USC’s new Bloom Football Performance Center is already making an impression on veteran offensive lineman Tobias Raymond, and not just because of the upgraded space. Between the two-field setup, the rotation through stations, individual work and team periods, and a crowd-noise system that can crank practice into something closer to game day, Raymond said the Trojans are getting a much sharper daily environment.
“I feel bad for the classes that are right here. That thing gets pretty loud,” Raymond said about the new crowd noise system.
“It's nice ‘cause a lot of times during practice they put a speaker down [on the field] and it's nice, but like you don't have to get to the point where you have to yell at the person next to you. Like you're leaning right, leaning left, yelling, making sure everybody knows the call.
So it's super awesome. I like it a lot.”
Raymond also noticed the energy when Lincoln Riley jumped in with the offense during Tuesday’s practice. The USC coach was taking snaps as the scout team QB, and Raymond said the vibe around the group was upbeat with game week approaching fast.
“We're all obviously super excited to get started. I mean, it's crazy to think that game week is next week. It feels like it was just the last week it was season, so everybody's super excited for this year and we're all excited to just get started to be honest.”
The Bloom facility has also added something less visible but just as important: easier access to sports psychologists, available by appointment or as a walk-in. Raymond said that support matters.
“Mental health is a big thing. We're super grateful and super fortunate to have staff here that's there for us to go and visit,” Raymond said.
“They're there in their offices all day. I mean we can go and stop in whenever we got something to talk to them about.”
He added that the Trojans’ closeness away from football is part of that support system too.
“Another great thing is, like yes we play football together but we're really close with each other off the field. So, if someone's going through something, we talk about it all the time - just because we play football together doesn't mean we can't be brothers off the field. So, we're definitely close in that way as well.”
On the field, the work has been plenty demanding. Raymond said USC’s defensive front has been a problem all camp and in last week’s scrimmage, but also the kind of problem that helps an offense improve. He pointed to Floyd Boucard, Jahkeem Stewart, Alex VanSumeren and Jide Abasiri as tough matchups, and said the depth up front is one of the unit’s strengths.
“We've got a bunch of great guys…You got [Floyd Boucard], you got [Jahkeem Stewart], you got um [Alex VanSumeren], you got [Jide Abasiri],” Raymond said. “Like those guys are all tough to go against and it's definitely fun to go against them through practice. It's also great because it's going to get us better and I hope we're getting better, too.”
Now Raymond is preparing for a bigger role. With Kilian O’Connor out for the year because of an injury, Raymond is set to move in at center. The redshirt-junior came out of Ventura High listed as a tackle, played tackle in all 13 games during his redshirt-freshman season in 2024, and then started all 13 games last season with seven starts at left guard, five at left tackle and one at right tackle.
That position change has altered his routine. Raymond said he’s spending extra time before practice on snaps and communication, arriving 15 to 20 minutes early to get work in.
“I'm always trying to work on communication. Pre-practice I really just get out there…like 15 to 20 minutes early,” Raymond said about his new routine.
“But I mean I get out there and I'll do some snaps. I'll work some guard stuff.”
Once practice begins, his focus turns to making sure the line is synced up on every rep.
“Mostly during practice, I try and take steps for every run or pass that we have in that day. Then we get into practice and we try and make sure that we're all communicating well before we huddle up and then we're rolling.”
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USCs first game just picked up a little more intrigue on the defensive side, with San Jose State settling on a new quarterback to lead the way in the Week 0 opener. Luke Weaver, who transferred in from Hawaii, brings some familiarity to game-day pressure after going 2-0 as a starter there and also having bowl-game experience, which gives the Spartans a steadier hand than a typical season-opening unknown.
For Lincoln Riley and Gary Patterson, the challenge now is less about guessing who will be under center and more about handling the pace of San Jose States quick-tempo passing attack. The Trojans had already expected an opener that would force them to communicate cleanly and tackle well in space, and Weavers presence only sharpens that test as USC starts to sort out its defense in a real game setting. [Read more 🡒]
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What makes that shift matter is the way it has shown up in the trenches and in the room around it. Riley pointed to progress from the offensive line and to a growing sense of cohesion among the players, two things that can make an offense feel stable instead of reactive. USC still has to prove the new identity on the field, but the staff sounds more certain now about where the strengths are and how to lean into them. [Read more 🡒]