News and notes from Tuesday's practice, the first of the spring:
It's fair to say practice was different today, and the plan is for that to continue moving forward. The buzzword used to describe OC Graham Harrell's offense was "simple." Several players spoke about how things are less complicated, from design to verbiage. (Amon-Ra St. Brown said the typical play call has been cut from about seven words to three.) USC also worked at a faster tempo, whether it was team periods or between stations.
Harrell, interestingly, spent a lot of the practice observing from above the baseball bleachers and calling plays from there through his headset.
Clay Helton said he directed DC Clancy Pendergast to simplify the defensive system, "to allow our kids to play faster, make sure that our personnel is in the right place to provide bigger fronts."
Helton's hope in doing this is the players will be able to focus more on the fundamentals and techniques of the game than they have been. He reiterated that playing with more discipline is a big point of emphasis this spring. Referees were on hand Tuesday and they're scheduled to be out here for all 15 practices. Players that draw a penalty will be pulled from the drill.
"I think we're as talented as anybody we'll play next year, at least equivalent, if not better," Helton said, adding that games were lost because of the issues noted above. "We've learned from our past and now it's time to focus on our future."
In hopes of fostering more competition, depth charts during the season will now be released Friday after the week of practice, rather than on Sunday before the practice week has begun.
"I don't want any player on this football team to feel comfortable with his position," Helton said. "He's always fighting for a job, he's always competing for a job. ... Every Friday whoever's playing best at that moment will step out there first on Saturdays. ... I just want the kids to feel like, hey, practice matters and competition matters."
I asked if he had a definitive timetable for naming a starting quarterback and he said he will sit down with every player after spring and show them where they would be on the depth chart if there was a game at that time.
"Does that mean it could change? Yeah, it could change," Helton said. "Remember what I said, the depth chart will be released on a Friday (in season) at all positions. I am going to provide clarity to those quarterbacks of where they stand at the end of spring ball. I think that's fair to them. But I don't want anybody comfortable. At the end of the day, there's a long time between when we get done with spring ball and the time we start [the season]."
The four quarterbacks split reps pretty evenly on Day 1, including those with the first team.
Michael Pittman indicated that teammates are trying to talk WR Velus Jones, who has left the team and entered the transfer portal, into returning. Helton said if the status changed for either Jones or Greg Johnson, who took similar action last week, he'd communicate that to us. My feeling is if they're not practicing when USC returns from spring break two weeks from today, they're not going to play for USC in 2019.
One glaring issue is a lack of available players in the defensive backfield, and it might not change this spring. CB Olaijah Griffin, who underwent shoulder surgery in November, will be out for all of spring practice. Safeties Isaiah Pola-Mao and Talanoa Hufanga, both of whom are working their way back from season-ending injuries, will be limited to non-contact. Freshman CB Max Williams did partake in a few drills while sporting a big brace on his knee. He will be extremely limited this spring.
I've learned safety C.J. Pollard is out for spring after suffering a broken foot last week.
"The hard days will be the full-pad days," Helton said. "We'll have to really monitor both the reps, we want the physicality of it, but we are shorthanded back there. The full-pad days are where we're going to have to be very selective, maybe even stop practice for a second, let them catch their breath, and then go right back in."
Walk-on quarterback Brandon Perdue worked with the second team at cornerback, while walk-on safety Jordan McMillan was a fixture with the second team. Raymond Scott, who was at inside linebacker last year, also spent the day at safety. He broke up a pass in the final team period but is clearly trying to get situated in the secondary. The plan is for him to remain there at least through spring.
CB Dominic Davis and DE Caleb Tremblay did not practice Tuesday.
Helton confirmed that he has hired Aaron Ausmus as the strength coach, noting that Ausmus is still in the process of assembling a staff.
"Aaron has won a national championship here with Coach [Pete] Carroll here in 2003," Helton said. "I've watched him lead two SEC programs. I've watched him take a 2010 team when he came back to USC and in a year create basically one of the better teams in college football, with the 2011 football team."
WR Keyshawn Young is no longer on the roster. As I’ve reported previously, he is planning to transfer but has not entered the transfer portal because he’s academically ineligible.
Helton offered his condolences to the family of Garry Paskwietz before beginning today's presser.
***
With the QBs rotating heavily, here's who received the bulk of first-team reps elsewhere (as best as I could tell):
OL (from left to right): Austin Jackson, Alijah Vera-Tucker, Brett Neilon, Andrew Vorhees, Jalen McKenzie
RB: Vavae Malepeai ... (Stephen Carr appeared to get much less work. He also looked leaner.)
