Makai Lemon, Ja’Kobi Lane availability: Lincoln Riley reveals ‘violation’ led to absence

After a relatively slow start to the game, head coach Lincoln Riley saw his USC Trojans control the second half against rival UCLA. With that, they’d end the season on a positive note and set themselves up with a chance to get to a 10th win in the bowl game.

Notably, USC was without a pair of key wide receivers early in the game. Both Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane would miss the first quarter of the game. Lincoln Riley would very quickly address that in his postgame press conference, explaining it had to do with a violation of team policy. However, he did not expand on the issue beyond that.

“There was a violation of a team policy,” Lincoln Riley said. “That was the decision that was made.”

Even missing the first quarter, both Lemon and Lane would be able to make their impact on the game for USC. In fact, Lane would lead the team in receiving yards for the day with 52 yards on three receptions. Lemon only had one reception, but it went for 32 yards and a touchdown.

Makai Lemon, in particular, will wrap up the regular season as one of the best receivers in the country. He had 79 receptions for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns over 12 games. All three of those categories would lead the Big Ten this season. That’s 14.6 yards per reception. With that, he would also be named a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award. Back in October, Lincoln Riley actually shared what makes him so confident in the talented wide receiver.

“I don’t rank ’em while they play for me, but he’s playing good ball for us right now. I mean his versatility and consistency really stands out to me in the way that he’s playing,” Riley said in October.

“He’s a guy that we feel like can do a lot of different things well on the field and that allows us to use him in different areas and be creative and try to get him in situations where we feel like the advantage is going to be ours. He’s improving. He works hard out here at his craft, football’s important to him. And he just keeps getting better and better and I think our confidence in him just keeps growing as well.”

Ja’Kobi Lane would be second on USC in receiving this season. He wrapped up the regular season with 49 receptions for 745 yards and four touchdowns. That’s 15.2 yards per reception.

USC, with its three losses, is going to be on the outside looking in at the College Football Playoff this season. Still, the Trojans have a bowl to look forward to. They don’t know when or where that will be just yet, but it could serve as an exclamation point on the season for the Trojans.