Walker Lyons took his place within the slot and seemed proper. Lake McRee crouched on the other wing and seemed left. The 2 Trojan tight ends had spent all final Saturday night time shifting round USC’s formations — cut up out broad, within the backfield, on the road of scrimmage — paving rush lanes and creating mismatches wherever they went.
Now it was third and quick, early within the third quarter of USC’s win over Michigan State, and the 2 of them have been on the sector collectively once more, forcing the Spartan protection to resolve in a rush simply how Lincoln Riley deliberate to deploy them.
That unpredictability was exactly the purpose of the place. It’s why the tight finish has been a crucial tenet of his Riley’s offense since he began as Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator in 2015. No different place, Riley has come to imagine, provides extra versatility to an offense.
“It’s the one piece that basically can really do the whole lot,” Riley stated. “Nevertheless it’s additionally the toughest piece to seek out.”
Throughout his first three seasons because the Trojans coach, Riley struggled to seek out that unicorn for his USC offense. Not to mention two — and even three — on the similar time.
In his first season, in 2022, tight ends accounted for simply over 3% of the Trojans’ receiving yards. That quantity rose to six% in 2023, then 8% in 2024.
However by means of a spotless first third of this season, tight ends — and Lyons and McRee, primarily — have contributed 20% of USC’s whole passing output in 2025. One cause being the supply of McRee, who has battled a large number of accidents over his faculty profession. One other being that Riley has used extra 12 personnel, with two tight ends on the sector, this season than he has earlier than at USC.
“It retains defenses on their toes,” McRee stated. “You don’t actually know what we’re going to do, run, move, or do all the above out of it.”
Using 12 personnel has typically been on the rise throughout all ranges of soccer, together with within the NFL, the place groups have used two tight finish units almost 24% of the time by means of three weeks, in accordance with ESPN. At USC, Riley has gone even additional than that, using two-tight finish units a minimum of 35% of the time by means of 4 video games.
It wasn’t laborious to see final Saturday night time why he’d lean on that exact scheme, as Lyons took off in movement from the slot. The sophomore tight finish slowed simply earlier than the third-down snap, as if to arrange to run block, then took off sprinting into the flat. On the similar time, McRee sprinted by means of the seam, taking a linebacker with him.
Within the backfield, quarterback Jayden Maiava faked a handoff, forcing one other linebacker to chunk on the run, whereas Lyons sprinted into the open house the play design had created. Riley’s fashionable variation of a triple possibility would work exactly as deliberate, as Maiava lofted a straightforward move to Lyons, who ran 10 yards for his second landing in three weeks.
USC tight finish Walker Lyons (85) heads onto the sector after speaking to educate Lincoln Riley.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Instances)
It was simply the kind of play that reminded what Riley was able to as a playcaller with two proficient tight ends at his disposal.
“I’ve missed it,” Riley stated. “As a result of I really like the matchups, I really like what it creates. I’m enthusiastic about what that room has turn into for us. I feel that room is simply going to get higher.”
When he first began as a university soccer coach, tight ends weren’t a lot on Riley’s radar. Mike Leach, his mentor at Texas Tech, didn’t hunt down or use a good finish except he occurred to have one on his roster.
It wasn’t till Riley left for East Carolina that he began to tinker extra with the place.
“We began to get extra artistic, particularly within the run sport and a number of the various things we may do off of it,” Riley stated.
These improvements accelerated at Oklahoma, the place, as offensive coordinator, he was lucky to inherit redshirt freshman Mark Andrews in 2015. By 2017, Sooner tight ends contributed greater than 31% of the workforce’s passing offense. Andrews had 958 yards and eight touchdowns that season, probably the most of any tight finish in faculty soccer. He now stars for the Baltimore Ravens.
“We began constructing extra [at Oklahoma],” Riley stated. “We began learning individuals. And, yeah, we acquired to the purpose the place we have been taking part in with tight ends, a lot in so some ways, it grew to become a consolation.”
He wouldn’t have the identical safety blanket at USC. The tight finish room he took over was completely depleted of expertise.
The Trojans two best tight ends from 2021, Malcolm Epps and Erik Krommenhoek, have been out of eligibility. Their promising freshman, Michael Trigg, had transferred. McRee was the one returner with any actual expertise, and he’d solely performed in 4 video games earlier than redshirting.
“That room was a methods off, when it comes to the depth and skillset and expertise we had,” Riley stated. “It’s positively taken a while.”
Lyons’ arrival could be a serious inflection level. A four-star recruit, he’d come to USC from a highschool offense that frequently utilized two tight ends. He was used to having his hand within the grime, in addition to working as a receiver on the perimeter.
Throughout his recruitment, Riley confirmed clips of all of the alternative ways he used Andrews at Oklahoma. He felt Lyons may fill the same position.
“All of the issues that he did with [tight ends] was positively intriguing,” Lyons stated, “and it positively made an influence.”
The sheer quantity that Riley asks of tight ends in his offense would add one other hurdle in truly making that two-pronged position a actuality. McRee, as an example, has technically lined up in 16 completely different spots by means of 4 video games, in accordance with Professional Soccer Focus.
“You’ve acquired to know protections, route ideas, run sport — like, you actually need to know all of it,” Riley stated.
Lyons admits it was overwhelming at first.
“Nevertheless it’s nice now,” he says.
The sensation is mutual for Riley, who is aware of how uncommon it’s to have two tight ends to construct an offense round.
“However while you get it,” he stated, “it may very well be actually highly effective.”
