history and all that you know those of us that have been fortunate enough to be a part of that like it's a it's a big deal it's a it's an impressive thing and to to to be selfless in that moment and think about you know having his guys there and they arranged and did it all like it was that was you know shows you a little bit of who he is kind of behind the scenes or away from the field