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USC coach Lincoln Riley looks up and across the field during the Trojans’ spring game at the Coliseum on April 20. Riley and his team face many questions entering preseason camp. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
The phone call in November only lasted about 30 minutes. But Lincoln Riley knew as soon as he hung up that he’d found his new defensive coordinator.
The fit with D’Anton Lynn, as Riley describes it now, was just that seamless from the start. The two coaches were so aligned on football philosophy that they “kind of finished each other’s sentences,” Riley said. And when it came to turning around a troubled defense in a hurry, Lynn had firsthand experience, having engineered a total transformation across town.
On paper, it felt like a perfect match. But in practice, there are questions still to be answered about USC and its new defensive direction.
That process begins Friday, as USC opens preseason camp feeling optimistic about where its defense is heading. Considering where it ended last season — 121st in points allowed, 119th in yards per game — Lynn clearly has his work cut out for him.
Read more: Lincoln Riley brushes off criticism, insists USC is still a power at Big Ten media days
But Riley was sure, from that first phone call, that Lynn could make an immediate impact on that end. When he was asked last week what a successful season would look like for Lynn and the defense, Riley said he expects “a big jump”.
“I want it to look and feel and I want us to play a lot different,” Riley said. “You have in your mind that this is what we have, this is what we feel like the level we can play at and are we playing to a level that’s that or close to that and doing it consistently?”
That’s just the beginning of questions facing USC as it opens its fall camp. Here are a few more to be…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/usc-linemen-handle-big-ten-201414028.html
Author : LA Times
Publish date : 2024-07-30 20:14:14
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