TE: Josh Falo
WR: Pittman, Tyler Vaughns, St. Brown
DL: Christian Rector, Marlon Tuipulotu, Jay Tufele
OLB: Connor Murphy/Eli'jah Winston/Hunter Echols
ILB: John Houston, Palaie Gaoteote
S: Hufanga, Pola-Mao
CB: Briton Allen, Isaac Taylor-Stuart, Chase Williams
Second-team:
OL: Clayton Bradley, Jacob Daniel, Justin Dedich, Liam Douglass, Liam Jimmons
DL: Brandon Pili, Jacob Lichtenstein, Nick Figueroa
OLB: Abdul-Malik McClain/Drake Jackson
ILB: Jordan Iosefa, Kana'i Mauga/Juliano Falaniko/Solomon Tuliaupupu
Players who stood out (again, this is merely Day 1):
Chase Williams -- He's the primary nickel in this depleted secondary and nearly picked off JT Daniels. He has a good nose for the ball.
Briton Allen -- This was my first time seeing him up close and I liked how aggressive and competitive he is. Showed confidence, which isn't always the case with out-of-towners.
Solomon Tuliaupupu -- This was his first practice as a Trojan. He had a nice pass break-up and was moving well.
Drake Jackson -- He had a tackle for loss (on Matt Fink) and showed nice lateral movement for someone his size. He lined up in multiple spots, as he said he could.
The O-line -- It wasn't tested today like it will need to be in coming practices. But it's a physically impressive group. The two tackles and guards basically average out to 6-foot-5, 310 pounds. I plan to check in with them soon to see how they're adjusting to the Air Raid.
Pittman and Vaughns: They had their way with the DBs, which will likely be the case all spring.
Finally, Hufanga, who will be a captain on this team soon enough, had an interesting response when asked about losing so many players this offseason:
"It’s definitely different with the transfer portal. I think the transfer portal came into play and a lot of guys tried to use their way out and tried to find a new spot. But we want guys who want to be here. And whoever’s here we have to use and we have to utilize."
USC will return to the practice field Thursday.
It's fair to say practice was different today, and the plan is for that to continue moving forward. The buzzword used to describe OC Graham Harrell's offense was "simple." Several players spoke about how things are less complicated, from design to verbiage. (Amon-Ra St. Brown said the typical play call has been cut from about seven words to three.) USC also worked at a faster tempo, whether it was team periods or between stations.
Harrell, interestingly, spent a lot of the practice observing from above the baseball bleachers and calling plays from there through his headset.
Clay Helton said he directed DC Clancy Pendergast to simplify the defensive system, "to allow our kids to play faster, make sure that our personnel is in the right place to provide bigger fronts."
Helton's hope in doing this is the players will be able to focus more on the fundamentals and techniques of the game than they have been. He reiterated that playing with more discipline is a big point of emphasis this spring. Referees were on hand Tuesday and they're scheduled to be out here for all 15 practices. Players that draw a penalty will be pulled from the drill.
"I think we're as talented as anybody we'll play next year, at least equivalent, if not better," Helton said, adding that games were lost because of the issues noted above. "We've learned from our past and now it's time to focus on our future."
In hopes of fostering more competition, depth charts during the season will now be released Friday after the week of practice, rather than on Sunday before the practice week has begun.
"I don't want any player on this football team to feel comfortable with his position," Helton said. "He's always fighting for a job, he's always competing for a job. ... Every Friday whoever's playing best at that moment will step out there first on Saturdays. ... I just want the kids to feel like, hey, practice matters and competition matters."
I asked if he had a definitive timetable for naming a starting quarterback and he said he will sit down with every player after spring and show them where they would be on the depth chart if there was a game at that time.
"Does that mean it could change? Yeah, it could change," Helton said. "Remember what I said, the depth chart will be released on a Friday (in season) at all positions. I am going to provide clarity to those quarterbacks of where they stand at the end of spring ball. I think that's fair to them. But I don't want anybody comfortable. At the end of the day, there's a long time between when we get done with spring ball and the time we start [the season]."
The four quarterbacks split reps pretty evenly on Day 1, including those with the first team.
