Lincoln Riley talks about the challenges of developing good quarterbacks in college football: "Got our internal list of priorities"

Lincoln Riley has gained a reputation in the world of college football for his ability to adequately develop a quarterback. Over the years, the coach has been able to produce top college quarterbacks across different programs that have gone on to be high draft picks in the NFL.

In a recent interview on “Next Up with Andre Breneman, Lincoln Riley explains the challenges that come with working with quarterbacks and leading them to the right path. He made it known that putting the quarterback around the right people on and off the field is crucial.

“We have our internal list of priorities that we stick to, that we very much believe in. Riley said. “I think we've been able to put them in some really good situations in terms of the coaching staff, the assistant coaches, the scheme; that's being able to put good players around them.” (starting at 11:25)

Adapting to the strength of quarterbacks

Regardless of the scheme being played in a team, all quarterbacks have their strengths and weaknesses, which define them as players. Adapting to the strength of each quarterback over the years has been crucial to the offensive success of Lincoln Riley.

Riley has mentored top quarterbacks like Baker Mayfield, Kyle Murray, Jalen Hurts, Spencer Rattler and Caleb Williams in his time at Oklahoma and USC. While all of them possess different traits as a signal caller, he was able to adapt the style of play to their strengths:

“I think we've been able to adapt, each of those guys that you mentioned had different strengths, had different weaknesses and I think part of developing is helping players really improve on their weaknesses … It all starts with having the right guys in the room,” Riley said.

Lincoln Riley on the evaluation of quarterback recruits

Lincoln Riley was asked about how he evaluates his quarterback recruits in the interview. He answered that it all starts with finding excitement in the prospect while watching his film before other metrics are considered.

“I know specifically for quarterbacks, like if I watch somebody and I'm not pretty excited watching that tape, that's probably telling me something," Riley said. "That doesn't mean there are not things I don't like about the guy, but you want to coach people that you're passionate about.” (starting at 13:20)

Riley gets to mentor a new quarterback at USC next season following the departure of Caleb Williams to the NFL. There’s a belief it will be Miller Moss following his superb outing at the Holiday Bowl and the departure of former five-star recruit Malachi Nelson.