USC Trojans Season Preview with National Analyst JD Pickell
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The No. 14 USC Trojans will officially begin the 2026 season on Saturday, Aug. 29 as they host San Jos State.It's year five under coach Lincoln Riley and the pressure to take the program to its first ever College Football Playoff is mounting.
To preview the season, On3 college football analyst JD Pickell broke down the Trojans offseason and details expectations for this pivotal season.
Evolution of Lincoln Riley and Hiring a Hall of Fame Coach
In his tenure at USC, Riley has evolved as a coach. He's no longer just fixated on winning shootouts, with very little care about what happens on the defensive side of the ball. Riley, an innovative offensive coach, spent time during individual drills in fall camp working with the defense while running scout team quarterback.
He's been heavily with coaching special teams under the direction of new coordinator Mike Ekeler, who he pulled away from Nebraska this offseason. But it's also the massive changes Riley's made around the program over the past two years that has them headed in a position direction, all culminated by the opening of their brand-new $225 million Bloom Football Performance Center.
"I think the best coaches are great delegatorsand have enough self awareness to know what they need to tweak and look in the mirror and say we're weak here and need to change this," Pickell said. "Most of his quote-on-quote previous weaker points of what his teams have been, you feel good about what they've hired around him."
Riley made a big splash this offseason hiring one of college football's brightest minds of the 21st century in former longtime TCU head coach Gary Patterson to be his new defensive coordinator. The Hall of Famer isn't juggling the responsibilities he once had as a head coach or on the road recruiting. It's just defense. He's lived in the film room since arriving in late January and for a coach with a phenomenal history of player development, has put his handprint on every position group.
"It reminds me of when Chip Kelly took the OC job with Ohio State," Pickell said. "We know he knows that side of the ball. With those Oregon teams they had good players, but it wasn't a bunch of five stars. He was winning with scheme and winning with development and he goes to Ohio State and it's congrats, you have Jeremiah Smith. Good news, you have Quinshon Judkins and TreyVeyon Henderson.
"It's the same kind of thing with Gary Patterson at USC. You were winning with three stars, now you got Jahkeem Stewart, now you got Luke Wafle, you can go down the list. It's crazy when you say it out loud, they hired a Hall of Fame coach just to call the defense. It's like Rolling Stones playing at your Office Christmas Party, like you're way over qualified for this."
Patterson brought over one of his longtime assistants in safeties coach Paul Gonzales. In addition to coaching special teams, Ekeler takes over as the linebacker coach with AJ Howard being promoted to outside linebacker coach. The two work hand-in-hand. Skyler Jones was also promoted to defensive tackle coach. Cornerback coach Trovon Reed and defensive end Shaun Nua were retained.
There's been more of an emphasis on fundamentals and the small details. Individual periods look vastly different than years past. The coaches have had the approach of being great teachers on the field and the players have noticed a massive difference under the new staff.
Impact of Last Season's Personnel Staff Changes
It's year two under general manager Chad Bowden, who leads an All-Star personnel department that reeled in the No. 1 recruiting class, filled with freshmen who are set make an immediate impact this fall. Roster retention this offseason was the best it's been for USC in the NIL era.
The result was the Trojans returning 15 starters from a team that finished 9-3 last season. USC returns four starters on the offensive line and has been stacking talent on the defensive front in recruiting and the transfer portal, headlined by Wafle, the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2026 class, and transfer Alex VanSumeren. They have assembled a unit that could three-deep with talent and has experience.
It's part of the evolution of Riley, the line of scrimmage was a weakness for the team when they first joined the Big Ten in 2024. In their third year, it's arguably the two biggest strengths on the roster.They have transitioned from a finesse team to a physical one that can win in the trenches.
Jayden Maiava, one of college football's most experienced quarterbacks, has 31 career starts and is entering year three under Riley. He has an abundance of new weaponsin freshmen tight end Mark Bowman, and receivers Kayden Dixon-Wyatt, Trent Mosley and Boobie Feaster and NC State transfer Terrell Anderson to pair returning starter, sophomore Tanook Hines.
