NBA draft 2020: The Report Card
Ryon Sayeri Is USC's Future At Kicker, But He Wants To Be The Present
LOS ANGELES — Ryon Sayeri positioned himself behind a tee, this dance perfectly choreographed by now. Once and twice and thrice, the USC commit slid to his left, his left leg locking, his face an immovable mass of stone. Once and twice and thrice, he strode toward the football, his plant-leg curving upon itself, torquing and delivering another 40-yarder through the uprights at Chaminade High.
The afternoon rays scorched off the blue turf of his alma mater in the San Fernando Valley, threatening to melt another pair of Sayeri's cleats. He stayed, engrossed in the same routine. After an hour, trainer Cole Murphy issued a challenge to his protégé.
"Five-ball scatter?" he asked Sayeri.
Sayeri nodded, expression unchanged.
Murphy, a former Syracuse kicker, took five footballs out of a bin, tossing them at various points across the field. One landed by the left hashes on the 20-yard line. One landed at midfield on the 30. One landed back at the 42. One by one, Sayeri set up a tee, slid to his left, strode and nailed each, finishing with a 57-yarder that split the pylons with a cushion to spare.
"He's a gamer," Murphy said while watching Sayeri kick, a kid needing little direction.
Come fall camp, USC's kickers are set for perhaps the most quietly fascinating positional battle on the roster. The program converted just two-thirds of its field goals in 2023, ranking 109th in the country; head coach Lincoln Riley told reporters in early April that taking a step up at kicker had been "one of our big offseason goals." In late April, USC nabbed Georgia Southern kicker Michael Lantz out of the portal, set to battle for the job with incumbents Denis Lynch and Tyler Robles.
Sayeri is the future, the first All-American selection in Chaminade program history. But he's also trying to be the present. He had a handful of collegiate scholarships on the table this winter, with full rides from San Jose State and San Diego State, only to commit to USC as a preferred walk-on. The bet was simple, a quiet conviction: Sayeri believes, fully, that he'll be Lincoln Riley's kicker this fall.
Chaminade coach David Machuca would try to impart upon Sayeri in his recruitment: Dude, you have a scholarship to SDSU and San Jose. Why not go and start there, on scholarship, and then transfer to USC?
"I straight-up told him," Sayeri said, "I have faith that I could go to any school in the nation and start automatically."
'Make sure you're remembered'Five years ago, Sayeri entered Chaminade as a scrawny 13-year-old soccer convert who had never played football. But his right leg hummed with confidence, and Machuca couldn't help but notice.
At that time, Chaminade's starting kicker was current Syracuse punter Jack Stonehouse. But Machuca, then an assistant at Chaminade, got in longtime coach Ed Croson's ear.
"Hey," Machuca remembered telling Croson, "I think the young guy's better than him."
"Nah," Croson would hem, "he's a freshman."
"Well, I don't know," Machuca would counter, "he keeps making 'em."
Five years later, Machuca and Sayeri walked into a USC spring practice in April, two months before Sayeri was set to move in. They chatted with Drew Fox, an assistant director of player personnel. They chatted with Zach Hanson, USC's tight ends coach. They chatted with other staffers.
Machuca told them all the same thing: Sayeri was going to win the job as a freshman.
It happened before, Sayeri beating out Stonehouse that freshman year at Chaminade en route to a standout high school career. And those around Sayeri are fully convinced it'll happen again at USC.
"He's the kind of kid that you can plug-and-play," Murphy said. "It's kinda tough to find a lot of those kids."
In sessions with Murphy, Sayeri trains with two GoPros positioned on either side of him, capturing a front-and-back angle of his swing. His plant leg has become almost double-jointed, seemingly bending backward to snap power into his swing. It's built off a Murphy-ingrained philosophy of staying close to the ball, similar to the swing of legendary Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker.
Technique, however, is secondary to sheer mentality as a collegiate kicker. There is an edge, a steadiness as a performer, that some kids simply don't have, Murphy said.
He's sent plenty of trainees to see a sports psychologist. He's never needed to send Sayeri.
"I've really never seen him get nervous before," Murphy said.
Pressure, still, lingers in Sayeri's mind entering USC. It was always a goal to play a sport in college. But Sayeri bet on himself in picking USC. And with a starting job hanging in the balance, and more importantly a scholarship, want has become need.
"There's a lot of things he wants to achieve there," Sayeri's dad, Matt, said. "That's our mindset, that's my – like, when you're going to go there, just make sure you're remembered."
"You're not just some empty footsteps in a hallway."
Gunning for the top jobSayeri knows competition will be fierce, particularly as USC's incumbent is one of the most beloved faces on the roster.
In September, in the midst of his second year as USC's starting kicker, Lynch was finally put on scholarship. When Riley announced the news to the team in the fall, they "erupted," Riley remembered, requesting Lynch come up for a speech.
