Inside the one-year makeover of Lincoln Riley’s USC
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Paolo UggettiESPN
INSIDE THE TRAINING complex named after head coach John McKay on USC‘s campus, there’s a whiteboard that has become more than just the backdrop of a classroom. Earlier this year, as players came together to begin spring ball for a team that looked completely different than the season prior, the whiteboard served as a catch-all for what USC players and coaches believed needed to change for a program that had just gone 4-8 to have any semblance of success.
“We all talked about creating a standard when we got here,” linebacker Shane Lee, who transferred from Alabama and became a team captain, said of what writing on the whiteboard signified. “That set the tone for everything we do. It’s been the foundation for our success.”
While Lee said that what is written on the board can be summed up by one phrase at the bottom that Riley has coined and has even found its way onto some T-shirts — “Win the inner battles” — what’s on the board has been almost secondary to the fact that players actually executed it. As Lee put it, it’s something they have been able to refer back to throughout what has been a dreamlike season.
It has been just over a year since the hire of Riley sparked a new beginning for USC, and though the outlook for the program seemed to go from bleak to bright overnight, perhaps no one outside the McKay Center expected success at USC to come this quickly. The Trojans completed an 11-1 regular season with a chance to not only win a Pac-12 title on Friday night against the only team that beat them this season, but also to give the program its first College Football Playoff appearance.
“I can’t say yes, I knew this was going to happen, but at the same time, I don’t believe in putting limits on what you can accomplish, especially if you get the right people in the building,” Riley said. “I told you what our expectations were from Day 1. A lot of people thought I was crazy, and that’s fine. People within the walls knew what we were about and had a sense of what we were building.”
Riley’s arrival had its gravitational pull, bringing talented transfers from all corners of the country and keeping players at USC who wanted to have their careers reignited. But in a sport where much is made of the power of coaches, the Trojans’ success this season required a collective mindset that had been missing, one that could not be engineered by a single coach. For Lee, it can be summed up by a whiteboard, but for quarterback Caleb Williams, it is rooted in a phrase he has been repeating all season.
“Good teams are led by coaches,” Williams said again this week. “But great teams are led by players. … That was one of the main things we focused on when we got here — our players leading.”
Nobody led USC last season. And while the rapid turnaround the program has experienced can be traced back to the hire of Riley and his moves since, what has transpired over the past 12 months to bring USC back into national relevancy has been a product of a shared confidence that originated not from a single hire or addition, but from a holistic approach and a trust in a roster that has been mended together more than it has been built.
“I don’t know what games we expected to lose, and that’s just the really honest evaluation,” defensive coordinator Alex Grinch said. “We expected to swing the bat and have success. That’s why we came out here.”
ANDREW VORHEES REMEMBERS being nervous. The senior offensive lineman as well as the rest of USC’s incumbent players were in a unique position. Their future head coach had been hired with plenty of pomp and circumstance, yet, they still had to play one more game. Due to a postponed game against Cal that had been rescheduled for the week after the season finale, USC had to suit up for a meaningless game that somehow had become meaningful. It was a rehearsal of sorts for an audience of one.
“You hear about him, you watch him on TV, and then he gets out here, and he’s just human like the rest of us,” Vorhees said. “It was just one of the most surreal moments, knowing that [Riley] was going to be the head coach.”
The week leading up to and including the game had given Riley and his coaching staff an opportunity to evaluate what they had to work with and make decisions. After the game, they wasted no time. In the span of a week and following many conversations, Vorhees and a few of his peers who had a chance to leave for the draft, including Brett Neilon, knew a return to USC was worth it.
“With a coach like [Riley], you never know what can happen,” Vorhees said.
Among returning players, there seemed to be a hunger for structure and leadership, which Riley immediately brought. The former came with the experience of running a top-level college football program. But the latter could only truly take hold in the form of the players themselves, especially those who had been there a few years.
Words like accountability, consistency and leadership always find their way into the lexicon of football teams that perform well. Chemistry does, too, and USC was faced with the task of creating just that with more than 40 transfers and a slew of Trojans who had made it through a season that had not included any of those aforementioned qualities. It’s why keeping those players whose talent had maybe been underutilized was key in bridging the gap from past to future.
“I think it sent a message to the entire roster about how serious these guys were,” Riley said of the veteran linemen like Vorhees returning. “I probably didn’t realize how big that was at that time, but that was important. it was a tone setter.”
Riley’s influence soon seeped into every part of the program. Only one coach from the previous regime was retained, and there was plenty of additional staff turnover as well. A typical program overhaul on the field usually takes time. But in this day and age, with the advent of the transfer portal, nothing is a better accelerator than talent.