"When there's frequency of Dixon-Wyatt, Mosley's name keeps coming up, I'm gonna trust that," Pickell said. "On one hand you say there's not as much proven, but on the other you're like, there's a lot of names here, and Lincoln Riley's got three Biletnikoff winners, I think he knows what he's looking at."
The Trojans bring back its two leading rushers in Waymond Jordan, who returns after suffering a season-ending ankle injury in October, and King Miller, who has added 15 pounds this offseason and is up to 225 pounds.
"I think people sort of forget how good of a season Waymond Jordan was having," Pickell said. "People just think Riley is a quarterback guy but the way they ran the ball at Oklahoma, they had some real balance to that offense. Having both of those guys, they're definitely top 10, might even argue top five when it's all said and done with one-two punches. That's a position that's flying under the radar when talking about USC."
Pickell also pointed to one move Riley made last May that has paid dividends heading into this fall.
"Grabbing Trumain Carroll from Kansas State, I think that was a massive game-changer," Pickell said. "It makes such a difference. It doesn't make the ticker on ESPN because Trumain Carroll won't call a play or score a touchdown but the personality change, which people have harped on with Lincoln Riley at USC, having another evolution that gets me fired up."
College Football Playoff Team in 2026?
Pickell has the Trojans going 10-2 with home losses to No. 2 Oregon in late September and No. 1 Ohio State in October, which makes a trip to Bloomington in mid-November to face the defending national champions in Indiana a do-or-die game with their playoff hopes on the line. He pointed to USC's new hire as the difference maker in the matchup.
"This is where we see the Gary Patterson dividends in a big way. Cigs [Curt Cignetti] has never lost in Indiana, so it's kind of a big ask," Pickell said. "I think that game specifically with Josh Hoover's history of being a gunslinger and putting the ball in jeopardy, that's the game where I'm like, GP, this is the one we need to go get for us.
"Whatever you got to do here to get this get this kid off his pivot and get us back to like old Josh Hoover. That's the one that I have circled. You wonder if Hoover can be as in a positive way as robotic as [Fernando} Mendoza was."
The TCU transfer quarterback has thrown double digit interceptions in each of the last two years, including a career-high 13 in 2025. Indiana returns talent from their championship team on both sides of the ball, especially in the trenches but if the Trojans defensive front can be what they have been building towards, not just in the Indiana game but every marquee matchup and what could ultimately be the difference.
"It's what they have been building for a while," Pickell said. "In a year like this, now you have Gary Patterson, those are the spots where what you have invested in the defensive line needs to show up in games like that."
Southern Cal undoubtedly has its most talented and deepest roster under Riley, who also has his strongest coaching staff since becoming a head coach almost a decade ago.
"You take the logo off of it, and just said, year three quarterback with a QB whisperer, deep in the trenches, whole offensive line back, two backs that could be 1,000-yard guys," Pickell said. "A Hall of Fame head coach as their DC. You're like that team probably makes the playoff. The talent level is there, the depth is there. I think the culture is finally there."
Possible Trap Game and Changing Road Narrative
USC makes the cross-country trip to Rutgers on Sept. 29. The Trojans have had their struggles on the road since joining the Big Ten and as a program in the Eastern Time Zone. A win over Purdue last September snapped a streak of 14 losses when playing at least two time zones.
"The game at Rutgers before Oregon screams trap," Pickell said. "On road, 3:30 kick, I think that's a terrifying spot before that three game stretch of Oregon, Washington, Penn State."
On the flip side, if USC can put together a dominant road performance, it would signal a change in the program on the field and the right mindset amongst the team. The Trojans have significantly more talent than Rutgers, which means they have an opportunity to make an early Big Ten statement but only if they overcome past struggles.
"Ohio State's thing is we don't care what time zone it is, we're on Buckeye time," Pickell said. "Which is kind of cliche, kind of cheesy, but that's probably the attitude you have to have in a conference like the Big Ten where you play in all these time zones."
The Trojans are set to make their second cross-country trip on Oct. 10 when they travel out to Penn State in what is expected to be their annual "White Out Game." Riley touched on it last season but if USC wants to take the next step as a program, they have to be able win on the road in hostile environments, and that includes Indiana.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/usc as USC Trojans Season Preview with National Analyst JD Pickell.
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