Here were Clay Helton's comments on Trojans Live about the recruiting class, Todd Orlando, staff hires and the OL:
On TE Jack Yary ...
"We're really excited about Jack. To be a 6-foot-6, 245-pound tight end that runs like a deer, he's that new breed of tight end that's able to flex out. Kind of like [Travis] Kelce with the Chiefs, to be able to run routes and then attach himself and be a physical blocker at the line of scrimmage. He's one of those guys that you look up and you go, 'Wow, what a special talent.' In a class where we didn't have a lot of scholarships, this was one we couldn't pass up on. We knew he was a talent that could help us."
On what was accomplished ...
"Again, it was a smaller class. … Part of the recruiting process was keeping four of the five NFL evals here and keeping that team structure. But when we went into it we knew we were going to sign about 13 kids, and we knew that we had to be committed to big men and it started on the offensive line. Three years ago we signed a group of offensive tackles and they were all tackles, when you had Alijah Vera-Tucker, Austin Jackson, Andrew Vorhees, Jalen McKenzie. And we took that format that we were going to sign high school offensive tackles and put them across the line, and that's what we did this year. We went ahead and we signed six high school offensive tackles that are ultra-talented, all long 6-5, 6-7 [guys] that are extremely athletic. Have size and athleticism. And then the next thing we said was we've got to help our defensive front and we went out and signed three defensive linemen in Jamar Sekona, Kobe Pepe and Tuli. When you commit 9 of your 13 to the offensive and defensive front, it may not be the sexiest class when you sign big men, but it's what wins championships."
On Gary Bryant Jr. ...
"There's fast and then there's Gary. You're talking about elite speed. We knew that when we were going to lose Michael Pittman and possibly Tyler Vaughns to the NFL Draft, we needed to be able to garner explosiveness. Because both those two young men had it. We had the opportunity to sign Josh Jackson, who brings elite speed, explosiveness and then go get Gary also. Both men when we watched them, not only in camp but their junior and senior years, when they matched up one-on-one it was over. If they ever got man coverage, they were elite at beating their defender. So the other thing we really liked about Gary also was his returning skills, both as a punt returner and as a kick returner. He comes from an unbelievable program at Centennial High School with coach [Matt] Logan, and it was just one of those guys we were so excited to bring onto our team."
On Todd Orlando's style and what he brings to the defense ...
"High energy, discipline, toughness, every day. I have not seen the man have a bad day yet. He comes to work with guns a'blazing and has been down in that weight room with our kids, has been already able to build relationships. You watch him as a recruiter, he's off the charts. And then you talk about as a coach, as a defensive coordinator, three of the most frustrating days I've ever had in my life, one was when he was the defensive coordinator at Utah State in 2010 when we won a 19-17 game against them and then the two games against Texas. I never forget talking to Sam after that Texas game in double overtime and him going, 'Wow, coach, that was a frustrating day.' They were coming from everywhere, different coaches, jumping out of odd, back into four-down. It was hard on everybody. It was simple for their defense, but it's hard on offenses. Two years ago it would have been hard to get Todd Orlando, and now he's been such a great defensive coordinator for 15 years, he had some injuries, Texas made a change and I was like, 'Wow, there's one of the best defensive coordinators in the country, and we've got the opportunity to garner him and be a part of this."
On where will he make the biggest impact ...
"I think it starts with the mental aspect, even what he's done in his first two weeks here, his first 13 days. He has been amazing from the accountability phase, the discipline phase from our defense, brining a 'we have no bad day' mentality. And then when you look at what he does scheme wise, it is a little bit different than we've done in years past. We do have the availability to be a four-down team but we can jump into odd, and then his blitzes just come from everywhere. I'm really excited to get to spring and watch him be around these guys and be able to do his thing."
On timetable for filling out the staff ...
"We're working right now. We've got two coaches left to hire. We brought Coach Naivar in to coach our safeties, we've got a corners coach that we will hire here soon and then obviously we will hire a special teams coordinator … and we will also finalize, he's working on looking at the defensive line position. And it should be within about a two week period of time."
On the offensive line depth chart and filling voids ...
"We won't reach, but we last year we found a unique opportunity in Drew Richmond and we'll see if that opportunity is available again. We hope that our young talent that we've signed can help us right off the bat and provide some opportunities there, plus we do have a lot of men coming back. You look at Andrew Vorhees coming back out of this class, you look at the opportunity for a Jalen McKenzie to keep on growing. So there's some guys here who are ready for the next step, and we've got some youth coming in, and we did save two scholarships. That was part of our plan was to have two bullets to be able to use at the end of spring if needed. Last year in the month of May we picked up Bru McCoy, Chris Steele and Drew Richmond, so we did not want to not have that availability to be able to sign somebody."
