USC HC Lincoln Riley | LSU Thursday Press Conference

regard to the depth chart with Jaylen Smith is is the plan now to leave him at corner this year or do you still plan to move him around a bunch over the course of the Season uh he he's a piece that gives us some versatility uh we've worked him at some different positions uh throughout camp and spring uh feel like he's got the ability to to help us at at different places um you know certainly you know it's been his emerence at corner I think has been a really positive thing for us so far but um yeah I think he's one of the pieces and we have a few in the secondary right now that we feel like give us some options um and so you know I would imagine that you'll see him all over the place at various times throughout the year thanks Ryan kie hey Lincoln uh jacobe seems like a guy who everyone has a story about him and it just brings kind of a unique Joy it seems like to the football field I I wonder how you've seen him just sort of really find him himself over the course of this last year especially since that kind of breakout at the end of last season yeah he's a he's he's really an intriguing Story I mean really just how he how he ended up here um you know just has a has a you know unique background um but one of those guys we kind of found in recruiting and really just it's hard not to just kind of really fall in love with the kid in terms of just his energy and his kind of just joy for Life he's a big personality he just kind of always fun to be around and so and and having guys in the program like that are important um it's a these things are always there's a little bit of a grind to it obviously u a lot of time all that involved when you got people that are high energy people that everybody enjoys being around and just they they affect the mood of the group um the energy level of the group so much um that they're just they're very valuable and so Jacob's you know I think handled it well you handled the first year well you know both on and off the field did a great job academically um really settled in um you know obviously was able to help us there at the end of last year and so I think there was a lot of momentum and confidence for for him personally and for us with him uh coming off of that and uh and he's worked hard he's worked hard on his Craft um you know it's it was good to get some some bright moments at the end but obviously doing it on a consistent basis week in and week out will be a a good new challenge for him and I I believe that he's ready for it Jack Smith hey Lincoln during your time as a head coach you've gotten opportunities to have some big matchups against some of the other kind of Titan coaches in college football but this will be your first time against Ryan Kelly I'm curious what your thoughts are on what he's accomplished in his career and whether you guys have any kind of relationship despite the fact you haven't coached against each other before yeah uh no ton of respect for him he's uh obviously done a great job everywhere he's been it's been a really good program Builder um you know it's had success at different levels uh so um I think he's done a great job somebody I've admired for a long time uh we did we talked about a job when I was in East Carolina uh we had a meeting about a job when he was at uh when he was at Notre Dame that was kind of my first uh real experience with him um and I was you know super impressed at the time it was it was cool just being a young coach at that point get a chance to to meet him and spend some time with him so that was that was really a positive experience and then yeah we our paths have crossed at times kind of here and there over the different years we've had some uh some mutual friends some people that have either worked with with myself or with Brian that that we know uh very well so um yeah never worked with him I haven't spent l a lot of just individual time with him but yeah I feel like I got a pretty good idea of who he is and obviously a tremendous coach Conor morning coach another depth chart question with bear Alexander I know you said earlier in Camp that you wanted to see more from him that step from being good to great with him being listed as an or starter with Gavin Meer I'm sure that says a lot of great things about Gavin what does that say about bear that that he hasn't locked down a a day one starting job him and Gavin can you speak to what that or designation says about Gavin and what it says about bear yeah it's I mean I think the or is it's it's week one you know and there's a long ways to go I mean everybody you know listen everybody it's going to happen no matter what happens Sunday every single year everybody wants to write The Narrative like well what happens game one this is just what the whole season's going to be like on all accounts and it's and it's not going to be that way um they've they both had strong camps um they're you know very different situations obviously bear was injured missed the entire spring uh missed a few points here of fall Camp um but is now you know fully healthy and is is gaining momentum Gavin's been super impressive just coming in learning the system quickly um you see just the experience of a guy that's played a whole lot of ball um and you and you can feel that and I mean even for Bear you know bear is we gotta remind people I mean he played sparingly his true freshman year at Georgia I mean Bears you know he played for us here you know year one and then really missed all spring and bear Bear's still very young on the football field I mean Bear's still got a long ways to go he is definitely getting better fast no question about it uh he's the last couple of weeks especially you felt him really gain some momentum um adjusting to the new system and all that we're doing new defensively so his progress has been very positive as well and I'm sure you're going to see a pretty steady deals of both those guys RJ hey Lincoln I wanted to ask about how the personalities of Easton Eric and Mason have kind of meshed off the field and then what you've kind of seen from them and the way they work together on the field yeah I I they they kind of have complimentary personality um you know it's it's three older guys that have all played a decent amount of ball now at this point they're all you know in this new system together uh they're all very hungry I I I see them I guess both on and Outfield really just pushed one another um you know you see I I see them push and challenge one another in a in a positive and competitive way and then I also see them kind of really like kind of uplift each other and I when you watch the way those inter guys interact you would if you didn't know any better you would think that you know these guys have all been teammates for you know you know three or four years it kind of has that it kind of has that feel to it and so I've been pleased with with that group that's obviously a group we need to really step up and play well for us and we've got you know right there in the jump we've got three experienced players and uh but they've got to be able to coexist and work together and I think so far coach in has done a really nice job you know with that room and and those guys come has been