{"id":195156,"date":"2025-10-01T17:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T17:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/195156\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T17:07:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T17:07:07","slug":"usc-s-lincoln-riley-gives-injury-update-on-starting-center-kilian-oconnor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/195156\/","title":{"rendered":"USC ‘s Lincoln Riley Gives Injury Update On Starting Center Kilian O\u2019Connor"},"content":{"rendered":"

The USC Trojans<\/a> were dealt two bad hands last weekend \u2013 their first loss of the season to No. 22 Illinois, and now without starting center Kilian O\u2019Connor <\/a>for multiple weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor has been one of the most reliable centers for the Trojans offensive lines, emerging as a clear leader from the walk-on he started out as.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the Trojans are without O\u2019Connor for, what it looks and sounds like, two games, who\u2019s up next to fill O\u2019Connor\u2019s shoes while he recovers?<\/p>\n

\"USC<\/p>\n

Sep 27, 2025; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley on the sidelines during the first half against the Illinois Fighting Illini at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images \/ Ron Johnson-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Coach Lincoln Riley<\/a> spoke to the media after Tuesday\u2019s practice, and shared important news following the status of O\u2019Connor in the upcoming weeks. <\/p>\n

\u201cKilian will for sure miss these next two. I think (there\u2019s) a possibility to get him back after that,\u201d Riley said after Tuesday\u2019s practice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the second quarter, O\u2019Connor went down with what appeared to be a left-knee injury, and was taken off the field to evaluate the lower body injury. Later on, O\u2019Connor returned to the sidelines on crutches in street clothes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor has been the Trojans go-to for leadership and offensive line strength this season, lining up in between left guard Tobias Raymond and right guard Alani Noa.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last season, O\u2019Connor appeared in nine games at center for the Trojans, including one start in their 35-31 win over Texas A&M in the Las Vegas Bowl. This season, O\u2019Connor has started all five games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The redshirt senior from Ladera Ranch, California has pulled his weight on the offensive line, allowing ample opportunities for the running back room to take off and gain yardage from pockets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"USC<\/p>\n

Sep 6, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; USC Trojans offensive lineman J’Onre Reed (50) quarterback Jayden Maiava (14) warm up prior to the game against the Georgia Southern Eagles at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images \/ Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Backup center J\u2019Onre Reed stepped in and got the job done, despite the Trojans loss.\u00a0<\/p>\n

J\u2019Onre is a transfer center previously from Syracuse, where he started 27 games for the Orange.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MORE: USC Trojans Quarterback Jayden Maiava Shows Human Side In Upset Loss To Illinois<\/a><\/p>\n

MORE: Illinois Coach Bret Bielema Reveals USC Trojans ‘Riled Up’ Fighting Illini Before Game<\/a><\/p>\n

MORE: USC Trojans’ Lincoln Riley Defends Late Game Clock Management In Loss To Illinois<\/a><\/p>\n

Riley commented on Reed\u2019s performance after O\u2019Connor went down, and highlighted his strength and his readiness to compete, despite a couple of mistakes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did a pretty good job. He came in and operated us pretty well. It was good to get him some reps. He’s played a lot of ball and you could tell a little bit once he got in there,\u201d Riley said. \u201cHe made a couple of a couple of mistakes, but all in all, we still moved the ball really well. He was already getting a lot of reps, but obviously now is a chance to pump a lot of reps into him and really get him ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raymond also commented on Reed\u2019s performance against the Fighting Illini, and was impressed with his communication and confidence after O\u2019Connor\u2019s injury.<\/p>\n

\"USC<\/p>\n

Sep 20, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley watches game action against the Michigan State Spartans during the second half at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images \/ Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did a good job, he came out and played pretty confidently. When he came, we tried to emphasize that things are going to switch up,\u201d Raymond said after Tuesday\u2019s practice. \u201c(Communication) was kind of our goal from the beginning from practice that week, and I think everything went pretty smoothly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reed will start at center after the Trojans bye weekend against the Michigan Wolverines on Oct. 11.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The USC Trojans were dealt two bad hands last weekend \u2013 their first loss of the season to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-195156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}