Michael Pittman indicated that teammates are trying to talk WR Velus Jones, who has left the team and entered the transfer portal, into returning. Helton said if the status changed for either Jones or Greg Johnson, who took similar action last week, he'd communicate that to us. My feeling is if they're not practicing when USC returns from spring break two weeks from today, they're not going to play for USC in 2019.
One glaring issue is a lack of available players in the defensive backfield, and it might not change this spring. CB Olaijah Griffin, who underwent shoulder surgery in November, will be out for all of spring practice. Safeties Isaiah Pola-Mao and Talanoa Hufanga, both of whom are working their way back from season-ending injuries, will be limited to non-contact. Freshman CB Max Williams did partake in a few drills while sporting a big brace on his knee. He will be extremely limited this spring.
I've learned safety C.J. Pollard is out for spring after suffering a broken foot last week.
"The hard days will be the full-pad days," Helton said. "We'll have to really monitor both the reps, we want the physicality of it, but we are shorthanded back there. The full-pad days are where we're going to have to be very selective, maybe even stop practice for a second, let them catch their breath, and then go right back in."
Walk-on quarterback Brandon Perdue worked with the second team at cornerback, while walk-on safety Jordan McMillan was a fixture with the second team. Raymond Scott, who was at inside linebacker last year, also spent the day at safety. He broke up a pass in the final team period but is clearly trying to get situated in the secondary. The plan is for him to remain there at least through spring.
CB Dominic Davis and DE Caleb Tremblay did not practice Tuesday.
Helton confirmed that he has hired Aaron Ausmus as the strength coach, noting that Ausmus is still in the process of assembling a staff.
"Aaron has won a national championship here with Coach [Pete] Carroll here in 2003," Helton said. "I've watched him lead two SEC programs. I've watched him take a 2010 team when he came back to USC and in a year create basically one of the better teams in college football, with the 2011 football team."
WR Keyshawn Young is no longer on the roster. As I’ve reported previously, he is planning to transfer but has not entered the transfer portal because he’s academically ineligible.
Helton offered his condolences to the family of Garry Paskwietz before beginning today's presser.
***
With the QBs rotating heavily, here's who received the bulk of first-team reps elsewhere (as best as I could tell):
OL (from left to right): Austin Jackson, Alijah Vera-Tucker, Brett Neilon, Andrew Vorhees, Jalen McKenzie
RB: Vavae Malepeai ... (Stephen Carr appeared to get much less work. He also looked leaner.)
TE: Josh Falo
WR: Pittman, Tyler Vaughns, St. Brown
DL: Christian Rector, Marlon Tuipulotu, Jay Tufele
OLB: Connor Murphy/Eli'jah Winston/Hunter Echols
ILB: John Houston, Palaie Gaoteote
S: Hufanga, Pola-Mao
CB: Briton Allen, Isaac Taylor-Stuart, Chase Williams
Second-team:
OL: Clayton Bradley, Jacob Daniel, Justin Dedich, Liam Douglass, Liam Jimmons
DL: Brandon Pili, Jacob Lichtenstein, Nick Figueroa
OLB: Abdul-Malik McClain/Drake Jackson
ILB: Jordan Iosefa, Kana'i Mauga/Juliano Falaniko/Solomon Tuliaupupu
Players who stood out (again, this is merely Day 1):
Chase Williams -- He's the primary nickel in this depleted secondary and nearly picked off JT Daniels. He has a good nose for the ball.
Briton Allen -- This was my first time seeing him up close and I liked how aggressive and competitive he is. Showed confidence, which isn't always the case with out-of-towners.
Solomon Tuliaupupu -- This was his first practice as a Trojan. He had a nice pass break-up and was moving well.
Drake Jackson -- He had a tackle for loss (on Matt Fink) and showed nice lateral movement for someone his size. He lined up in multiple spots, as he said he could.
The O-line -- It wasn't tested today like it will need to be in coming practices. But it's a physically impressive group. The two tackles and guards basically average out to 6-foot-5, 310 pounds. I plan to check in with them soon to see how they're adjusting to the Air Raid.
Pittman and Vaughns: They had their way with the DBs, which will likely be the case all spring.
Finally, Hufanga, who will be a captain on this team soon enough, had an interesting response when asked about losing so many players this offseason:
"It’s definitely different with the transfer portal. I think the transfer portal came into play and a lot of guys tried to use their way out and tried to find a new spot. But we want guys who want to be here. And whoever’s here we have to use and we have to utilize."
USC will return to the practice field Thursday.
