Lincoln Riley reveals whether he's breaking USC tradition or not with "gold plates"

Recently, USC Football Offensive Tackle Courtland Ford revealed a new tradition where Trojan players can earn their "gold plates" on their helmets during practice for showing phenomenal work ethic:

It was unclear, however, what exactly these decals were. Whether they were small decals that are added onto their helmets a la Ohio State, Florida State, etc., or if they were going to be the Trojan logo on the side of their helmets (practice helmets have not had logos on them).

It turns out, however, that these will be the latter. This is great news, as now no fans will have to worry about tradition being broken. USC has 11 National Championships doing their helmets their way--SC doesn't need to be following what Ohio State or Florida State are doing.

Lincoln Riley then explained how exactly he determines who achieves a gold plate or not.

Lincoln Riley is doing this to encourage hard work and discipline both on and off of the field from the players in this USC football program:

Instead of fears over this being something that could break tradition within our storied program, it now is something that enhances what the tradition of this program is TRULY about: Accountability, discipline, reliability, and effort. These are aspects of the program that were missing at some of the worst possible times under the three permanent head coaches in between the Pete Carroll and Lincoln Riley eras.

Clearly, Riley understands what this tradition and culture is about here. In fact, he's even letting other members of the Trojan family give input in order to help him decide who earns a gold plate or not:

Riley has already done a tremendous job running this program, and this is only his fifth month on the job. He'll continue to focus on culture-building in this terrific football program throughout spring ball so he can show it off when his spring game airs on ESPN come April 23rd.