On TE Jack Yary ...
"We're really excited about Jack. To be a 6-foot-6, 245-pound tight end that runs like a deer, he's that new breed of tight end that's able to flex out. Kind of like [Travis] Kelce with the Chiefs, to be able to run routes and then attach himself and be a physical blocker at the line of scrimmage. He's one of those guys that you look up and you go, 'Wow, what a special talent.' In a class where we didn't have a lot of scholarships, this was one we couldn't pass up on. We knew he was a talent that could help us."
On what was accomplished ...
"Again, it was a smaller class. … Part of the recruiting process was keeping four of the five NFL evals here and keeping that team structure. But when we went into it we knew we were going to sign about 13 kids, and we knew that we had to be committed to big men and it started on the offensive line. Three years ago we signed a group of offensive tackles and they were all tackles, when you had Alijah Vera-Tucker, Austin Jackson, Andrew Vorhees, Jalen McKenzie. And we took that format that we were going to sign high school offensive tackles and put them across the line, and that's what we did this year. We went ahead and we signed six high school offensive tackles that are ultra-talented, all long 6-5, 6-7 [guys] that are extremely athletic. Have size and athleticism. And then the next thing we said was we've got to help our defensive front and we went out and signed three defensive linemen in Jamar Sekona, Kobe Pepe and Tuli. When you commit 9 of your 13 to the offensive and defensive front, it may not be the sexiest class when you sign big men, but it's what wins championships."
On Gary Bryant Jr. ...
"There's fast and then there's Gary. You're talking about elite speed. We knew that when we were going to lose Michael Pittman and possibly Tyler Vaughns to the NFL Draft, we needed to be able to garner explosiveness. Because both those two young men had it. We had the opportunity to sign Josh Jackson, who brings elite speed, explosiveness and then go get Gary also. Both men when we watched them, not only in camp but their junior and senior years, when they matched up one-on-one it was over. If they ever got man coverage, they were elite at beating their defender. So the other thing we really liked about Gary also was his returning skills, both as a punt returner and as a kick returner. He comes from an unbelievable program at Centennial High School with coach [Matt] Logan, and it was just one of those guys we were so excited to bring onto our team."
On Todd Orlando's style and what he brings to the defense ...
"High energy, discipline, toughness, every day. I have not seen the man have a bad day yet. He comes to work with guns a'blazing and has been down in that weight room with our kids, has been already able to build relationships. You watch him as a recruiter, he's off the charts. And then you talk about as a coach, as a defensive coordinator, three of the most frustrating days I've ever had in my life, one was when he was the defensive coordinator at Utah State in 2010 when we won a 19-17 game against them and then the two games against Texas. I never forget talking to Sam after that Texas game in double overtime and him going, 'Wow, coach, that was a frustrating day.' They were coming from everywhere, different coaches, jumping out of odd, back into four-down. It was hard on everybody. It was simple for their defense, but it's hard on offenses. Two years ago it would have been hard to get Todd Orlando, and now he's been such a great defensive coordinator for 15 years, he had some injuries, Texas made a change and I was like, 'Wow, there's one of the best defensive coordinators in the country, and we've got the opportunity to garner him and be a part of this."
On where will he make the biggest impact ...
"I think it starts with the mental aspect, even what he's done in his first two weeks here, his first 13 days. He has been amazing from the accountability phase, the discipline phase from our defense, brining a 'we have no bad day' mentality. And then when you look at what he does scheme wise, it is a little bit different than we've done in years past. We do have the availability to be a four-down team but we can jump into odd, and then his blitzes just come from everywhere. I'm really excited to get to spring and watch him be around these guys and be able to do his thing."
On timetable for filling out the staff ...
"We're working right now. We've got two coaches left to hire. We brought Coach Naivar in to coach our safeties, we've got a corners coach that we will hire here soon and then obviously we will hire a special teams coordinator … and we will also finalize, he's working on looking at the defensive line position. And it should be within about a two week period of time."
On the offensive line depth chart and filling voids ...
"We won't reach, but we last year we found a unique opportunity in Drew Richmond and we'll see if that opportunity is available again. We hope that our young talent that we've signed can help us right off the bat and provide some opportunities there, plus we do have a lot of men coming back. You look at Andrew Vorhees coming back out of this class, you look at the opportunity for a Jalen McKenzie to keep on growing. So there's some guys here who are ready for the next step, and we've got some youth coming in, and we did save two scholarships. That was part of our plan was to have two bullets to be able to use at the end of spring if needed. Last year in the month of May we picked up Bru McCoy, Chris Steele and Drew Richmond, so we did not want to not have that availability to be able to sign somebody."
