Not many football programs across the nation revamped their depth on offense as much as USC did so earlier this year.
The floodgates opened for the Trojans after they hired Lincoln Riley to be their new head coach. They relied upon the transfer portal to revamp an offense in need of playmakers, as they hauled in the likes of former Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams and former Pittsburgh wideout Jordan Addison.
Heading into the 2022 season, Riley sees plenty of potential across the board on the offensive side of the ball. As he noted during his Pac-12 Media Day press conference, he is looking forward to the “competitions” that will come within the offense in the coming weeks.
“Yeah, I think we have some really intriguing skill sets,” Riley said. “I'm really excited about our backs, both Travis Dye and Austin Jones are proven guys at this level that are both really pros in the way they go about their business. They both have great experience. So really excited about those two.
“The receiving core obviously we've made a lot of additions and changes, too. I mean, so many of those guys, obviously Jordan [Addison] and Mario [Williams] have been talked about quite a bit and deservedly so. … We have some neat skill positions, have some guys that can stretch the field, make a lot of plays, give us some versatility. I think there will be a lot of competitions within our own locker room. It will be really interesting to see how we evolve as an offense.”
As Riley pointed out, USC will see multiple new faces with its running backs group come Week 1 of the upcoming season. Former Stanford running back Austin Jones and former Oregon all-around talent Travis Dye are both slated to bolster the Trojans offense from out of the backfield.
For now, much attention is set on the start of the Lincoln Riley era at USC, which is set to kick off with a clash against Rice on Sept. 3. The Pac-12 powerhouse will then open up its conference schedule with matchups against Stanford and Oregon State later in the month.
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