something that stood out not even in Fall Camp I that's something that to me stood out early on um from from the beginning of offseason Spring ball and has just grown from there awesome thank you Luca L uh just to to go back on on jacobe and and add to that conversation a little bit uh Miller told us last week you know he he obviously came from a high school where he was a featured guy you know he was the guy and and he's kind of had to understand here like you know if a play is not necessarily designed for him it's not the end of the world you know and Miller's words it's he's a piece of larger puzzle obviously a guy with that background who just has kind of need to needed to feel support you know to really Thrive and what have you seen just from his kind of maturity in development that he has made that that kind of realization and stepped into a leadership role um in this room yeah I mean I think most receivers go through that because most of the guys that you know a USC is going to recruit are the number one options on their high school team and then you know all of a sudden you get to a place like this and there's you know there's going to be some other good players in the room and and so uh yeah I mean I think I think jacobe we we've pushed him to to certainly continue to grow and mature but we've tried not to take away and hamper kind of the the youthful energy and and all that he has because it is so positive and I can think of a handful of other guys in my career that I've had that had that same sort of vibe about them and I think the worst thing you could do as a coach is is you know like extinguish that right like you don't you don't want that it's it's a gift it's it helps him play better it's good for the rest of the team but he's also had to learn as he grows that there's a time and place when kind of how um when is it time to kind of lock in and and be ready to go when can you you know bring a lot of energy that helps uplift everybody in a positive way that's going to help them play better and help us play better on the field and so I think that piece has been a learning experience but the thing I respect about jacobe he's he's always open to to coaching um he's open to when we sit down and talk about these things I think you really see him make a conscious effort to try to work on him and he's done that ever since high school I mean that's there was a lot of trust in just getting him here uh you know coming out of high school there was a lot of you know a lot of things where he had to grow and continue to progress and he's you know he's lived up to his word every step of the way and he's continued to do so uh during his time here at SC Antonio hey Lincoln I know towards the end of last season things weren't as consistent for the Run game probably as you wanted what's the key to being more consistent in there this season and kind of achieving more balance in offense yeah man thanks two things I mean we've you know we've gota we've got to play more consistent up front um certainly than we did there at the end and hope hopefully able to you know be a little bit steadier with our lineups this year um which which is I think is always a key to that I do think we got a little bit more power a little bit more mass in there than what we've had in the first few years but we've got to go put it to good use um and then I think the second piece of it is you know we we've got to take care of the ball from the running back position I mean that's that's a massive part I mean you know a couple of the games last year obviously we didn't do that and that was detrimental in fact probably cost us a couple of games um you know last year and so you got to have the confidence as a as a coach A Team all that when you when you give a guy the ball that the you know he's going to after after he gets tacked that when the down ends it's going to be our ball again and uh that's that's got to be consistent so those are two areas that you know been a big Focus point for us but certainly it's important I mean we we expect to be elite running the football we always have um it's a huge part of what we do um there was certainly uh you know you go look back in our history at our times when we've been our very best have been when we've been able to to control the line of scrimmage and be very productive and consistent the Run game so yeah it's a huge point of emphasis we obviously get some great opportunities to to go do it right here off the Jump and we need to go do it well Jude hey coach um you know I mean obviously there's been a lot of uh you know position battles throughout camp and now bleeding even into gameweek I'm I'm actually curious about the kicking position uh because that was something that wasn't released on the je chart what have you seen kind of from the transfer guys like Michael Lance and you know who's going to be taking the field goals uh week one yeah um Lance will will start off for us uh he he'll be the field goal kicker and also handle the kickoffs um it's been a really good competition uh one that'll continue to be ongoing throughout the year we've got some unique skill sets in there with with Lance with Dennis with Eddie um a couple of these young guys have come along and done some really nice things we've got some really talented young kickers in the program uh but Mike will get the uh the start on Sunday we have time for one more Ryan young with uh these ailly do you recall was there was one of them you found first in the portal and then you realize they were both in there or how'd it play out with kind of discovering that package deal you got no yeah kind of kind of found out uh both of them were um and uh yeah we had a couple of conversations and it was one of those that we knew was going to happen pretty fast and I actually flew to flew to Cor valis in a like driving rainstorm and uh I I went and met both of them at their apartment I end up staying at their apartment for like two hours just the three of us and we just we had a great talk and we we you know those two guys it's not hard to get in pretty deep with them in terms of you know just that you could tell right away they were passionate about football they were passionate about going to a place where they you know felt like they had a chance to to to to really go win big um they were passionate about hearing you know my vision for you know our program and where we were headed and you know where they could obviously be of service and and and where I thought the roles could align so it was uh I got to be honest of all the like recruiting visits and all the home visits and all the ones over the years that sometimes admittedly run together a little bit when you look back on them I I don't know if I've ever had a more high energy like fun meeting I mean literally just a three of us in some college kids like apartment in Coralis and we're just I we had a great time I L we ended up leaving much later than anticipated because it was kind of hard to end it but uh you could just just feel their Vibe and energy towards each other uh competitively their passion for it like you can you can you could feel it from the minute I walked in the door so it was a lot of fun glad they're glad they're on our team thank you