After Riley recruited and signed players from the portal, the task then was to turn theory into practice and talent into wins. From star transfer wide receiver Jordan Addison to transfer linebacker Eric Gentry to redshirt senior lineman Justin Dedich, there had to be an immediate buy in.
But Riley’s words and practices could do only so much. For his rapid experiment to take shape, he needed the closest thing to a version of him on the field to usher not just his offensive system, but also provide the leadership required of a player at the most important position in football, win or lose. It just so happens that person was a then-19-year-old quarterback who is now on the brink of winning the Heisman Trophy.
WILLIAMS WENT THROUGH the gamut of emotions on that mid-October night in Salt Lake City. Just after USC was unable to complete a last-second drive to beat Utah and stay undefeated, tears ran down his face while he was on the field. The agony of defeat gave way to frustration about the fact that, in his mind, USC should not have lost that game. Upon entering the locker room, Williams found kindred spirits; players were upset, but they were also strangely hopeful. Scowls soon turned into near smiles.
“The vibe inside the room was completely different from times when I’ve lost before in college so far. … It was more of a positive vibe,” Williams said this past week. By the time Williams spoke to the media that night, that agony seemed to be replaced by eagerness. “We aren’t going to go undefeated,” Williams said then. “But that’s not the be all end all of this season.”
That locker room scene has become a bit of lore in the story of this year’s USC team. Every player seems to recall the outsized effect it had on the team. Some have described it as a wake-up call, others as a moment that solidified their collective vision, and some even saw it as a clear view of the potential the team had. Winning the rest of their games didn’t just feel necessary. To them, it felt possible.
“If you try to change some things and you win games, everybody’s happy,” Riley said. “So you wonder, all right, you lose a tough game like that on the road in the fashion that we did right there at the last second. Is everybody really gonna stick to this now? The mood, the vibe in that locker [was] disappointed but, but not defeated at all and even maybe more inspired.”
“We were already bought in,” offensive lineman Justin Dedich said. “But I think it just unified us more. That loss helped, it gave us a new experience.”
“A great story or a great book can’t be written without some adversity,” Williams said.
Storybook or not, the way USC has responded since that game has validated those locker room anecdotes. And now, they have earned a chance to make up for it by playing that same Utah team for the conference title and a spot in the playoffs just over 365 days after this entire experiment began.
After that Utah loss, Riley made a point to mention that USC could still accomplish its goals if it kept winning. Not only has that happened exactly in that way, but it has also kept the attention on the immediate future instead of the past. If USC had put together a 9-3 season and wasn’t playing for a conference title or a spot in the playoff, there might be more time to reminisce. Instead, there are more important things to spend mental real estate on at this moment for Riley and Co. than to dwell on how USC’s reality has matched their expectations.
“When you do sit back for a second and, and think about, where we were a year ago and some of the things that have transpired for this team and the program during the time,” Riley said. “It’s, it’s fun to think about, but it’s just not the time and place right now.”
USC is still trying to live week to week, day to day, game to game. There’s no two- or five-year plan to worry about because, improbably, the time is now.
“This is why we came here, to get an opportunity to play in games like this,” Riley said. “We get to do it here in Year 1.”
Riley has talked often about what he’s trying to “build” at USC. In the past, that kind of process in college football has usually required patience and time. Yet what he and the rest of the program have shown this season is that maybe it doesn’t. In the sport’s current structure, this kind of quick turnaround is within reach.
But as USC sits one win away from the College Football Playoff a season after losing eight games, what it has also shown is that even if this is possible, not everyone can do it.
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Rachel Doerrie
The 2025 NHL draft is taking place on Friday (Round 1) and Saturday (Rounds 2-7) at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
This page will be your home for the entire event, as each pick is added below, including scouting notes and team fit analysis for the first-rounders.
More: Prospect rankings
Draft week buzz
Late-round gems
Needs for all 32 teams
Round 1
Team: Erie (OHL)
DOB: 09/05/2007 | Ht: 6-1.75 | Wt: 183 | Shot: L
2024-25 stats: GP: 17 | G: 7 | A: 15 | P: 22
Scouting notes: Schaefer is projected to become a true No. 1 cornerstone for years to come. A dynamic presence at both ends of the ice, he skates with ease and elite mobility to shut down opponents in all situations, while creating offense with quality transition play.
Executives and scouts view him as a future elite NHL defenseman and a foundational piece for a championship-caliber roster. Schaefer’s ability to control play from the blue line, play tough matchups, and run a power play — combined with the belief in his character and leadership — result in many believing that Schaefer has the tools to become a top-10 defender in the league, while wearing a letter as part of a team’s leadership group.
