Observations from USC's 75-minute player-run practice Monday ...
7-on-7s:
11-on-11s:
About two dozen players stayed after the team period to either work on the JUGS machine or compete in 1-on-1s. After about 25 minutes, the group is reduced to Leon McQuay, JuJu, Marshall, Dom Davis, Tell, Darnold and Bowman, who each continue working for about 20 minutes.
Some highlights from the 1-on-1s:
7-on-7s:
- USC worked at a quicker tempo today compared to previous workouts.
- Cody Kessler completed three successive passes to Isaac Whitney, JuJu Smith and James Toland.
- Sam Darnold threw a nice deep ball to Jalen Greene, who beat Matt Lopes and Chris Hawkins on the play. The ball fell incomplete as Greene was interfered with by Hawkins. Later, Greene made a couple of nice moves on a pair of defensive backs after catching a short pass. I'm curious to know how the coaches see Greene's development. Sometimes he looks very green (sorry, had to do it) but other times he looks the part.
- Darnold threw another nice deep ball to Cyrus Hobbi down the sideline. Hobbi, for some reason, was uncovered on the play.
- Darnold also threw a pick-six to Lamar Dawson. He and Cam Smith need to have a friendly wager on who'll have more of these this fall.
- Whitney runs every route like the ball is coming his way but it rarely does. Perhaps something to note. He was targeted by walk-on Michael Bowman. The pass traveled much further sideways than forward but it was good to see Whitney cut the throw off by coming to the ball. The DB surely would have knocked it away had Whitney waited for it to get to him.
- Lopes got a lot of reps in this period.
11-on-11s:
- The offense opens with a draw to Jahleel Pinner that goes for a sizable gain. This becomes even more notable when just about every other run thereafter is stuffed.
- Kessler made a number of strong throws tonight. He had a nice ball over the middle to Steven Mitchell, who after the catch completely turned Jalen Jones around.
- Mitchell is good at finding pockets in the defense and Kessler is good at finding Mitchell.
- Kessler completes a long pass to Darreus Rogers. Kessler noticed the DB was not looking and not in position to really defend Rogers and alertly fired downfield.
- Kessler connected with Deontay Burnett, who beat John Plattenburg on the play.
- Kessler threw a quick slant to Whitney and Marshall dropped a fairly easy INT.
- Kessler goes back to Whitney, only he breaks in and Kessler throws out.
- A play later, Kessler is sacked by Don Hill (who zipped right past Banner). Another receiver notes that Whitney ran the wrong route on the play. Not a good stretch for him.
- Marvell Tell, who got a lot of work today, sniffed out a run from Dominic Davis. (Ykili Ross was present but merely a spectator.)
- Justin Davis caught a wheel route and then faked out Tell, drawing a small uproar from the players.
- Kessler completes a pass to Greene but Tell is right there.
- Darnold was sacked on back-to-back plays. The first one was a coverage sack. He's still adjusting to the speed of it all.
- Darnold was then intercepted by Malik Dorton -- he initially raised his hands to bat the ball but like a savvy NBA center corralled the ball while in the air.
- The first team O-line (from LT to RT): Falah, Mama, Tuerk, Rodgers, Banner
- The second team O-line: Hemsley, Brown, Falah at center, Austin, Edoga
- As usual, Toa Lobendahn and Viane Talamaivao are not here for Mondays. Same with Max Browne.
- The D-line was more active today.
- Greg Townsend had a sack.
- Cody Temple had a deflection.
- Chris Hawkins had a good read on a pass to Connor Spears on the perimeter.
- Dom Davis got a lot of reps and lined up all over the place, including out wide. He impressively ran a number of different routes too.
About two dozen players stayed after the team period to either work on the JUGS machine or compete in 1-on-1s. After about 25 minutes, the group is reduced to Leon McQuay, JuJu, Marshall, Dom Davis, Tell, Darnold and Bowman, who each continue working for about 20 minutes.
Some highlights from the 1-on-1s:
- Kevon Seymour had a nice deflection vs. JuJu.
- Marshall reads Greene perfectly and cuts him off for an incompletion.
- Kessler and JuJu miss each other with Jonathan Lockett in coverage. Afterward, Kessler tells JuJu, "You didn't even look at me once." Adoree' Jackson, who was a bystander on this day, asks Lockett, "Why didn't you open up?" (Jackson also said "it'll be a minute" before he participates. For those that don't know, a minute equates to an indefinite period that will span much longer than a minute.)
- Darreus runs off the field after appearing to dislocate a finger. It wasn't totally clear what exactly happened but he rushed into the locker room while holding his left hand.
- Burnett beat Marshall deep.
- Kessler and De'Quan Hampton demonstrated perfect timing on a seven-and-out pattern.
- Mitchell had a step on Kevon over the middle but can't hang on. (It's clear that all the DBs respect/fear Mitchell's speed.
- Hawkins records a deflection vs. JuJu on an underthrown ball from Ricky Town.
- Town throws a jump ball deep and Marshall beats out Burnett for the INT.
- Kessler looks for Whitney deep but Hawkins plays it well and distracts him just enough for the incompletion.
- Hampton beats McQuay and catches a long pass from Kessler.
- Kessler connects on another long throw, this time to Marshall vs. Marshall deep.
- Darnold throws a perfect ball to JuJu about 45 yards downfield.
- Hobbi makes an excellent one-handed catch against Reuben, who would have been called for interference on the play. Very good day for Hobbi.
- Hawkins reads Greene again for another deflection.
- Hampton and JuJu beat McQuay on consecutive plays. In McQuay's defense, he's helping the receivers by taking these reps. This isn't really the type of coverage he'll be in come fall.
- Marshall intercepts a long pass from Darnold to JuJu.
- Next time around, Marshall deflects it.
- Marshall, working on his leverage against throws to the back shoulder, picks off another pass while defending JuJu. Marshall was a monster today.
- Over the final stretch, Tell repeatedly lined up against the speedy Dom Davis. You can tell Tell is pretty instinctive (and tall). Davis possesses great coordination and looks very natural as a receiver.
