USC held a player-run practice this evening. It lacked some of the energy of recent ones, perhaps because two quarterbacks and several other key players were missing. Jack Sears was out because of school. J.T. Daniels attended but I was told he was not allowed to participate because he missed the team run this morning.
Other offensive players who didn't participate: TBs Aca'Cedric Ware and Stephen Carr, WR Randal Grimes, TEs Tyler Petite, Daniel Imatorbhebhe, Josh Falo and Erik Krommenhoek, and O-linemen Chuma Edoga, Austin Jackson and Andrew Vorhees.
The absences on the O-line allowed for Clayton Johnston (LT), Alijah Vera-Tucker (RG) and Jalen McKenzie (RT) to assume most if not all the first-team reps. Also, I thought I saw Carr do individuals last week but it was actually walk-on Ben Easington. My apologies. As I've noted before, we're pretty far removed and a few of us thought it was Carr in the backfield getting a couple reps.
Matt Fink got a ton of work today, as you might imagine. It's very easy to see how he's grown into a team leader. This remains a pretty young offensive group (beyond the O-line) and Fink seems to assume a good deal of responsibility with these workouts. As for his play, I thought it was just OK. He completed a deep ball to Tyler Vaughns that exhibited nice touch. But he was late on some throws, and he was unable to identify open receivers downfield on others. He also didn't get the ball out during a 7-on-7 rep, which is something we've seen before. He was better in 11-on-11, as he connected on three successive throws to Vaughns. Fink later threw a nice ball to Vaughns on the perimeter that Vaughns tried to corral with one hand and dropped. He'd like to have that one back.
We saw freshman safeties Isaiah Pola-Mao and Talanoa Hufanga paired up in the backfield. They struggled a bit, however, allowing consecutive completions in the deep middle. It came moments after Ykili Ross, who's demonstrated a strong handle on his assignments, broke up a deep pass over the middle.
Josh Imatorbhebhe had a handful of receptions in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11. It was good to see him get the little things right. We all know he's a dynamic athlete but sometimes he's struggled to execute the routine. I thought he had a great workout.
Devon Williams looks to be settling in. With the new rule allowing freshmen to play four games without burning their redshirt, I'd expect maybe all of the newcomers to play at some point. I bring this up because Williams is a raw talent who might be better served redshirting this season. But it's good for the kids that they at least have an opportunity to see the field their first year. And perhaps Williams will blossom later in the season. He really is a unique specimen. The one play that stood out to me wasn't even a completion. Walk-on QB Holden Thomas was under pressure and basically threw it toward the sideline in Williams' direction. It was an uncatchable pass, well out of his reach, but Williams made a play for it anyway and appeared to get his fingertips on it. I imagine QB's love seeing that long, tall frame when they scan the field. And he moves really well for being as tall as he is. He closed out the 7-on-7 period with a great catch over the middle in traffic.
The top performer of the day was likely Amon-Ra St. Brown, who looks like he's one of the three best receivers on the team. I don't know if that's a hot take, and I'm not trying to offer one. His talent just jumps out at you. He's particularly good at creating separation and finding crevices in the defense, and he appears comfortable running just about any type of route. His hands have been great thus far, and his speed really stands out among this group. No wonder he was the most targeted receiver today.
Something that we saw today that I don't recall seeing in some time: four-receiver sets. It makes sense given the potential depth at the position. It's also never a bad idea to throw out a different look for the defense. We'll store this away for another day.
After the workout, Fink and a few of the receivers stayed around for some extra work and Vaughns could be seen tutoring Williams on his route-running. Good stuff.
