What They Said: USC HC Lincoln Riley meets with the media pre-Michigan

On Alex Graham’s health status

Good, good. He had a good bye week. That kind of worked out perfect for him. Able to get a lot of reps, and we’ll keep repping him. Hope to try to get him ready to help us here in the near future.

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I don’t know if it’ll be this week but we’re, it’s actually been a little faster than we expected given the nature of the injury, and so healing’s gone well, and yeah, we’re getting ready as fast as we can.

On Elijah Paige’s injury status for the Michigan game

Yeah, I think, you know, I think he’s got a chance. I mean it’s not a, it’s not a shoo-in. It’s just kind of been a nagging injury that he’s dealt with that one of those things you just try to manage as best you can. So I mean, the bye week was definitely helpful.

We’re in a better place than we were, certainly a couple weeks ago, but just got to see how the rest of the week plays out.

On Michigan’s defensive line

Yeah, I mean they’re good. They’re different. They had just the two dominant inside players last year, and they’ve got very good inside players this year, too, but those guys were obviously exceptional players. Their experience at the edges. Got guys that have played a while for them and made a lot of plays, and then you just see their depth. I mean, they have a lot of really good depth. They’re able to rotate guys, able to play multiple guys. If somebody’s out they can replace them pretty quickly. They can keep guys fresh.

So you just kind of see a lot of different contributors on the defensive front. Yeah, I mean, I think we’re in a much different place on the O-line than we were at this time last year with some of our depth, and I think some of the improvements that we’ve made. So we got a really good group. I got a really good group. It should be a fun battle.

On how the secondary performed during the bye week

I think they’ve worked hard, and I mean, we’ve gotten some people, kind of back healthier, more reps, which it’s been good to have a few more bodies out there throughout the week. We attacked everything head-on. Things that we had to improve at, leveraging the ball on the perimeter, being aggressive in coverage but making sure that we’re doing it within what’s being called on any given Saturday. Making sure we’re doing a really good job with our communication.

So we’ve worked hard on it and yeah, I mean, I think the guys have improved. They’ve been very intentional about their work, and now we got to do it all week and go put it on the field on Saturday.

On the Mark Sanchez situation

Yeah, all I’m gonna say about that is just, I mean, prayers with everybody involved. I don’t know much about the situation, probably more than anybody else, but sounds like a really tough situation, and just hope everybody involved is okay.

On his TEs and RBs in pass protection

We’ve been pretty steady. I think we’ve done a good job, for the most part, protecting our guys back there. We’ve got some experienced players that understand what we’re doing and how we’re trying to protect.

Guys have been pretty physical but we’re gonna have, certainly, a good challenge on that this week and in the coming weeks as we play some of these really, really good defenses. I think it’s been a strength of our team up to this point. Got to keep it going.

On who the backup center is

Kaylon would be right now. Kaylon Miller would be. I mean, his versatility we knew was going to be important for us at some point. So, yeah, with Kaylon and Willie and then a couple of the older guys have the ability to slide in there and do it too. You don’t ever want to lose anybody, especially guys at that position, but we’re fortunate that our depth there is different than it’s been in years past.

On the challenge losing a starter center and having to replace them

Yeah, the bye helps, and having a really experienced backup center helps. You know, J’Onre’s played a lot of football. He’s played a lot of big games, and that was definitely some of the intrigue when we brought him here, is that we felt like one way or another, whether he was a starter or not, he was gonna be very valuable for this football team.

So, and he stepped in and did a lot of really good things in the Illinois game, but yeah, I mean, I think the chance to get all the snaps, to really dive into the preparation on a little bit different level when he’s a starter here and having multiple weeks has been to our advantage and I, yeah, I’ve had times where I’ve lost centers before. I mean, I don’t know, I’ve ever had this accomplished of a second option. So, yeah, I don’t expect us to be an issue or expect that to be an issue for us.

On challening his defensive line this week

We’re pretty transparent with our guys on, you know, what our plan to win is, you know, what our opponents do well, what we have to do to neutralize that and what we have to do to affect the ballgame and we’re very transparent with all of our groups, all sides of the ball every single week. It’s a constant one-week challenge every single week here and I don’t, so I don’t know that changes a lot, but certainly, you know, I think the excitement to play in this game against a really good group coming off the bye week and coming off a game where we weren’t as impactful as we expect to be there, our guys will be ready to play.

On Sherrone Moore’s comments about the game being a sellout only because Michigan is coming

Yeah, I don’t really care what he says. We’re looking forward to playing.

On what the defensive line going back to basics means

It’s just, it’s work. I mean, it’s addressing some of the areas where we want to continue to improve. It’s continuing to build depth. It’s continuing to work these guys in different scenarios against different schemes and it’s just a build-up and so, yeah, I mean, there’s a laundry list of things, kind of like I said last week, that you lay out for every group when you get to one of these bye weeks, and so the D-line, no different. We want to be able to close that space in the run game. We want to be able to affect the passer, you know, whether that’s sacks, whether that’s hits, whether it’s impacting the pocket, and we want to be able to rotate guys and do it consistently, and so we spent a lot of time on that.

We’ve been able to do that for the majority of this season, and no matter what’s happened before, good or bad, we need to do it really good this week, and that’s all that matters right now.

On what stands out about Bryce Underwood

He’s a really good player. He’s young, but he’s getting in some unique situations here for a young guy that’ll, I’m sure, be good for his development. He certainly, I mean, you see the physical talent, his ability to move, his arm strength, you know, he’s a big kid.

So yeah, I mean, he’s doing a good job. You know, talented guy that we’re gonna have to corral and a guy that we need to put pressure on. We need to make him execute. That’s the name of the game for any quarterback at any level, especially in these big games. So, you know, he’s a really good player that we have a lot of respect for, and we need to impact him as much as we can.

On getting his team to not buy into the pressure of a big game

Yeah, we don’t buy into much of the pressure stuff. It’s just not like that in our walls. I think ours is the excitement to play. I think it’s understanding an opportunity like a game like this provides, where you’re two of the more iconic brands in college football history that get a chance to do battle. You get a chance to do it here in the Coliseum. Like, these are, these are special games.

I mean, these are games that you remember. These are games that I think provide great opportunities for players, for fans, for everyone. And so, yeah, I think you embrace it. I mean, it’s not pressure because this is what we do. Like, this is what we wait all freaking year for games like this, for opportunities like this. So, if not, we’re excited.

We’re gonna go prepare our ass off and go play.