In the days to come, reporters asked members of the program exactly what Lynch said. Nobody was able to put it into words, Lynch was an unsolvable enigma, a kid whose go-to drink at Starbucks – as described by Murphy, who has also long worked with Lynch – is an iced chocolate milk.
"It was really bizarre," Riley remembered, "and then at the end it was like, 'And thank you,' and walked off. That's just Denis for you."
Lynch, the dripped out, milk-drinking favorite, is the "king of the hill" for USC's job at the moment, as Murphy described. But USC's staff, particularly special teams analyst Ryan Dougherty, has been clear to the faces in the room, Murphy said: To win the job, you have to separate yourself. In April, Dougherty told Sayeri he wanted all of USC's kickers to be above 80% accuracy.
Sayeri's entire mentality since has shifted in his workouts, suddenly keeping track of every single make or miss. If USC wanted 80%, Sayeri figured, he'd shoot for 90%.
"The coach made it clear, like, 'We wanted change,'" Sayeri said. "Like, 'We want to be a top specialist school.' And I think we could do that, and that's my goal."
Lynch has been hit-or-miss on field goals for a couple of years, hovering around 70%, but has been solid on extra points. Incoming transfer Lantz nailed 23 of 28 tries (82.1%) last year at Georgia Southern. But Sayeri isn't focusing on anyone but himself, he said, quietly leaning against a bench after his workout.
"I think, if I kick how I did today, any single day," Sayeri said, "I don't think there's any doubt in my mind."
USC Football's Pac-12 Greatest Hits — Arizona State
The USC Trojans welcomed Arizona State to the Pac-10 in 1978. ASU and Arizona turned the Pac-8 into the Pac-10. ASU had no interest in playing nice or thanking the Trojans for their newfound status as a Pac-10 member. The Devils knocked off USC in 1978, giving that Trojan team its only loss of the season. If ASU had not won that game, USC would have been the undisputed national champion. As it was, the Trojans shared the title with Alabama. As we consider the Pac-12 history of USC-Arizona State football, one Trojan victory outshines all the others.
We wrote about that game a few years ago:
"In that abysmal first half, the Trojans and some of their fans wondered if they had already lost the game for reasons beyond the 21-3 score Arizona State accumulated. Matt Leinart took a blow to the head when ASU was whistled for roughing the passer. This was before concussion protocol became a regular part of football game operations and standard practice. Leinart was almost certainly concussed."
In that October 2005 game at Arizona State — played in 100-degree heat and a burning desert sun — USC's star quarterback was in bad shape. The Trojans were down 18 points. They were likely to lose. They didn't care. They slapped a 35-7 second half on the Sun Devils with a dominant offensive line and a ballhawking defense which kept intercepting ASU quarterback Sam Keller. Few games from the Pete Carroll era exhibited USC's toughness and resolve more than this one.
Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, and Ducks Wire. Follow our newest sites, UW Huskies Wire and UCLA Wire.
Check out more NFL draft coverage with the USA TODAY Sports NFL Draft Hub.
Story originally appeared on Trojans Wire
Big Ten Football Schedule 2024: Early Season Kickoff Times, TV Set
The Big Ten football schedule 2024 early season kickoff times and TV slate has been announced, which features 46 games set for broadcast in the first three weeks.
The Big Ten expands to 18 teams this season with the addition of the Oregon Ducks, UCLA Bruins, USC Trojans, and Washington Huskies.
The schedule kicks off on Thursday, Aug. 29 with three teams hosting non-conference opponents. The Rutgers Scarlet Knights host the Howard Bison (6:00pm ET, BTN), the Minnesota Golden Gophers host the North Carolina Tar Heels (8pm ET, FOX), and the Illinois Fighting Illini host the Eastern Illinois Panthers (9pm ET, BTN).
Two games were moved up one day to Friday kickoffs (Aug. 30) — FAU at Michigan State (7:00pm ET, BTN) and Western Michigan at Wisconsin (9:00pm ET, FS1).
12 conference members will hit the gridiron on Saturday, Aug. 31 — Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, UCLA, and Washington. The featured contest is the Penn State Nittany Lions traveling to face the West Virginia Mountaineers at Noon ET on FOX.
On Sunday, Sept. 1, the USC Trojans will face the LSU Tigers at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the game will be broadcast by ABC at 7:30pm ET.
The 2024 Big Ten Championship Game is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 7 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. The game will be televised by CBS at 8:00pm ET.
The Big Ten also announced Homecoming dates for all 18 member schools.
Listed below are the early season Big Ten games that have been selected for television as of May 30, plus several games from Week 4 onward. All remaining Big Ten controlled football games in 2024 will be announced six-to-12 days prior to the date of the game.
