Highlights from our latest batch of interviews with the players and coaches ...
Adoree’ Jackson
--He didn’t plan to put his hand in the ground before his long punt return.
“I don’t know what I was thinking, I was just out there trying to score, that’s the only thing on my mind. I see everyone pursuing over the top, trying to cut me off, so I was just figuring, maybe there’s nobody backside, so I spun out of it and it worked.”
--The various moves he made following a bubble screen were motivated, in part, by Steven Mitchell Jr. scoring off the same play.
“I was trying to outdo Steven (Mitchell). That was amazing to me to see how fast he went, electrifying. Steven is a different type of guy and (I have) a lot of respect for him. Me and him just try to outdo each other out there.”
--He doesn’t premeditate his moves.
“Never think, just instinct. If you think too much, something bad might happen. So you just go out there and play.”
--It’s debatable who is faster between him and Mitchell
“Of course, I’m going to say me, but Steven, I don’t know, like I said before, he’s a different type of guy. You never know what you’re going to get out of Steven. He’s a great, quick twitch type (of) guy that can make moves. I respect him.”
--Generating a pass rush vs. Arizona State greatly helped the USC secondary.
“As a defensive back, you need that pressure so you don’t have to cover that long. Because, you know, (Mike) Bercovici can get out and run and then find his way, like Cody (Kessler) was doing. So, it’s a lot of credit to our D-linemen and everyone else that was rushing on the quarterback.”
--He felt humbled to hear Su’a Cravens say he should be on everyone’s Heisman list.
“That’s a blessing that people think I should be on their Heisman list and I’m honored. But I mean, I still have a lot to improve. This is just one game for me. So if you put me on your Heisman list, that’s cool, but for me, I have to keep improving and getting better.”
--He wasn’t feeling anxious about not being more involved on offense prior to the ASU game.
“I was just being patient. Everyone on the sideline was like, that’s the 2 we know. But for me, I was just being patient with everything. I know God has a plan for me, so when I wasn’t scoring or doing what I had to do offensively with the ball in my hands, I knew something bigger was going to be in store for me. It just happened to be (that day).”
Darreus Rogers
--The offensive impact of Adoree’ Jackson is obvious to his teammates.
“You gotta let him touch it. I mean, he scored our first touchdown and he doesn’t even start on offense. That’s telling you something right there, man. The kid’s something special. Any chance you get to watch him, watch him.”
--The defense can build off its last performance.
“Coach Sark was talking about the defense needs takeaways, showing us old clips of ‘SC. And now he says we need to show tape of ourselves. Now we have tape of ourselves getting the same takeaways.”
Steven Mitchell Jr.
--One of the reasons USC is 5-0 coming off a loss under Steve Sarkisian is the team is united.
“We’re a family. We’re a family before we’re a team. We talk about that every day, throughout the locker room. So when we come together after a loss we play even better. Everyone’s looking at us like the world ended. We overcome adversity. We love playing for our head coach.”
--They hear what everyone outside the program is saying about Sarkisian and the team.
“It fires us up. All that outside talk, that gives us energy. That gives us drive to go out here and prove them wrong. We love it.”
--There are two keys to maintaining their edge:
“We got to keep up the (intense) practices and staying in the books. That’s got to stay right on point.”
--USC came into the ASU game with a more aggressive mindset on offense.
“That was definitely a plan of ours. We finally wanted to let all of our guys loose. I feel like we did a good job doing that. The talk that we had on the bus and then in the hotel, we couldn’t let off the gas. That was the main topic. We couldn’t let off the gas. We knew we were going to come in here and take shots and that’s what we did. We kept on the gas. That Stanford game, we didn’t play up to our potential. That was a fluke for us. We just have so many weapons, it’s crazy. We have so many weapons that we know we can play this way every week.”
Johnny Nansen
--Soma Vainuku is invaluable on special teams.
“We keep preaching to our kids: special teams is the heart of our team. And I think he’s kind of taken over that. Everything starts with special teams, we set the tone and I think Soma has taken over that role. I think that’s the frame of mind, he’s always ready to play when opportunity is given. You’re going to see him play more at fullback, too.”
--Experience has been the key to better coverage units.
“You got to give us a chance to install. You can’t just have kids run down. Last year we had a lot of guys who are young and still trying to get the concept. And I think overall the unit has improved… and I think a lot of that has to do with the kicker too and the ball placement and things like that.”
--He believes some of USC’s shortcomings in the run game last week were circumstantial while others can be corrected.
“It was a hard game to run because they blitz every down. I think that was their deal. They do a good job of studying what our strengths and weaknesses are and they tried to live up to it. There were times when we had our running game going and it was called back by penalty. It’s a rhythm thing more than anything. Is it a concern? No. That’s why we’re here getting better and I think our kids, they understand that we’re challenging them every single day. The running game has to be improved from the front end to the back end.
“And we have to do a better job of running the ball too. I think they just need to be more patient and the time will come where, when our chance is there, we need to take advantage of it. When there’s a run there, sometimes I think we don’t stay on our course and we try to shorten it because the play before was there. They just got to believe in their tracks and where the ball is going. And eventually sooner or later, it’s going to pop.”
