Lincoln Riley assesses Gino Quinones' first start at RG, latest at LT
Lincoln Riley gives his breakdown of the offensive line play and where things stand at left tackle.
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USC was without starting right guard Justin Dedich on Saturday night against Arizona State due to an undisclosed, apparent leg injury, so redshirt junior Gino Quinones made his first career start.
Really, it was Quinones' first significant OL action of any kind as he had played just 18 career offensive snaps prior (16 coming in the season opener vs. Rice).
Riley did not give any indication as to whether he expects Dedich to play this week, though he said after practice Tuesday that the redshirt senior is improving.
"He's better. He's better. It was good that we were able to hold him. Where that leave us, we'll see. We'll keep evaluating him throughout the week. We're trying to be smart," Riley said. "Obviously, we'd love for him to be able to play, but the flip side of it is we've got a lot of the season left and you've got to be smart with him. And obviously if he's not out there it's just a, he didn't break a toenail."
PFF graded out Quinones at a 56.4 (on a 0-100 scale) overall, with a notably low pass protection grade (36.6), marking him for allowing 4 QB hurries on 45 pass-blocking snaps while also committing one penalty. The 4 pressures allowed tied for the most among the Trojans with right tackle Jonah Monheim.
Riley noted that Arizona State had the best set of interior defensive lineman USC had faced all season and that it wasn't an ideal matchup for Quinones to see his first true meaningful game action.
"I thought Gino Quinones did a good job. That's probably the best set of interior defensive linemen we've played all year -- not probably, it is. To come in and get your first start against a good group like that, he held his own," Riley said Monday night on Trojans Live. "He got beat a couple of times, but he did some really, really good things. We're proud of the way that he played."
Monheim echoed those sentiments.
"I was proud of how he prepared all week and I thought he fought. I thought he held his own for the most part," he said. "And he got a little banged up, which didn't help him, but I was proud of how he fought."
Meanwhile, there is the matter at left tackle ...
Courtland Ford returned to action after missing two games with an unspecified ankle/foot injury, but he played just 12 snaps behind starter Bobby Haskins, who ultimately played the whole second half after rotating early.
On 9 pass-blocking snaps, Ford allowed 2 QB hurries. He also was flagged for a costly holding penalty that negated an 82-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Mario Williams near the end of the first half.
Riley was asked if that was why Ford didn't play in the second half.
"No, honestly that one wasn’t. We felt like Bobby at that point through the half was playing just a little bit better. And so we made the decision to stick with him and then just see how the half played out, and we got on kind of a run offensively, and we stayed with him," Riley said. "Been in enough of these, early on in my career, if a guy would’ve had one bad play like that, probably would’ve yanked him and not put him back in just on emotion. I’m not gonna yank a guy after one play, especially a guy who’s playing a lot of snaps for us. Courtland has played a lot and is a good player. He’s getting healthier and getting better as he gets back. He’ll continue to be a big part of it."
For what it's worth, and the coaching staff makes its own evaluations, but PFF graded Haskins out at a 72.8 but with the highest isolated pass-blocking grade on the team (86.5), marking him for no pressures allowed over his 36 pass protection snaps.
"We're still kind of seeing how that left tackle spot will play out. We definitely need that spot to continue to grow for us," Riley said on Trojans Live earlier in the week, noting that he doesn't have a preference between continuing to rotate or choosing a full-time starter there. "... I think the goal is just to get the most production possible. I hate to define it kind of before it happens.
"We've had some injury issues with both of the guys that have played there that has maybe kept it from playing out like you would expect in your mind, and so as those guys get back healthy -- which this week will probably be the healthiest that those two guys have been since we started, which is a good thing -- if one guy wins it outright, great, but if the best thing to help us produce is to rotate those guys and keep them fresh then [I'm] certainly not against it. I just think it's about production and about who can go out there and get the job done, and if it's best with two people it's best with two people."
Asked about the offensive line depth, Riley said he felt redshirt freshman tackle Mason Murphy, redshirt sophomore center Andrew Milek and JUCO transfer guard Cooper Lovelace "are really getting better and improving."
"So yeah, I think we're in a good direction," Riley continued. "... In terms of backups, we've stayed pretty healthy. So behind the scenes, you guys haven't seen it all, behind the scenes they've been able to take a lot of reps and they've taken advantage of them."
Overall, Riley acknowledged the line play hasn't been perfect but he seemed generally pleased with how the group has performed and progressed to this point.
Having a magician at quarterback like Caleb Williams, who has an elite ability to sense pressure and avoid trouble, has certainly masked some struggles up front. But it's a veteran group that has done enough so far.
"We did a lot of really, really good things. We were close a lot, and a couple times that we didn't protect it really hurt us. Obviously the big one was the big touchdown to Mario right before half. So we can play more consistent, but it was a good challenge," Riley said. "I mean, that's one of the more talented fronts that we'll play without a doubt. Like I said the other day, do we want to play better up front? Yes. Now, you don't go score on 75 percent of your drives, touchdowns, without doing a lot of really, really good things up front. So yeah, we want to play better. Also, our standard's pretty high."
