USC and coach Lincoln Riley decided to lift the two-week suspension it placed on a reporter from the Southern California News Group, according to a couple of statements put out on social media Thursday.
Luca Evens, a rookie reporter on the Trojans' beat for the Orange County Register, was issued a two-week suspension of his credential Tuesday for allegedly violating the school's media guidelines.
Just 48 hours later, Evans took to X—formerly known as Twitter—to say that he and Riley cleared the air between them following a long conversation and that his access was restored.
"Riley made it clear his intent to protect his players," Evans wrote as part of the statement. "I made it clear my intent has always been to tell compelling, honest stories on USC."
Luca Evans @bylucaevansAn update on the situation with USC access: <a href="">
Evans' suspension was connected to an article he published last week about freshman running back Quinten Joyner. In the piece, Evans described a conversation between Joyner and fellow freshman Braylan Shelby in which they discussed being nervous about talking to the media.
Joyner's father was even contacted for the piece and he went on to say that the anecdote was "spot on."
USC claimed Evans violated its policy of reporting anything outside of media availability in the practice facility.
Unsurprisingly, Riley didn't expound much on the situation but said "we felt it was far enough that we needed to act on it." He also added that the piece wasn't "accurate."
The program took some backlash from local media for the actions it took against Evans. Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke called out Riley and athletic director Jennifer Cohen in a recent article for the decision to suspend the young, ambitious reporter.
USC also received letters from Orange County Register senior editor Todd Harmonson, sports editor Tom Moore and SCNG publisher Ron Hasse asking the university to change their decision.
Riley had a statement of his own Thursday regarding Evans' suspension being lifted.
"Last night, I received a call from Luca Evans, and we had very candid and productive conversation. We agreed that we both could have handled the situation differently," Riley wrote in statement shared by Los Angeles Times reporter Ryan Kartje. "I appreciate Luca recognizing the policies we have in place to protect our student-athletes and acknowledging to adhere to those in the future. We welcome Luca back to practice and look forward to his continuing coverage of the Trojans"