*All times Eastern.
Thursday, Aug. 29Howard at Rutgers – 6pm, BTNNorth Carolina at Minnesota – 8pm, FOXEastern Illinois at Illinois – 9pm, BTN
Friday, Aug. 30FAU at Michigan State – 7pm, BTNWestern Michigan at Wisconsin – 9pm, FS1
Saturday, Aug. 31Illinois State at Iowa – 12pm, BTNUConn at Maryland – 12pm, FS1Penn State at West Virginia – 12pm, FOXIndiana State at Purdue – 12pm, BTNFIU at Indiana – 3:30pm, BTNUTEP at Nebraska – 3:30pm, FOXMiami (OH) at Northwestern – 3:30pm, BTNAkron at Ohio State – 3:30pm, CBSFresno State at Michigan – 7:30pm, NBCIdaho at Oregon – 7:30pm, BTNUCLA at Hawaii – 7:30pm, CBSWeber State at Washington – 11pm, BTN
Sunday, Sept. 1USC vs. LSU (in Las Vegas) – 7:30pm, ABC
Friday, Sept. 6Western Illinois at Indiana – 7pm, BTNDuke at Northwestern – 9pm, FS1
Saturday, Sept. 7Texas at Michigan – 12pm, FOXRhode Island at Minnesota – 12pm, PeacockBowling Green at Penn State – 12pm, BTNAkron at Rutgers – 12pm, BTNIowa State at Iowa – 3:30pm, CBSMichigan State at Maryland – 3:30pm, BTNEMU at Washington – 3:30pm, BTNSouth Dakota at Wisconsin – 3:30pm, FS1Kansas at Illinois – 7pm, FS1Colorado at Nebraska – 7:30pm, NBCWMU at Ohio State – 7:30pm, BTNBoise State at Oregon – 10pm, PeacockUtah State at USC – 11pm, BTN
Saturday, Sept. 14Central Michigan at Illinois – 12pm, PeacockArkansas State at Michigan – 12pm, BTNAlabama at Wisconsin – 12pm, FOXPVAMU at Michigan State – 3:30pm, BTNNevada at Minnesota – 3:30pm, BTNOregon at Oregon State – 3:30pm, FOXNotre Dame at Purdue – 3:30pm, CBSWashington St. Vs. Washington – 3:30pm, PeacockTroy at Iowa – 4pm, FS1Indiana at UCLA – 7:30pm, NBCUNI at Nebraska – 7:30pm, BTNEastern Illinois at Northwestern – 7:30pm, BTNMaryland at Virginia – 8pm, ACCN
Friday, Sept. 20Illinois at Nebraska – 8pm, FOX
Saturday, Sept. 21USC at Michigan – 3:30pm, CBSPurdue at Oregon State – 8:30pm, The CW
Friday, Sept. 27Washington at Rutgers – 8pm, FOX
Saturday, Sept. 28Nebraska at Purdue – 12pm, TBDIllinois at Penn State – 3:30/4/7:30pm, TBD
Friday, Oct. 4Michigan State at Oregon – 9pm, FOX
Saturday, Oct. 5Rutgers at Nebraska – 12/3:30/4pm, TBD
Friday, Oct. 11Northwestern at Maryland – 8pm, FOX
Friday, Oct. 18Oregon at Purdue – 8pm, FOX
Saturday, Oct. 19Nebraska at IndianaUSC at MarylandIowa at Michigan StateUCLA at Rutgers* All four games 12pm, 3:30, 4 or 7:30pm with network TBD
Friday, Oct. 25Rutgers at USC – 11pm, FOX
Saturday, Oct. 26Maryland at Minnesota – 12/3:30/4pm, TBDNebraska at Ohio State – 12/3:30/7:30pm, TBDPenn State at Wisconsin – 12/3:30/7:30pm, TBDIllinois at Oregon – 3:30/4/7:30pm, TBDNorthwestern at Iowa – 3:30pm, TBD
Saturday, Nov. 2USC at Washington – 3:30/4/7:30pm, TBD
Friday, Nov. 8Iowa at UCLA – 9pm, FOX
Friday, Nov. 15UCLA at Washington – 9pm, FOX
Saturday, Nov. 16Ohio State at Northwestern – 12/3:30pm, TBDNebraska at USC – 3:30/4/7:30/11pm, TBD
Friday, Nov. 22Purdue at Michigan State – 8pm, FOX
Friday, Nov. 29Minnesota at Wisconsin – 12pm, CBSNebraska at Iowa – 7:30pm, NBC
Saturday, Nov. 30Michigan at Ohio State – 12pm, FOX
Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024Big Ten Football Championship Game – 8pm, CBSat Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind.
Football Schedules, 2024
Comments
Post a Comment