Like the 4th at helm wasn’t already lacking pressure, now Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans are battling two key injuries. Each on opposite sides of the ball. One hit the defense, one the offense. And while one of those players is at least moving around in practice, the optics aren’t great for a head coach who, after three years in LA, has posted a worse record with each passing season. Stonks!
The latest blow is to Troy’s secondary. USC CB Prophet Brown suffered a non-contact injury during practice and will miss the start of the season, Lincoln Riley confirmed to the media after the conclusion of fall camp. While non-contact injuries often ring alarm bells, this one is not expected to be season-ending. Losing one of its most experienced DBs right before Week 1 is a gut punch. So, how’s that defensive depth looking now, coach? “We feel good,” he said. The second one was surely with a trace of bitterness in his delivery, one could tell.
“We feel good. The guys have done a nice job. We’ve got a nice rotation going on in there. Obviously, we’ve added some new pieces and some guys that bring some position flexibility to that. It’s always for us going to be about trying to find the best group of guys that we can put on the field depending on what packages we’re in. But trying to find those best five DBs. Fortunately here in the second year of coach Lynn’s system, having a few guys that have returned and played a decent amount of ball, that position flex does exist in that room. Right now we’re not moving a bunch of guys around too much. We’re trying to figure out who we’re really going to play with and count on, and then we’ll start figuring out lineups and rotations as we get closer to game one.”
Brown’s absence isn’t just about losing a starter; it’s about losing a Swiss Army knife in the secondary. USC DC D’Anton Lynn didn’t mince words about his value. “I mean, he’s taken a big step and he’s one of the guys we trust the most on defense,” Lynn said Thursday. “He can play nickel, he can play corner. There’s actually been sometimes in a pinch where he can go play safety just because he knows what to do. Outside of Kamari [Ramsey], I would say that nobody on the backend quite knows the defense like him.” In a defense still trying to shed its reputation for giving up chunk plays, that kind of football IQ is priceless. The track record speaks for itself. Over four years in cardinal and gold, he has appeared in 39 games, tallying 31 tackles and two pass breakups.
Heading into his fifth and final season, the Sacramento native was in line to take over the nickel spot full-time, a role that demands quick reads, physicality against the run, and sticky coverage in space. In a transfer portal era where rotational players often chase starting roles elsewhere, Brown’s decision to stick with USC was rare — and a testament to both his patience and his connection to the program. The other lad was junior receiver Ja’Kobi Lane, who has been limited through the first week of practice. He did run routes and catch passes on Friday during individual drills.
“He’s going to start ramping up here, here in the next couple of days.” A sad coach in LR said. Lane has not been a full-go since camp kicked off, but he has been active. He still does his trademark yell every day as he walks onto the practice field. All of this is a tough hand for Lincoln Riley, who expected Brown to anchor a veteran trio alongside DJ Harvey and DeCarlos Nicholson. That threesome was supposed to be the bedrock of the Trojans’ defensive backfield heading into 2025. Instead, USC will have to lean more heavily on younger talent, banking on raw athleticism to make up for a lack of live-game reps.
Lincoln Riley’s one-score problem and the art of the perfect throw
Starting QB Jayden Maiava had his say after practice, and it was as QB1-as-it-gets — equal parts precision talk and keeping it simple. Asked if each receiver, like Ja’Kobi, has a “sweet spot” where they like the ball thrown, Maiava smiled. “Each receiver kind of has their little sweet spot where they like the ball thrown,” he said. “Um, shoot. They really just want it in the vicinity of what they can go up and catch, you know? So, and I got to do it with my… I got holding up my end of the bargain to go put it in their vicinity so they can go up and make catches.”
That’s QB-speak for I’ll make it catchable, you go make it special. And in a season where double-digit wins are within reach, that give-and-take is everything. Lincoln Riley doesn’t have much wiggle room here. Last year, they dropped five games decided by one score — the kind of stat that keeps head coaches staring at the ceiling at 2 a.m. Flip just half of those, and suddenly the Trojans are looking at nine or 10 wins, a very different conversation than the “what went wrong” postmortem.
A hit losing key men early in the year, every precise ball and every completed connection is one more way to keep this season from teetering on the wrong side of the scoreboard.
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