Lincoln Riley provides clarity on health of tight end, defensive back groups

Lincoln Riley provided a peek behind the curtain regarding the health of two major position groups for the USC Trojans.

Riley’s team is preparing for a clash with the Louisville Cardinals in the Holiday Bowl on Wednesday. Speaking with the media, Riley first provided an update on USC’s tight end group ahead of the showdown.

“Tight end will be — Carson Tabaracci will take probably a majority of it, along with Kade Eldridge,” Riley delineated. “Unfortunate injury with Lake McRee, which is really kind of a gut punch to the team. As a coach, I think of all the years of doing this, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an injury like that in bowl practice. You hate to have that.

“Obviously big excited to get him back next season, but (Tabaracci) and Kade Eldridge will take the majority of them.”

Meanwhile, USC is feeling a little thin in their secondary at the moment, but the Trojans leader made sure to point out who will be ready to step up against Louisville.

“Secondary, they’re a little bit thin right now, as we know,” Riley explained. “But obviously several of those guys have practiced well. We’ve been able to take advantage of this time to get some of these guys ready to go.

“So we’ll see a lot of Prophet Brown. A lot of [Tre’Quon] Fegans. A lot of Jacobe Covington. We’ll see a lot of [Bryson] Shaw, [Anthony] Beavers, Max Williams. Those will be the majority of guys that’ll take the snaps.”

Alas, time will tell if USC can overcome losing some serious talent, whether because of injuries, the transfer portal or the NFL Draft. Nevertheless, Lincoln Riley is expected to win these games, and we’ll have to see if the Trojans can get a win.

More on Louisville vs. USC, 2023 Holiday Bowl

After opening up as 6.5-point favorites against the Trojans, Louisville is now a 7-point favorite over USC for Wednesday’s matchup according to FanDuel. And with the point spread going up half a point, the point total went up as well for the game, jumping up one point as it now sits at 58.5 points for the games over-under.

USC’s star quarterback Caleb Williams will not be playing for the Trojans in the Holiday Bowl, deciding to forgo the game as he pursues his future toward a professional career ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft. The former Heisman Trophy winner serves as a major loss in this matchup for USC, responsible for 8,688 yards and 95 total touchdowns in his two seasons in Los Angeles.

Miller Moss will receive the start under center for USC on Wednesday, serving as the first in his collegiate career. But unfortunately for Moss, the Trojans will be without a fair share of playmakers on the offense, with wide receivers Raleek Brown, Mario Williams, and Michael Jackson III all entering the transfer portal following the regular season. 

The status of starting running back MarShawn Lloyd and wide receiver Brenden Rice is also uncertain as well with both players declaring for the 2024 NFL Draft along with Williams. Key defensive players like Domani Jackson and Tackett Curtis have entered the transfer portal as well for the Trojans.

On3’s Kaiden Smith contributed to this article.