Lincoln Riley is standing by USC’s decision to suspend Desman Stephens II, but he’s also making clear that the moment is more complicated than a single clip from Saturday night.
The Trojans linebacker was flagged for targeting after driving his shoulder into the head of Oregon quarterback Dante Moore during USC’s 41-27 loss to the Ducks on Sept. 26 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. After the hit, Stephens appeared to mock Oregon’s “flock” celebration while Moore was being attended to, and USC announced the next day that Stephens would miss the Oct. 3 game against Washington.
Riley said on Sept. 29 that he and athletic director Jennifer Cohen worked through the decision together after the game.
“Jen [USC athletic director Jennifer Cohen] and I had some discussions on Sunday morning. We talked about different scenarios.”
“And we ultimately agreed upon the decision. Disappointed when I saw that. There's no question about it.”
Riley added that he didn’t catch the celebration live during the game, but he made it clear he was bothered by how the situation looked.
“I didn't see it during the game. Obviously was disappointed with how he handled it.
“And I think just for him, it's an awareness optics. Knowing him like I do, do I believe deep down in my heart he was celebrating over an injured player?
No. But sometimes I'm not going to attempt to.
It's a little difficult to describe to everybody sometimes what it's like in the arena when you haven't been in the arena, as it's highly competitive and emotional.”
He said the key issue was judgment in a serious moment.
“I'm disappointed with what he did, and he needs to have more awareness because it was a serious situation. We never want to see anybody go down like that, ever, on any side. We're all humans at the end of the day going hard against one another, but you never want to see that.
“So I'm disappointed in how he handled it. And that's why we made the decision to suspend him for one game.”
Still, Riley pushed back on the idea that the incident defined Stephens.
“Now that being said, he's a young person who made a mistake.”
“I would ask all the people out there who have an opinion on him to consider too that if that was your son, and he made a mistake, how would you handle that? Our job is to educate him on what he didn't do well.”
He said USC is supporting the linebacker while also making the consequences clear.
“The consequences are real. But we support him.
He's a part of our family, and he's one of ours. I look at him like a son.
And even in a situation where he made a mistake, it's a change.”
Riley also used the moment to zoom out to the broader picture around the program, saying USC has plenty going for it even as the noise swirls outside.
“What I would say to that is there are a lot of things to be proud of with this program right now. Those who really look into what's happening here will see and understand that.”
“Now, there's people on the outside who don't. And that's part of it, right?
USC is one of those lightning rod places. Anytime there's one loss or one thing goes wrong, there's always going to be the sense of 'Oh my God, the sky is falling' on the outside.
“And your ability to deal with that internally, with the players is important and with the staff. Because the way you get better and the way you accomplish things you want is to stay steady in your pursuit.”
He pointed to recruiting and academics as reasons for pride, while stressing that his expectations haven’t shifted.
“I think a lot of people are proud of the team we built. A lot of people are proud of how we're recruiting, and a lot are proud of how we busted academic records around here the last five semesters.”
“But we want to be better. You guys know my expectations the moment I walked into that door, and that hasn't changed.
And that's not going to change. So we're going to put our head down and continue to go to work.”
Riley said the veterans in the locker room helped the Trojans handle the fallout on Sunday.
“Quite a few. I think this is where the older part of our team and the most experienced part has become super valuable.”
“They came in on Sunday with a really good perspective on this. You've got to look at the tape and see the good and the bad. You've got the see the improvement and narrow the focus.”
He said USC responded with a strong work day and practice, even if the emotional aftershock from Saturday lingered.
“We had a heck of a workout Sunday and a really good practice today. You've got to try to get emotionally past Saturday, which is hard. Very little sleep and I was most disappointed just because of how hard we fought and the run we got in the fourth quarter.”
Riley finished by pointing to the late push in the Coliseum and how close USC came to flipping the game.
“We've had a lot of great wins in the Coliseum since I've been here. But that run was electric in the fourth, and to not capitalize on it, it guts you.
But my job is when Sunday morning comes around, you've got to get up and lead the charge. We have to turn the page faster than the outside world does.
And that's part of the gig.”
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