LOS ANGELES — For much of his freshman season, Korey Foreman found himself in an unfamiliar place: The sidelines.

Foreman had arrived at USC as a five-star recruit out of Corona’s Centennial High, pegged by some as the nation’s top prospect in his high school class. But even on an underwhelming Trojans defense, he struggled to crack the rotation on a consistent basis.

As he prepares for his sophomore season this spring, Foreman is determined to make sure that experience does not recur.

“I don’t ever want to be in a position to where I’m on the sidelines or where I’m doing something like that,” Foreman said after Thursday’s practice. “So I’m just doing the best I can every single day to use that motivation to keep going.”

Foreman played 113 snaps in 11 games as a true freshman, with 80 coming in pass-rush situations. In that time, he logged seven hurries and three hits on the quarterback, resulting in one sack.

The opportunities were limited, but he did finish third on the defense among players with at least 100 snaps with a 73.0 grade from Pro Football Focus.

Before the fifth game of last season, former defensive line coach Vic So’oto was asked what Foreman needed to do to get on the field more.

“That’s up to him,” So’oto said bluntly. “The players that play have earned it in practice. He’s got one more practice to earn more playing time and build confidence in us.”

Asked Thursday what lessons he took from last season, Foreman emphasized patience, not feeling as if the world is against him and taking a negative situation and turning it positive.

“It’s probably just being a freshman in college, not seeing how everything is,” Foreman said. “But just now, it’s not that I regretted it but I’m blessed to now see that I can now take everything that happened last year and just put it in the past and I can work for it and just use that every single day.”

He’s gotten a boost in that regard with USC’s new coaching staff, which he says makes this camp feel like a new freshman season. He says he is learning daily from assistant Roy Manning, who is molding Foreman into an edge rushing linebacker.

And head coach Lincoln Riley has reemphasized leaving behind all the hype that followed Foreman to USC.

“The thing that players like that and the people on the outside need to realize is like, that means nothing when you get to college. That means absolutely nothing,” Riley said. “The focus has got to be on being your best here. And Korey’s done a nice job of that. He’s getting better.”

Foreman was denied a full spring practice by what he described as a minor knee dislocation suffered during player-run practices this winter. He was limited through the first three weeks of camp but has been back at full speed the past five practices.

Related Articles

“Man, he’s got some tools,” Manning said. “The biggest thing I see out of him, he plays football the right way. He plays with this urgency and a recklessness.”

There are still areas for improvement. While a natural pass rusher, Foreman still needs to work on run defense, Manning said. But this year he only has to learn one position as opposed to several when last year’s staff was trying to find a place for him on the field.

“I’m taking it day by day. I’m just taking every moment for what it is and just keep going,” Foreman said. “Best I can do is just making sure I step through these walls with 110% effort every day. So that’s the best thing I can do.”