New receivers give Lincoln Riley hope as USC opens

At the start of his fifth fall camp at USC, Lincoln Riley discovered himself enamored with all that felt new around him. Namely the state-of-the-art, $200-million facility towering over one end of the Trojans’ observe discipline, with all the luxuries any soccer coach may ask for.

“This building is magical,” Riley said. “It’s hard to explain how different, how fantastic it is.”

On the sphere, in entrance of that gleaming facility, the Trojans also had been breaking in one thing totally new on Saturday: their receiving corps.

USC opened training camp this week without the companies of its top returning wideout, Tanook Hines, after the sophomore underwent an offseason surgical process that has yet to revealed. Riley said the injury affecting Hines, who missed the spring, isn’t “overly serious” and that he’s anticipated back for the start of the season. But his absence leaves the Trojans with a completely new and unproven group to catch passes; many of them are getting their first expertise of faculty soccer, and of quarterback Jayden Maiava.

“A lot of new bodies. Fortunately he had spring and all summer with all these guys to start developing that chemistry and that confidence,” Riley said of Maiava. “But that’s going to be something we have to work at every single day.”

Among those new gamers is a host of top receiver recruits anticipated to contribute instantly. Partly, out of necessity.

Freshmen wideouts Trent Mosley and Kayden Dixon-Wyatt already made a strong impression and ought to immediately step into roles on offense. Tron Baker is another who presumably may carve out a place. And becoming a member of them this week at observe, after just enrolling this summer season, is a freshman wideout who some consider would be the best of the bunch, top-60 recruit Boobie Feaster.

It might take Feaster time to get up to pace. Hines stepped into a comparable place last season, having just arrived on campus for the summer season. He proceeded to start eight video games anyway.

But Hines was 19 years previous by the start of his freshman season. Feaster just turned 17 in late May — and presumably can be one of the youngest gamers ever to go well with up for USC.

Receiver isn’t the only place at which the Trojans are trending younger. USC ought to get key contributions out of freshmen at tight end (five-star Mark Bowman), on the defensive position (five-star Luke Wafle), in the secondary and, at some level, on the offensive line.

That type of impression needs to be anticipated after bringing in a 35-player class that ranked No. 1 in the nation. It also helps, Riley said, that so a lot of that class has been enrolled for seven months.

“Having as many midyears made a massive difference; I mean, there’s no question about it,” Riley said. “You can feel some of the confidence level.

“And so the less that we can have new as we go on, the more these guys settle in off the field, the better they play.”

That’s the first aim over the next 4 weeks of fall camp. One that Riley already has spent loads of time targeted on, while breaking in the Bloom Football Performance Center

“These first few days in here have honestly been a little bit of a dream,” Riley said. “It’s honestly been hard to get players to go home. I haven’t left this place in five days. I haven’t left the compound.”