On Sunday mornings, when Kyle Ford can really feel his frustration boiling up from the night time earlier than, he tries to step away. He’ll skip the elective Sunday elevate at USC, setting apart soccer in favor of one thing else solely. One thing only for him. One thing to assist reset.
“Just to get away,” the sixth-year senior USC receiver says, “and clear my mental and take a deep breath and be around people I love.”
Currently, he’s discovered that peace in golf, spending his Sundays on the course the place he can neglect for some time concerning the ongoing season at USC.
“Sundays,” his father, Dan Ford, mentioned, “I don’t even call him. That’s what he needs. Just to get away from the world.”
The previous 5 years had given loads of motive for the previous five-star prospect to be pissed off. Since arriving at USC in 2019 with expectations of sooner or later growing into the Trojans prime goal, nothing has gone in accordance with plan. There have been flashes of brilliance alongside the way in which, notably throughout a robust end to the 2022 season. However by way of two ACL tears and a number of teaching adjustments, his second by no means fairly materialized. So Ford, studying the tea leaves, left the college he liked after that season in quest of alternative with its bitter rival — solely to search out extra irritating circumstances awaiting him at UCLA.
“You just kind of start looking up at the sky, like, ‘What the hell, dude?’” Dan Ford mentioned. “You go from the No. 1 receiver on the west coast in high school, then two injuries, and you’re struggling to find opportunity?”
Ford wasn’t promised something apart from a chance upon returning to the Trojans for a second stint this season. He was uncertain, at first, if he even needed to return again. Possibly if he had greater than a 12 months left, he wouldn’t have.
However USC wanted a veteran presence, and Riley had known as the Fords inside just a few hours of the switch portal opening. Plus he nonetheless liked USC, and in coming again, after all Ford had envisioned what it could be prefer to lastly get his shot, to lastly step into the position he knew deep down that he might play. He nonetheless felt like that man, even after the 2 knee surgical procedures and months of confidence-building that got here after.
Although, because the season started, Ford wasn’t getting many possibilities to show it. Via seven video games, Ford had simply 10 catches. He was averaging fewer than a dozen routes run per recreation. The shortage of alternative left him pissed off, and each Sunday, he would discover himself flushing these emotions away on the golf green. Generally, he says, they bled over into Monday and even Tuesday.
USC vast receiver Kyle Ford leaps over Rutgers defensive again Flip Dixon through the first half of a recreation final week.
(Kyusung Gong / Related Press)
They lingered particularly lengthy into final week, earlier than Ford got here screaming throughout the sphere on a shallow drag route final Friday, deep within the pink zone. Turning upfield with the ball, he stiff-armed a Rutgers defender to the bottom earlier than barreling his strategy to a diving rating, his first of the season.
It was Ford’s finest second in 2024, simply the form of big-time play he’d been patiently ready to make. However when he met up together with his household after the sport, Ford informed his dad he didn’t perceive why it had taken so lengthy. He shared the identical sentiment with reporters after.
“I’m frustrated every week,” Ford mentioned. “I just know what type of player I am. Just knowing who I am and having to just be patient — I’ve been patient my whole career, with injuries and stuff like that. And I feel like I’ve always performed the way I perform every time I get my opportunity. This is just another testament to it. Hopefully just keep building for those, for sure. That’s what I want to do. Help this team. That’s what it comes down to. I just want to feel like I’m contributing.”
These emotions come as no shock to Lincoln Riley. “I’ve never had a receiver in however many years of doing this that was very happy with their role,” the coach mentioned Tuesday.
How they deal with their emotions from there can range, Riley mentioned. Generally frustration will get the very best of them. Usually it bleeds onto the apply subject. However Riley has seen far much less of that with Ford this season. He’s been impressed with how a lot he’s grown in that regard.
“His first year I don’t know that he would have handled it,” Riley mentioned, “and I think this year he’s stayed in a really positive mindframe. He’s really, I think, tried to stay in the moment, and I just don’t feel like it has rattled him as much, and I think that’s why he was ready to go in and make some plays.”
That’s the place his Sundays have are available. He’s capable of clear his thoughts, and “put that frustration towards something good,” Ford mentioned. Even when that hasn’t all the time been simple for a receiver who as soon as appeared on the NFL quick observe.
The truth is he’s nonetheless sick of being affected person, nonetheless will get pissed off with ready. However then Ford thinks concerning the three years he misplaced working his approach again from harm and the way a lot he ached to simply play soccer then, and, for nevertheless lengthy, these emotions soften away.
“Just being able to reset, take a deep breath, and say, alright, whatever is going on, it doesn’t matter,” Ford mentioned. “If I’m in this play, in this moment, no matter how my day is going, that’s the most important thing.”
Currently, he’s targeted on staying extra current. And he’s happy with how far he’s are available that respect. However Ford can also be properly conscious that his clock is ticking. The window to make his mark, like he’d as soon as imagined, continues to slim by the week.
However Dan Ford believes his son is coming to peace with how his profession has performed out. This week, after sharing his frustration Friday, Ford took a distinct tone just a few days later when contemplating what he needed from the ultimate 5 video games of his school profession.
“It’s never how you start, it’s how you finish,” Ford mentioned. “I just want to finish out strong and help the team where I can, you know? Everything that you do out there isn’t always on a stat sheet. You sometimes don’t see that. That’s fine. I came here to contribute, and ‘contribute’ doesn’t mean I have to have 7,000 yards and all that. It just means I want to help this team win games.
“I feel like I’ve been doing a good job of that.”
