The USC football team has taken the field slowly and deliberately for each pregame entrance this season.
Players and coaches march in, fronted by a line of Trojans linked arm in arm. Lincoln Riley is at the center, and director of football sports performance Trumain Carroll is directly to his left.
“That was something that was important to me,” Riley told reporters, “that, along with some of the leaders that we select each week that are kind of in that front line, that Coach Tru was there just because of the role he has in the program.”
This season’s entrance is a major contrast to that of last season, when the team stormed out of the court and onto the field in no particular order, other than Riley being at the front of the group.
There was a tunnel captain – someone of significance to USC – who was also at the front of the pack. Several football alumni have served as tunnel captains this season, hoisting the Trojan Sword to lead the way.
The scene feels unified, prefacing four quarters of football with an intense calmness and deliberate focus.
“When we talked with this team early on in the season about how we wanted to take the field, kind of this team’s personality, just with our leadership and our staff,” Riley said, “we put together a plan of how we want to enter the field, which has been a little bit different this year.”
Allowing the strength coach to have such a pronounced role in the entrance is a twist, but something Riley believes Carroll deserves.
“It’s a super important position in college football,” Riley said. “We feel like we got one of the best and having him out there up front with us would only be fitting.”
Carroll was credited with helping facilitate a cultural overhaul at Kansas State that helped them to three bowl game wins and a 2022 Big 12 Championship before he was hired at USC just prior to the 2025 season.
This past offseason was Carroll’s first full offseason with USC (6-1 overall, 3-2 Big Ten), and he used the time to physically transform the Trojans and get them into Big Ten shape.
Some of the most dramatic changes were defensive tackles Jide Abasiri and Jamaal Jarrett, who each lost 15 pounds, and offensive lineman Elijah Vaikona, who dropped 25 pounds.
Running back King Miller, tight end Mark Bowman and linebackers Desman Stephens II and Ta’Mere Robinson added 10 pounds to their frames. Thirty-eight other players put on mass under Carroll’s guidance in the offseason.
“He definitely keeps us disciplined, makes sure we never get complacent,” Abasiri said. “He’s always staying hard on us; he never changes. He’s the same guy every single day, so he’s someone that we know we can always count on and trust.”