USC gets ‘big-time football player’ and even ‘better person and better teammate’ in Lakeridge (Oregon) standout Joey Olsen

By René Ferrán | Photos by Naji Saker 

Joey Olsen woke up last Wednesday morning and just felt it was time. 

Time to announce a decision that the Lakeridge junior wide receiver had weighed for several months, discussing with family, friends and Pacers coach Spencer Phillips.

Time to let the world know where he plans to play football 20 months from now, barring any changes to his mind. 

Olsen took to the Twitter-verse and spread the word — he would sign a letter of intent next winter with the University of Southern California to play for Lincoln Riley’s Trojans. He saw USC and Riley — who took over in November 2021 after a successful tenure with Oklahoma — as the perfect combination of athletic and academic traditions.

“It was probably a combination of a lot of stuff,” Olsen said Friday after the Pacers’ 47-35 home loss to Sherwood. “Athletics, their football program, the vibe around campus, the legacy of USC football — USC was just kind of the whole package, the academics and the athletics. Overall, it just fit me right.

“And Lincoln Riley, his offense, it’s different. They move the ball around so much. They have so many great athletes, and it’s just something I want to be a part of.”

***

Olsen wasn’t always a standout wide receiver. When he started playing youth football in the fourth grade, he wore No. 95 and played running back — when he could meet the weight limit.

Eventually, his youth coaches moved him to tight end, where he shined through middle school. When he arrived at Lakeridge the same year Phillips arrived after spending time as quarterbacks coach with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, Olsen was on the move yet again — this time to receiver, where Phillips realized he had a rare talent in his 6-foot-5, 220-pound wunderkind.

Their first year together, Olsen caught 22 passes for 347 yards and four scores during the COVID-shortened spring season.

Last season, Olsen began showing his big-play potential, averaging 26 yards per catch and finishing with 28 catches for 727 yards and seven touchdowns.

“Every season, I’ve challenged him to get better in certain areas,” Phillips said. “Year 1 as a freshman, you just want him to be comfortable, confident, and he has that. Year 2, it was to dominate, and he did. He did a lot of great things last year.”

This year’s challenge was to become a team leader, knowing what lay ahead in his career.

“We knew he was going to end up being a big-time football player, so our offseason conversation was, ‘This is what that looks like, and I’m going to challenge you to be that player,’” Phillips said. “And he responded well. He’s brought other people with him. He’s so good with our freshmen and sophomore receivers. For example, Marcus Post, our freshman receiver, Joey has mentored him in such a great way.

“So, all the great accolades that Joey has and how great a player he is, the thing that I think people should know the most is that he’s a better person and a better teammate. The sky’s the limit for Joey. He’s truly a special person and player.”

Senior quarterback Ryan Oliver, who has worked with Olsen since both became starters during the COVID season, marveled at how Olsen “always brings a smile to his face to practice every day. He always has a positive mentality and roots for his teammates more than himself. That’s always great to have around the locker room.”

***

As Olsen has become more of a known quantity, opponents have treated him accordingly. Like a basketball team might throw a junk defense at star players to throw them off their game, opponents will put their best cover corner on Olsen, all the while shading their coverage his way.

On Friday, the Bowmen had junior Jaylan Moore shadow Olsen’s every move, pressing him at the line, but they would bracket their coverage to his side whenever Olsen lined up as a single receiver, with help over the top and a linebacker inside to take away slant routes.

“I’ll take on anybody,” Moore said. “I just do what I gotta do. If he’s the best player, I’m going to get the best player and do what I can do. I knew he’s a really good deep threat, so all I had to do was force him to stay under, stay over top and make sure I’m playing my man and not get rid of him.”

For three quarters, the Bowmen kept Olsen under wraps. He was not targeted once as Phillips moved him around the formation, probing for a weak spot, while Oliver didn’t force the issue and spread the ball to other targets.

Finally, with the Pacers trailing 27-21, the moment arrived when Phillips thought he could expose the defense and cause confusion.

First, Olsen lined up wide left, but just as he was about to break free, a defender grabbed him. The flag flew as the ball sailed past. Pass interference.

