LOS ANGELES >> Shortly after USC’s loss to Utah, wide receiver Kyle Ford spoke on the phone with quarterback Caleb Williams.

The pain of the defeat was still fresh for both players. Ford had been on the field for 11 passing plays without receiving a target. He felt like he was ready to help USC win, and he called Williams, wanting to spend the bye week getting on the same page.

“He said no more,” Williams said. “He wants to be on the field, he wants to make those catches for me.”

What followed was a career game for Ford. Six catches, 114 yards, one touchdown to open the fourth quarter and give the Trojans’ a two-possession lead in an eight-point win over Arizona on Saturday.

It was a moment that Ford has been waiting for after four years at USC. But one that, despite all his setbacks, he never doubted was coming.

“It was cool to have my family and friends just be happy. It’s always good to make them proud,” Ford said. “(But) I knew I could do it.”

The cocoon >> Ford arrived at USC in 2019 still recovering from knee surgery he underwent as a senior at Orange Lutheran. He was able to return late in the season and caught a lone pass, 20 yards for a touchdown, but settled for a redshirt year.

A second knee injury suffered in the summer of 2020 kept him out of that season and the 2021 spring camp. He was limited to eight games as a redshirt sophomore and caught 19 passes for 252 yards and two scores.

He still wasn’t the impact player he was expected to be as a top-40 recruit out of high school. But Ford had learned a different perspective from his surgery recovery.

“Find something to get better at every day. And it doesn’t have to be something drastic,” Ford said. “I can’t walk today, but I can tie my shoe now. I can bend over and tie my shoe. Something small. I didn’t run the route at this angle, but I ran it a little less this way. Just small things and they all add up.”

When USC hired Lincoln Riley as its new head coach following the 2021 season, the coach in turn recruited four wide receiver transfers to come in and take snaps. It could have been a situation where Ford felt he was being recruited over, and it was time to look for a new school.

But he instead looked at it as an opportunity to learn from the new faces, as he had learned from Drake London and Michael Pittman and Tyler Vaughns in the past.

“It wasn’t even really a conversation,” Riley said. “Kyle has belief in himself. He did some really nice things in the spring, we were really impressed. He probably would have been teed up to play more in the first half of the season if not for getting injured in camp.”

There they were again, the injuries. Ford missed the back half of fall camp and was limited in the first few weeks of the season. Through USC’s first seven games, he only caught two passes.

Ford admitted to feeling frustration for the missed opportunity in camp, but took it as a chance for more incremental improvements. He cut some of the muscle that he gained from summer workouts and got back down to his high school weight of 215 pounds.

He immediately noticed a difference in how he felt, from his knees to his speed. And it helped set the table for what was to come.

“It’s all part of a plan. And I think that plan is starting to work out a little bit,” Ford said. “God gives you opportunities; he doesn’t give you blessings, he gives you opportunities to bless yourself, really.”

Metamorphosis

Following the Utah game, Ford made a point to talk more with Williams during and after practice. Ford would ask Williams to run a couple extra routes before returning to the locker room.

The receiver wanted his quarterback to have the same confidence in him that Ford never lost.

“I don’t feel like there’s a whole lot of people that can really stick with me,” Ford said. “I’ve always thought that, ever since I was in high school.”

Soon, Williams was identifying when Ford was one-on-one at practice and giving the receiver a look before the snap with a clear message: Beat this guy, and the ball’s coming your way.

The honed connection carried over into the Utah game. Ford broke off a 71-yard reception, running an in route before cutting upfield along the seam to find a weak spot in the defense.

“He has done a good job hanging in there, working, making the most of opportunities and has really clawed himself back into it and played at a high level for us the other night,” Riley said. “If he continues to do that, he’ll continue to earn more opportunities.”

Williams even gave Ford that pre-snap look on a couple of post routes and went after the receiver. Neither pass resulted in a completion, but was progress for Ford’s relationship with the quarterback and place in the offense.

“I’m just happy, I’m really happy where I’m at with everything with my weight, how I’m playing, how physical I’m playing and be at a lower weight at the same time,” Ford said. “It’s all coming together.”