USC head football coach Lincoln Riley took the podium at the Trojans’ second-ever Big Ten Media Day event Thursday in Las Vegas, highlighting quarterback Jayden Maiava, the Trojans’ recruiting efforts and one of his biggest regrets.
With fall training camp slated to begin Wednesday morning, here are four Trojans takeaways from Big Ten Media Day:
Doubling down on local recruiting
The Trojans have the No. 2-ranked 2026 recruiting class, according to 247sports.com, and nearly half of those recruits are from Southern California. Five-star Mater Dei tight end Mark Bowman headlines the group.
Riley and USC football general manager Chad Bowden want to first prioritize grassroots recruiting to build their program, then supplement that with portal players.
“We landed on a bunch of the right guys in the transfer portal year one,” Riley told reporters. “The team really came together, caught fire – honestly, probably played a little bit over our head – but I think the belief and momentum were established.
“We went heavy again in the portal in year two, trying to capitalize on that, which was probably the toughest decision, the one we went back and forth on the most. And one that – if you asked me my biggest regret up to this point, that’s probably it.”
Jayden Maiava can be a ‘really, really special player’
Redshirt junior Jayden Maiava has taken strides in the offseason in his on-field abilities and leadership skills as he enters the fall as USC’s presumed starting quarterback.
“He’s got a chance to be a really, really special player,” Riley said. “It’s been fun to work with him. He’s humble, a really hard worker, and has the respect of everybody in our building.”
Eliminating harmful mistakes has been a focal point of the offseason. Maiava completed roughly 60% of his 169 pass attempts last season to average 171.6 yards per game, but also threw six interceptions in seven games.
“Yes, you want to have the great plays,” Riley told reporters, “but how bad are your bad plays? And if your bad plays are incompletions or throwaways or occasionally taking a sack, you can still win with that. I think his maturity as a player and understanding that will all but grow.”
USC’s depth is big on defense
Big Ten football starts in the trenches, and Riley feels the Trojans’ defensive line, especially, will be able to compete thanks to increased depth on that side of the ball.
“The depth, the talent level, and the size of the defensive line – I mean, there’s honestly, really, no comparison to this time 12 months ago,” Riley told reporters.
D’Anton Lynn is in his second season as defensive coordinator and he has support from co-defensive coordinator/run game coordinator/defensive line coach Eric Henderson and defensive end coach Shaun Nua. Henderson and Nua enter their second seasons in those specific roles.
USC already saw improvements on defense when the trio took the helm last season. The Trojans gave up 432.8 yards per game and 59 total touchdowns in 2023 and slashed those numbers to 337.1 yards per game and 38 touchdowns in 2024.
“Statistically, we were one of the most-improved defenses in the country last year,” Riley said. “And how do you take that step from being one of the most improved to flat out being one of the best? That was the number one target for us.”
Put Pete Carroll in the Hall of Fame
Riley opened his remarks Thursday by campaigning for former USC head coach Pete Carroll to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
“I know he’s one year short on the requirement, but hard to imagine a guy that’s had an impact like Coach Carroll had on college football,” he told reporters. “It’s a little difficult for me – and I think a lot of my colleagues – to imagine a Hall of Fame that exists without him and his impact.”
Carroll, the current head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, went 96-19 in his nine years as head coach at USC, won two national championships and went 6-2 in bowl games.
He returned to campus last spring to co-teach a class in the Marshall School of Business called The Game is Life, which helped graduating seniors create a plan for life after college.