USC’s kicking competition is turning into one of the most intriguing battles of fall camp, and Lincoln Riley isn’t making it easy on either man.
Caden Chittenden and Ryon Sayeri are splitting the work in a way that keeps both under pressure. Riley said Friday that the staff is pushing them through a heavy workload, with live rushes coming at them and kicks being attempted from long range.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever been in a situation as a coach where you have two guys that you believe in as much as I believe in them,” Riley told reporters on Friday afternoon.
That trust is real, but so is the competition. Riley said the staff has put both kickers through demanding reps at practice and again at the Coliseum during a closed scrimmage Wednesday morning. The job is still very much undecided, though one part of it is not.
Riley said Sayeri will handle kickoffs this season. The rest is still up for grabs, with field goals and PATs remaining open. There’s even a chance both kickers end up sharing duties in some form.
“They know it’s a battle, it’s a competition,” Riley said. “It’s unique, but I think they both respect each other.”
Sayeri already has a full season of experience behind him after taking over kickoff, field goal and PAT responsibilities last year when Chittenden went down with a season-ending injury in fall camp. He made 21 of 25 field goals, set the USC field goal record, and was perfect on extra points at 48 for 48. On kickoffs, he finished with 89 for 5,715 yards, a 64.2 average, and 63 touchbacks.
Riley said the situation a year ago was unusual because many people expected Chittenden to win the job.
“Last year’s entire situation was unique,” Riley said, “where I think there was probably a little bit of an assumption on the outside that it was going to be Chit. And then he gets hurt, Ryon came in and did a great job.
“I think 99.9% of players probably would have transferred out given how that played out. (Chittenden) wanted to stay here at USC and wanted to compete, and so I think that says a lot about him.”
Chittenden, now a redshirt sophomore, came into USC with a strong résumé of his own. As a freshman at UNLV, he set a new Mountain West record by making 26 field goals. His longest that season was a 52-yarder in a rainstorm at San Jose State.
Elsewhere in the scrimmage, USC used the opportunity to test new combinations on the offensive line while searching for a replacement at center. Kilian O’Connor is out for the season with an injury, and Riley said earlier in the week that Tobias Raymond, Kaylon Miller, Willi Wascher and Kannon Smith are all in the mix.
The scrimmage was not built around scheme, which gave players a chance to show what they could do against base looks on both sides of the ball.
“We did some really good things at the line of scrimmage,” Riley said. “We had a couple blocks where we missed, and, obviously, we got some pretty good defensive linemen that make life tough on you there.”
Riley said the run game behind the rotating line groups was “hit-or-miss,” and he also felt the running backs were hard-running but impatient in goal-line situations.
Former USC players also made their preseason NFL debuts Thursday night.
Houston Texans rookie safety Kamari Ramsey intercepted Chargers quarterback Trey Lance and returned it 38 yards to the Chargers’ 48-yard line just before halftime in a 27-7 Texans loss. Afterward, Ramsey said, “The return - I mean I was just kind of tired,” and added, “It was kind of like two-minute.
I just got what I could get. And then I saw the quarterback.
They were telling me I should’ve ran the quarterback over, but I saw the big lineman right behind him, so I was like, I got the pick, I got some yards.”
Tennessee Titans rookie safety Bishop Fitzgerald had two tackles in his debut during a 19-13 win over San Francisco, while defensive end Anthony Lucas recorded one tackle in Detroit’s 16-14 loss to Cincinnati.
In Other News...
USC Practice Just Raised Two Big Questions About This Team
USCs 12th practice of camp brought the kind of energy coaches usually love to see in August, with the Trojans working at a high intensity while continuing to build the kind of habits that matter once the season starts. Lincoln Riley said the running game and the defensive front seven drew his attention, and the defense has stood out enough in practice to make that unit one of the more interesting parts of camp. Even with Kilian OConnor sidelined by a season-ending injury, he remains around the program in a leadership and mentoring role, which has helped keep the group connected.
The other notable wrinkle has been a new effort to make practice feel less like practice, with USC testing a surround-sound crowd-noise setup on the fields to force better communication and cut down on mistakes. Special teams has its own unresolved issue as well, with Ryon Sayeri and Caden Chittenden still competing for the kicking job. The Trojans do at least have one part of that picture settled for now, even if the rest of the decision remains open. [Read more 🡒]
Kentucky Still Has Time To Make A Push For Trey Wright
A key quarterback target in the 2028 cycle is nearing the end of his recruitment, and USC is firmly in the mix. Three-star quarterback Trey Wright has drawn offers from Lincoln Riley and the Trojans, along with Oregon, Arizona, Kentucky and SMU, a group that underscores how widely he is being tracked as his college decision comes into focus.
Wright plans to reveal his commitment on Saturday, giving each program one last chance to make its case before the picture clears. For USC, the timing matters because Riley has taken a selective approach at the position, and Wright could end up being the Trojans quarterback addition for that class if the recruitment breaks their way. [Read more 🡒]