How he fits: After trading Noah Dobson earlier in the day, the Islanders drafted their franchise cornerstone defender. Schaefer does everything well, and is a dynamic skater with elite mobility. He will take on the toughest matchups, help the Islanders exit the zone with smooth passes and carry outs, and drive offense from the back end. He’s a future No. 1 defenseman who will log 25-28 minutes per night and run the power play.
Schaefer’s ability to dictate play from the back end is franchise-changing for the Isles. Schaefer will attend development camp next week, and it is highly likely he starts the season in the NHL lineup. Don’t be surprised if Schaefer is running the power play and logging major minutes by November.
A very emotional Schaefer hugged his family and pulled on the Isles jersey for the first time, with a cancer patch. Through tears, he shared his excitement and emotion, and gained the hearts of a lot more than just Isles fans.
Team: Saginaw (OHL)
DOB: 02/16/2007 | Ht: 6-0.75 | Wt: 184 | Shot: L
2024-25 stats: GP: 65 | G: 62 | A: 72 | P: 134
Scouting notes: Granted exceptional status in the OHL in 2022, Misa delivered one of the most remarkable goal-scoring seasons in recent memory in 2024-25, netting 62 goals in just 65 games. He projects to be a top-line forward capable of consistently exceeding 90 points per season in the NHL.
Misa’s offensive instincts are elite. He processes the game at a high level and executes at top speed. Scouts believe he is NHL-ready and has the potential to become an elite top-line center. Away from the puck, Misa excels at finding soft areas in coverage and has a flair for delivering in clutch moments. His combination of high-end playmaking and goal-scoring ability makes him a constant dual threat in the offensive zone.
How he fits: The Sharks kept everyone guessing until the very last moment, but ultimately selected Misa. He is a special talent and adds a second elite two-way center to the organization. He projects as a first-line star, with dual-threat playmaking and scoring ability — notching 62 goals in 65 OHL games.
If Misa’s two-way game continues to improve, there’s a real chance the Sharks will have two centers capable of dominating play in all three zones with 2024 No. 1 pick Macklin Celebrini already in place. On the power play, Misa can facilitate, be a shooting threat and carry the puck on entries. Because of his dual-threat capabilities, he can play the bumper, the flank or down low. With this selection, the Sharks have the potential to feature the best one-two punch down the middle for years to come.
Team: Djurgarden (SWEDEN-2)
DOB: 05/07/2007 | Ht: 6-1 | Wt: 198 | Shot: L
2024-25 stats: GP: 29 | G: 11 | A: 14 | P: 25
Scouting notes: Frondell is a versatile two-way forward that plays both center and right wing. His flexibility is attractive to teams, although many believe he is most likely to reach his potential as a winger in the NHL.
Frondell is coming off one of the most productive seasons by an under-18 player in Allsvenskan history, giving him a confident projection as a first-line NHL forward. He’s a cerebral player, who picks apart defenders in one-on-one situations and defensive coverage in offensive zone play. The details of Frondell’s game are translatable, including excellent forechecking ability, willingness to attack the middle of the ice and high-end anticipation on both sides of the puck.
He has shown play-driving capabilities against men in the Allsvenskan, which has translated to the NHL for other prospects in the past. He’s projected to produce between 75-85 points per season. His style of play translates well and has executives excited about his ability to step in the league in the next 18 months.
How he fits: It was no secret that Chicago wanted to add some size up front, and Frondell is exactly that. He can play center or the wing, and brings an excellent two-way game. He confidently projects as a first-line forward that beats defenders one-on-one, drives play on both sides of the puck, and should score nearly a point per game.
He plays on the inside of the ice and has the ability to score 30-plus goals in the NHL because of his excellent shot. Frondell is a year away from playing in the NHL, and probably two or three from hitting his potential as a top-line forward who drives play. Chicago can play him behind Connor Bedard up the middle, or on Bedard’s line to capitalize on the versatility he brings.
Team: Moncton (QMJHL)
DOB: 04/11/2007 | Ht: 6-1.5 | Wt: 178 | Shot: L
2024-25 stats: GP: 56 | G: 35 | A: 49 | P: 84
Scouting notes: Described as a “coach’s dream” because of his ability to take an offensive or checking assignment and execute consistently. He makes smart, simple plays, provides a physical presence on the forecheck and generally agitates and makes life difficult on defenders.
He projects to be a quality second-line center with a decent chance of becoming a first-line player. He’s cerebral, with quick hands and playmaking ability. He’s not flashy, but he’s consistently effective and makes intelligent plays with the puck. As one scouting director described “he’s the type of player you win with.” Some have quietly compared him to Patrice Bergeron and Jonathan Toews, who are lofty comparisons, to say the very least.
