USC HC Lincoln Riley | Tuesday of LSU Week

let's roll in in the end what was the hardest position battle to sort out at least for week one obviously you'll keep competing all season for week one there was there was a lot of tough ones um there there's several that you know we got a we got a I say several we got a few that we're certainly going to play multiple people at uh you know see how the game goes um but there's several guys out here we feel like that have earned the right to to go out there and play so um you know we've had some tough decisions I mean you know we've had tough decisions we' talked about the quarterback battle I mean I think certainly you know kind of just div divvying up the Reps between the running backs a lot of those guys have have really had productive camps um and receivers competitive certainly the interior of the O Line's been very competitive um you know dline especially the interior has been very competitive um gosh I mean honestly it's on hard I guess I'm going to get to all every position on the team here pretty soon so I guess and that's a good thing so yeah we've we got a lot of guys at every position that we that we want to play um that we want to see obviously these guys go compete um and I'm sure we'll continue to evaluate throughout the season there are a lot of similarities with this LSU team and you guys new quarterback new defensive coordinator etc etc how do you go about preparing for a team that where there isn't a ton of tape with a quarterback or it's a new defensive coordinator especially in this case yeah we've had it feels like a lot of these last years and probably you know with quarterbacks you know either graduating or transferring or doing all that they do and then obviously all the co coaching turnover the last several years it feels like more of the first games have been like this where you know you you feel like I mean you watch you watch people but you feel like all right we're not maybe seeing exactly what it's going to be or if you're having to watch a different opponent or a player from a different School a coach from a different school so it is what it is um there's I said last night on the show I mean there's parts of it that yeah sometimes you wish you were just sitting there watching the people that that you're going to play like do exactly what they're going to do or at least run their system but then the flip side of it is you know it's it's it's their first game in a lot of areas too as it's going to be ours and some so um yeah you got to make the most of it you got to be ready to adjust in first games because even if it's the same system people are going to have made adjustments they're going to have changed and evolved throughout the year um and then and then obviously you add in all the you know the technology changes and that's just a whole another layer of adjustments that'll uh that'll be fun going going off to that l i mean what's the challenge of you know first year you guys played rice first game second San Jose State and all of a sudden you're coming in here first game of the year and playing you know LSU what's just the challenge of you know knowing you guys don't have any sort of kind of tuneup opportunity before you play you know National Power yeah never really viewed it like that I mean these these games are fun I've been in a couple of these big ones in in early Seasons um you know and they're great because you look forward to it all off season it's a great way to start the season and so um no I think it's a positive I first games there's always a sense of new and excitement and you're kind of waiting to see what you really are and what the opponent really is I think you you always feel that um but I I like it I like playing a marquee game early I like playing a really good opponent early um I think there's there's a ton of positives and like I said I think there's been a a momentum and an excitement about this that's been building for a long time BL baker has known to use a lot of like Blitz packages and being very aggressive with play style what do you see as some attacking points this weekend you Sharon wall these guys know me well um listen he's done a really good job right you get the coordinate job at at LSU means you you've done a really good job so um I don't know him but um know of them certainly you know impressed by the work he's done you know he did a great job at Missouri working with those guys uh had a good group they played at a high level um did a nice job mixing things up keeping off balance um you know certainly was had the ability to bring pressure but it's not like it was just sitting there bringing pressure every down so now it looks like looks like he's a a creative guy um has done a really good job as a young coach and it'll be a good challenge for us what's that any injuries uh we're doing shoot we're doing pretty well we had a we had a very clean Camp um everybody that's been Limited in any way is is rolling right now so I don't anticipate missing anybody have you identified have you identified the Five Guys who are going to be wearing the communication devices during the game and who are the team captains yeah uh communication devices um you know we're certainly you know we're going to have them on the quarterbacks and then we've got a couple of different players defensively that are going to have them on uh then um um I don't know just for competitive reasons that I'm going to announce um uh captains wise we're we're pivoting a little bit um a little bit closer to kind of what we did for the Holiday Bowl and we are going to have captains uh we're going to have captains this year game by game um we're not going to name permanent team captains now I do have a a Leadership Council that's permanent that I meet with uh on a weekly basis and that'll continue uh but our captains are going to be are going to be earned each week um and'll be announced and so uh um you know this week it's uh it's ail uh it's Miller it's Jonah um gosh they going to test me now it's Easton and Kiren Hudson those are those are the five uh for this week but that'll uh that'll change and not necessarily on you know somebody not doing a good job it's just going to be the five that we think are the best and and most uh deserving and the ones that we want leading us out each and every week and kind of like this game of college football every week you got to earn it is the Leadership Council comprised of players it is y is that a new thing or is that no no we've been doing it we've been doing it since I got here so that that'll stay pretty steady L we haven't asked you a ton about the pass rush how do you feel about that just going into game one I'm excited about it I am I mean I think you know what I'm looking forward to is I mean listen you always want guys to be able to win in one-on-one situations but the other thing I think you look at is are you are you affecting the quarterback do you have the ability to to move the pocket it's not always just you know winning a one-on one maybe collapsing a pocket where he's got nowhere to step through or or you know nowhere to scramble into and so I think we've got some guys that have the ability to win different ways um and certainly hope to see some guys win one-on-one and get some free shots on on their quarterback but also we need to we need to do a good job of affecting this pocket um and trying to close down space in there make life a little bit tougher because no quarterback likes that let's see one more L you've seen them for a month is there any true freshman who stood out to you this there definitely is um I I think we have a handful that that certainly are going to help us um you know I think we we'll have a few that'll certainly play some reps here Sunday and then like always I think I think we've got quite a few guys kind of in the batch of like they're they're just about ready they may need like a just a few more weeks but that that you would feel like hey these guys are by the time you get in the season it's hard to imagine them not having a pretty big role on this team so um y'all know y'all know me I don't love to to anoint freshman until they do go go do it on the field but we've got some uh I think you're going to see some guys that that do some really good things for us Sunday and I think the true freshman impact will grow more and more as the season goes on