USC’s running back room has a different kind of edge heading into fall camp, and Lincoln Riley isn’t shy about where he thinks it stands.
After the Trojans’ fourth practice of the preseason, Riley said Tuesday that the group led by Waymond Jordan and King Miller could end up being the best backfield of his USC tenure.
"It has a chance to be - it definitely does," he said Tuesday following the team's fourth practice of fall camp. "I think, if you go back and you see in terms of production, in terms of experience level in our offense, it'd be tough to argue that these two don't have a chance to be our best.
We'd be disappointed if it's not. It makes a huge difference."
That confidence starts with what both backs already showed last season. Jordan returned from a long rehab after suffering a high ankle injury early in the year, while Miller - a former walk-on - stepped into a much bigger role and delivered when USC needed him most.
Jordan finished with 576 yards and five touchdowns on 88 carries in six games. Miller handled the load after Jordan went down against Michigan and posted 972 yards and eight touchdowns on 156 carries across 13 games.
Now they’re back together, and the battle for the starting job is only part of the story. The bigger picture is what they can do as a tandem.
"It's amazing," Jordan said Monday at USC's media day event about playing with Miller. "I think we just feed off each other and we balance each other out.
We also keep each other hungry and just humble. That's how the whole room is built.
We all keep each other accountable, we hold each other accountable."
Miller sees it the same way, and he likes the lift Jordan brings every time he’s on the field.
"When he's out there on that field, it's always a breath of fresh air," Miller said Monday. "It's kind of a relief when you have another one of the best backs in the country.
Kind of just so happy to be able to have a one-two punch or whatever it may be when we go on that field every single [game]. Even right now, when we're going on this field, he's the hype man.
He's an energy junkie."
USC wants more than yardage from the pair, though. The Trojans are counting on Jordan and Miller to elevate the younger backs in the room, too, while taking on larger leadership jobs themselves.
Jordan, a fourth-year senior and the oldest back in the group, has settled into the big-brother role. Miller, meanwhile, has been pushed to grow from a player who led by example into someone who speaks up more often.
That’s been part of the process with running backs coach Anthony Jones Jr., who has pressed Miller to be more vocal.
"He definitely told me I had to earn my voice, and over the course of the season, he did tell me, 'King, you gotta start being a leader and not just on the field, but off the field,'" Miller said. "I think over time, especially coming into this spring, I had to earn my voice again because I'm not one of those vocal leaders who's just saying whatever. But when I feel like I can say something, I'll always say something."
The physical profile of the two backs is different, but both believe Miller’s added size has helped his game. Jordan has held steady around 210 pounds at 5-foot-10. Miller arrived as a freshman at 220, played last season at 210 and is now up to 225 at 6-foot.
Miller said the extra weight has helped him without slowing him down.
"I think it's good weight. It's not bad weight," Miller said.
"I'm definitely able to get out of my breaks even better. I'm bouncing off tackles a lot easier.
So, yeah, definitely good weight."
If USC gets the run game rolling and keeps its passing attack threatening, the Trojans have the pieces to push toward the College Football Playoff.
Riley also believes the depth at running back matters just as much as the top-end talent. He pointed to the value of having more than one back capable of carrying the load over a full season.
"Teams that only have one back [are] gonna have to get very, very, very, very fortunate for somebody to make it through the entire year," Riley said Tuesday. "You can look back at some of our early years at OU and the 1-2 punch we had there with Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine, and that really kind of spearheaded our offense there. And obviously, as we saw last year, the ability to have different guys healthy at different points, and as this season goes on, as competitive this league is, you're gonna need that."
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