Makai Lemon is relentlessly focused on helping USC reach the CFP

The exercise is simple. This is just a basic throwing and catching warm-up called the Pat-and-Go, which USC and many other football programs are released almost every day. Defensive backs relax their arms and pass catchers warm up their feet by running routes in the air. This is the kind of exercise where it's easy enough to throw out a rep or two. Or something a little more casual, like playing catch in the yard.

But when Snake live line up during Pat-and-Go, there's nothing random about what happens next. Every rep is taken seriously, every move is taken with intention. The junior completed thousands of those reps, caught thousands of those passes during his three seasons at USC, each stored as a data point Lemon could later access.

'I don't know if I've ever seen him miss a play,' USC coach Lincoln Riley speaks. “Rarely does he ever make an unintentional reputation.”

It's a good snapshot of the Trojans' top receiver that reflects more than just his skill as a football player. Every action with Lemon is thought out, every detail is taken into account. That singular focus made him the most reliable receiver in college football and, in April, a sure first-round NFL draft pick, while somehow maintaining a remarkably low-key reputation for a pass catcher of his caliber.

The truth is that Lemon, a natural introvert, prefers this approach. Head down, eyes forward, mind focused primarily on leading USC to the College Football Playoff before making the leap to the NFL, and every move along the way was meant to help achieve that goal. Over time, the work will speak for itself.

Those who know him best will tell you that Lemon has always acted this way. His family claims that even before he learned to play football, his attention span was unusually exceptional. For example, when he became interested in skateboarding at age 3, his parents didn't expect their little one to do tricks until his next birthday.

“He always amazed us,” said his mother, Brandi Lemon. “It's like, 'Oh my God, there's no way our three-year-old can do kickflips and ollies right now.'

Makai approached most of his interests with the same intensity as a child. One day, at age 6, he decided he was going to catch a fish, even though he had never done it. He wanted to do it completely on his own, without the help of his father Mike. So Mike watched with pleasure as Makai cast his line.

He didn't believe it when Makai said he was bitten.

“But he reeled it in and caught it and did it all himself,” Mike recalls. “And I was like, 'Oh my God, you caught your first fish, son.'

Lemon preferred independence. After all, he was the child of the family. His sister was five years older. His younger cousins ​​will be born later. He spent much of his early childhood among adults, playing football with his uncles or trying to keep up with his father by lifting weights. His family called him an “old soul” because he often acted older than his age. At USC, at least one football staffer simply calls him “the old man.”

“It comes from having a lot of family members around, a lot of older aunts and uncles,” Lemon said. “I feel like it's stuck with me.”

Young Makai expected other children to be held to the same standards. One day, after a youth baseball game, he confided in his mom that he was disappointed that his teammates didn't take their coach's postgame comments as seriously as he did.

He was 7.

“He was angry that he was the only one paying attention,” Brandi Lemon said. “He’s like, ‘Mom, in the dugout all the kids are climbing the fence. Nobody cares.”

“And I was like, 'Son, you're only 7. It's okay!' They are still learning.” But he was not satisfied.”

In high school, he focused on football, leaving most other interests aside. His parents still wonder if he ever watched a full movie because his mind was always on football.

“Nothing brought joy, passion and physical strength like football,” Makai explains.

Sometimes they would find him in the backyard, practicing his routes alone. And the older he got, the more serious he became.

As a freshman at La Mirada High, Lemon made an impact on both sides of the ball as a receiver and defensive back. Then, as a sophomore, he immediately began filling a similar dual role at Los Alamitos, a much larger high school where coach Ray Fenton wondered if Lemon could be a carbon copy of another USC wide receiver, Amon-ar St. Brown.

“The reaction time, the way he can change direction, the speed at which he accelerates is different,” Fenton said. “A lot of great athletes can be explosive when they run, and you see them explode, but [Lemon’s] the ability to stop and start or change direction laterally, it's like watching him in fast forward while you see the game in real time.”

Often, Fenton said, Los Alamitos would simply throw the ball to him on the perimeter and let him do the rest. Lemon could slip past tacklers with his speed or burst through them with equal ease. It didn't matter that the defense knew he was coming.

USC saw his potential early, having offered Lemon back in March 2020 under previous coach Clay Helton. But most of all, Lemon hit it off with Riley, who was in Oklahoma. At the time, Lemon said he knew on the way home that he would be joining the Sooners.

The fact that Riley later took a job at the University of Southern California only made the coincidence even more fortuitous.

As a freshman, I didn't always feel this way. Buried in the receiver pecking order, coaches asked Lemon to move to cornerback to provide depth. He obeyed, focusing all his attention on becoming the best defender, but he had no interest in staying there for long.

Lemon assured that there was nothing to worry about. Despite entering the following season with the least expectations among USC's quartet of sophomores, by mid-October he had become the most reliable player in the Trojans' passing attack.

The two most touted receivers of the four, Duce Robinson and Zachariah Branch, left in the offseason to pursue other opportunities. For a while, it was unclear whether Ja'Coby Lane would follow them.

But Lemon's future at USC was never in doubt. His parents had drilled into his head long before this that the grass wasn't always greener. The reasons he first trusted Riley in 2021 still apply. He was not interested in starting a bidding war with USC or pursuing a larger name, image and likeness deal elsewhere, even though those offers would be readily available.

“I wanted to be here,” Lemon said. “My family is right down the street. I'm most comfortable here. I relied on my abilities. I knew the circumstances that awaited me. When the opportunity presented itself, I tried to take full advantage of it.”

To say that Lemon lived up to these expectations would be an understatement.

Through seven games this season, he is averaging 97 receiving yards, a pace per game that trails Michael Pittman Jr. among Trojan receivers over the last decade.

Pro Football Focus rated Lemon as the top-ranked receiver in the Big Ten this season, and draft analysts have taken notice, almost always placing him somewhere in the first round of early mock drafts. One clip of his acrobatic touchdown in traffic, USC's win over Michigan, should explain his rise.

But in Lemon's opinion, when USC faces Northwestern on Friday night, none of that has changed anything. His eyes remain forward, his attention still focused on the same horizon, even as the NFL dream he's long dreamed of draws closer.

“He was the same guy the whole time,” Riley said. “He just stays extremely focused. That's why he developed into the player that did it.”