Two plays later, Olsen split wide with another receiver. He ran an inside post, with his job to take the top off the play while his fellow receiver ran a corner route.

As Olsen streaked downfield, Oliver picked out a landmark on the field that the duo had identified through hundreds of hours working together at practice and let fly.

“I trust he’s going to get there because I know we can put the ball in that spot, and he’ll be there,” Oliver said.

Olsen put on a burst of speed to split the two defenders who’d shadowed him downfield, hauled in the pass in stride and hit the afterburners on a career-long 72-yard touchdown.

Later in the quarter, with Lakeridge trailing 40-28, Olsen showed off another weapon in his skill set. Matched one-on-one on the left side with the 5-9 Moore at the 6-yard line, Oliver threw a jump ball to the back corner of the end zone, where Olsen used his strength and 8-inch height advantage to secure the ball and get one foot down while Moore took him to the ground.

“He’s always a weapon that we can utilize,” Oliver said. “And it’s not like we weren’t trying to get him the ball earlier, but they had to put their best guys on him. So, it was more like we had other stuff that was working, and we know he’s always there. And if it gets tough, he’s going to be out there somewhere, making a play.”

Olsen finished the game with just those two catches for 78 yards, giving him eight for 228 yards and four touchdowns this season.

A receiver of Olsen’s caliber seemingly should have bigger numbers through three games. But Olsen doesn’t appear to mind.

“If I need to catch 12 balls in a game, or if I have zero catches, it doesn’t matter as long as we come out and succeed as a team,” he said. “As long as I can fulfill my role for that week, I’m happy.”

What has him more frustrated is the Pacers’ 1-2 start following back-to-back losses to Jesuit and Sherwood, with a Week 4 matchup at Sunset and the usual Three Rivers League grind still to come.

A top-16 ranking and a spot in the OSAA Class 6A state championship bracket are still in the offing, but to accomplish those goals, “we really need to prepare for each game, and we need to buy into this team, work every day and get better every day. If we really buy in and work every day, I believe this team can go far.”

***

Olsen’s sister, Olivia, is a freshman playing JV volleyball for the Pacers. She’s not quite the ballyhooed prospect of her brother, but she plays a big part in the Joey Olsen Experience.

“She comes home from volleyball practice every day, telling me that I suck,” Olsen said, smiling. “She keeps me very humble. It’s fine, though. She’s my sister, so I have to let it slide every once in a while.”

Between Olivia needling him every evening and his parents, Brittany and Michael, stressing schoolwork, not allowing him to play in the neighborhood as a kindergartener until he’d finished his homework, Olsen was never allowed to get a big head, even as the attention grew and the accolades mounted — he was touted as one of the top class of 2025 receivers since achieving four-star status as a freshman.

“I try not to let things get inside my head,” Olsen said. “It doesn’t really faze me. I’ve just tried to stay as humble as I can, to just go through the process and put my head down and work.”

As Olsen neared making his decision public, he would talk daily with Phillips, agonizing over his final three choices — USC, Oregon and Oregon State. Phillips would have him create lists of pros and cons to review for each school.

Still, as Phillips watched the process play out, he always figured USC would be the choice.

“I think in his heart, he knew right away,” Phillips said. “But there was a really hard piece of this for Joey because he had such great relationships with some of the coaches at Oregon State and Oregon. It just really came down to, ‘I’m going to play for Lincoln Riley,’ and it’s hard to say no to that.”

While Olsen plays receiver for the Pacers, his future lies back at his middle school position as a tight end in the mold of NFL All-Pro Mark Andrews, another former wideout who blossomed under Riley’s tutelage at Oklahoma. 

Phillips studied Riley’s offenses during his four-year coaching stint with the Eagles and believes Olsen fits perfectly into what Riley looks for at the position. 

“The way that Lincoln uses these offset hybrid tight ends — you don’t find many 6-5, 220-pound, 10.9 (seconds in the 100 meters) athletes that look like Joey,” Phillips said. “So, the way that Lincoln is going to be able to use him and the conversations I know they’ve had, he’s going to be a really key piece going forward in their success. So, I’m very excited for him.”