How he fits: The Mammoth kept everyone guessing, would they trade or keep the pick. Ultimately, they kept the pick and selected Desnoyers. He can play in any situation as one of the best two-way players available. He’s a serial winner who plays whatever style of game required to win. If he needs to produce offense, he does. If he needs to shut down the opponent’s best, he does that too.
Utah needed some size and two-way capability to mesh with Logan Cooley, Clayton Keller and Dylan Guenther, and Caleb Desnoyers is exactly that. He’ll be NHL-ready a lot sooner than people think because his professional details are top-notch. He projects as a play-driving, two-way, second line center that the Mammoth will turn to in key situations. As noted above, there’s a lot of Jonathan Toews in Desnoyers’ game, which will excite Mammoth fans, management and coaches.
Team: Sault Ste. Marie (OHL)
DOB: 03/16/2007 | Ht: 6-0 | Wt: 178 | Shot: R
2024-25 stats: GP: 57 | G: 33 | A: 39 | P: 72
Scouting notes: A Swiss Army knife type of player who will be most effective on the wing because of his strong wall play, Martin projects as a middle-six forward capable of scoring 20 goals routinely, with upside as a second-line forward.
He’s a wrecking ball that will bring value in all three zones, on and off the puck. Martin has scouts raving about him after an excellent performance at the IIHF under-18 championship, with many opining that he could go very early in the first round. He’s a workhorse without an off switch, who brings a blend of physicality and hard skill. He’s a nightmare to contain with his brute strength, and forces defenders into precarious positions with good speed and willingness to make “winning” plays.
Several teams mentioned how impressive Martin was during interviews at the combine. Combine an attractive personality with the hard-nosed style, and it forms a rare combination that is valuable to many scouts who believe he’s the type of player teams need to win in the playoffs. Surely, his mention of Conn Smythe winner Sam Bennett as a role model grabbed attention.
6. Philadelphia Flyers
7. Boston Bruins
8. Seattle Kraken
9. Buffalo Sabres
10. Anaheim Ducks
11. Pittsburgh Penguins
12. Pittsburgh Penguins (from NYR)
13. Detroit Red Wings
14. Columbus Blue Jackets
15. Vancouver Canucks
16. New York Islanders (from CGY via MTL)
17. New York Islanders (from MTL)
18. Calgary Flames (from NJ)
19. St. Louis Blues
20. Columbus Blue Jackets (from MIN)
21. Ottawa Senators
22. Philadelphia Flyers (from COL)
23. Nashville Predators (from TB)
24. Los Angeles Kings
25. Chicago Blackhawks (from TOR)
26. Nashville Predators (from VGK via SJ)
27. Washington Capitals
28. Winnipeg Jets
29. Carolina Hurricanes
30. San Jose Sharks (from DAL)
31. Philadelphia Flyers (from EDM)
32. Calgary Flames (from FLA)
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Greg Wyshynski
Florida Panthers playoff MVP Sam Bennett told fans during the team’s Stanley Cup celebrations this week that he wasn’t leaving.
He was a man of his word.
Bennett signed an eight-year contract extension with Florida, the team announced hours before the NHL draft Friday night. He was set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, when he would have been one of the most coveted centers available.
Bennett’s new contract has a salary cap hit of $8 million annually, up from $4.425 million on his previous contract but below what Bennett was expected to be offered from other teams as a free agent. The Panthers are one of several NHL teams that play in a state with no income tax, which has become a hot-button issue in the league as teams such as Florida, Tampa Bay and Vegas have all won Stanley Cups recently.
Bennett, 29, had 25 goals and 26 assists in 76 games during the regular season. To say he levels up in the playoffs would be an understatement: Bennett had 11 goals and 12 assists (23 points) in 21 games, playing a physical game that resulted in him winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. Last postseason, Bennett had 14 points in 19 playoff games during the Panthers’ first of back-to-back Stanley Cup wins.
“Sam is a special player who has mastered a unique blend of skill and physicality in his game, becoming one of the most impactful postseason performers of his generation,” Panthers GM Bill Zito said. “He played an integral role in our two Stanley Cup championships, earning the franchise’s first Conn Smythe Trophy and is a dedicated contributor to our South Florida community off the ice. We are thrilled that he will continue his career with the Panthers.”
In his 691 games with the Panthers and Calgary Flames, from which Florida acquired him in 2021, Bennett has 162 goals and 174 assists.
Bennett was one of three high-profile pending unrestricted free agents for the Panthers this offseason, along with winger Brad Marchand and defenseman Aaron Ekblad.
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