Adoree’ Jackson
--He didn’t plan to put his hand in the ground before his long punt return.
“I don’t know what I was thinking, I was just out there trying to score, that’s the only thing on my mind. I see everyone pursuing over the top, trying to cut me off, so I was just figuring, maybe there’s nobody backside, so I spun out of it and it worked.”
--The various moves he made following a bubble screen were motivated, in part, by Steven Mitchell Jr. scoring off the same play.
“I was trying to outdo Steven (Mitchell). That was amazing to me to see how fast he went, electrifying. Steven is a different type of guy and (I have) a lot of respect for him. Me and him just try to outdo each other out there.”
--He doesn’t premeditate his moves.
“Never think, just instinct. If you think too much, something bad might happen. So you just go out there and play.”
--It’s debatable who is faster between him and Mitchell
“Of course, I’m going to say me, but Steven, I don’t know, like I said before, he’s a different type of guy. You never know what you’re going to get out of Steven. He’s a great, quick twitch type (of) guy that can make moves. I respect him.”
--Generating a pass rush vs. Arizona State greatly helped the USC secondary.
“As a defensive back, you need that pressure so you don’t have to cover that long. Because, you know, (Mike) Bercovici can get out and run and then find his way, like Cody (Kessler) was doing. So, it’s a lot of credit to our D-linemen and everyone else that was rushing on the quarterback.”
--He felt humbled to hear Su’a Cravens say he should be on everyone’s Heisman list.
“That’s a blessing that people think I should be on their Heisman list and I’m honored. But I mean, I still have a lot to improve. This is just one game for me. So if you put me on your Heisman list, that’s cool, but for me, I have to keep improving and getting better.”
--He wasn’t feeling anxious about not being more involved on offense prior to the ASU game.
“I was just being patient. Everyone on the sideline was like, that’s the 2 we know. But for me, I was just being patient with everything. I know God has a plan for me, so when I wasn’t scoring or doing what I had to do offensively with the ball in my hands, I knew something bigger was going to be in store for me. It just happened to be (that day).”
Darreus Rogers
--The offensive impact of Adoree’ Jackson is obvious to his teammates.
“You gotta let him touch it. I mean, he scored our first touchdown and he doesn’t even start on offense. That’s telling you something right there, man. The kid’s something special. Any chance you get to watch him, watch him.”
--The defense can build off its last performance.
“Coach Sark was talking about the defense needs takeaways, showing us old clips of ‘SC. And now he says we need to show tape of ourselves. Now we have tape of ourselves getting the same takeaways.”
Steven Mitchell Jr.
--One of the reasons USC is 5-0 coming off a loss under Steve Sarkisian is the team is united.
“We’re a family. We’re a family before we’re a team. We talk about that every day, throughout the locker room. So when we come together after a loss we play even better. Everyone’s looking at us like the world ended. We overcome adversity. We love playing for our head coach.”
--They hear what everyone outside the program is saying about Sarkisian and the team.
“It fires us up. All that outside talk, that gives us energy. That gives us drive to go out here and prove them wrong. We love it.”
--There are two keys to maintaining their edge:
“We got to keep up the (intense) practices and staying in the books. That’s got to stay right on point.”
--USC came into the ASU game with a more aggressive mindset on offense.
“That was definitely a plan of ours. We finally wanted to let all of our guys loose. I feel like we did a good job doing that. The talk that we had on the bus and then in the hotel, we couldn’t let off the gas. That was the main topic. We couldn’t let off the gas. We knew we were going to come in here and take shots and that’s what we did. We kept on the gas. That Stanford game, we didn’t play up to our potential. That was a fluke for us. We just have so many weapons, it’s crazy. We have so many weapons that we know we can play this way every week.”
Johnny Nansen
--Soma Vainuku is invaluable on special teams.
“We keep preaching to our kids: special teams is the heart of our team. And I think he’s kind of taken over that. Everything starts with special teams, we set the tone and I think Soma has taken over that role. I think that’s the frame of mind, he’s always ready to play when opportunity is given. You’re going to see him play more at fullback, too.”
--Experience has been the key to better coverage units.
“You got to give us a chance to install. You can’t just have kids run down. Last year we had a lot of guys who are young and still trying to get the concept. And I think overall the unit has improved… and I think a lot of that has to do with the kicker too and the ball placement and things like that.”
--He believes some of USC’s shortcomings in the run game last week were circumstantial while others can be corrected.
“It was a hard game to run because they blitz every down. I think that was their deal. They do a good job of studying what our strengths and weaknesses are and they tried to live up to it. There were times when we had our running game going and it was called back by penalty. It’s a rhythm thing more than anything. Is it a concern? No. That’s why we’re here getting better and I think our kids, they understand that we’re challenging them every single day. The running game has to be improved from the front end to the back end.
“And we have to do a better job of running the ball too. I think they just need to be more patient and the time will come where, when our chance is there, we need to take advantage of it. When there’s a run there, sometimes I think we don’t stay on our course and we try to shorten it because the play before was there. They just got to believe in their tracks and where the ball is going. And eventually sooner or later, it’s going to pop.”
