With one practice remaining in USC football’s spring season, head coach Lincoln Riley feels very confident in his team.
While Riley declined to comment on which player had improved the most, he stated that he was impressed with how the team as a whole has progressed throughout the spring.
“It’s a very together team right now,” Riley said on Thursday after practice. “There seems to be a real genuine kind of bond with these guys right now. That’s kind of fun to see. It’s a high energy team. There’s a lot of energy.”
As USC’s spring season concludes, redshirt junior safety Kamari Ramsey reflected on his second spring with USC when asked about his experience with the team.
“It kind of went by fast and slow, but we’re here,” Ramsey said. “So, practice 15 on Saturday. It’s been a great spring though. A lot of learning, a lot of work getting done, but it’s been a great spring.”
Ramsey will be playing in defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn’s system for a third year, after spending a year playing for him at UCLA in 2023 before following him to USC. He boasts the most experience and understanding of how Lynn schemes defensively.
Even as players are learning the defense, sophomore defensive end Kameryn Fountain noted how he has seen everyone across the defensive line improve.
“Everybody’s IQ, on learning the plays and stuff and just learning what the offense is going to run and just know what they’re going to do before they do it,” Fountain said. “So I say that’s what got better for sure.”
One such player who has been learning and studying Lynn’s defense is redshirt sophomore Jamaal Jarrett. The defensive tackle spoke about how his first spring at USC has been after transferring from Georgia and learning a new playbook, especially when getting to learn from redshirt senior and fellow defensive tackle Kobe Pepe.
“It’s great learning from this defense and seeing just how a defensive tackle in the Big Ten plays,” Jarrett said. “Really just looking at Kobe and mirroring his game and then adding certain stuff to my game.”
In addition to Pepe, Jarrett also credited Lynn, co-defensive coordinator, run game coordinator and defensive line coach Eric Henderson, and defensive ends coach Shaun Nua for helping him break down and understand USC’s defensive scheme.
Sophomore linebacker Desman Stephens II also spoke on his mentality for how to improve defensively after having a season at USC under his belt.
“Really just kind of learning it because until you go out there, you don’t really know what it’s like,” Stephens II said. “So just getting those reps and then trying to fix what I need to fix and maximize my potential.”
Redshirt senior cornerback DeCarlos Nicholson echoed Stephens II’s statement, as he talked about the aspects of his game he was the most focused on throughout the spring.
“For me, it was just mastering the scheme, mastering the defense and then working on a new leadership role, kind of bringing everybody else along and trying to make sure everybody’s getting an understanding of things like that and just that role of just influencing the team,” Nicholson said.
While some players were figuring out areas of improvement for their game, others were learning new positions entirely. Redshirt freshman defensive end Elijah Newby, one such player, spoke about the adjustment of moving to the edge rusher position.
“I played it in high school, but as we know in high school is just go see ball, go get ball,” Newby said. “So being here with the 14, 15 days that we get, I’ve been able to really hound down on my techniques, focus more on backfield sets and just learn football overall.”
Last season, Newby played in five games at linebacker before moving forward to defensive end for the 2025 season, where he will look to have a bigger impact and presence on the field this season.
The Trojans have one more practice on Saturday as they look to finish the spring season well-positioned for success in the fall.