LOS ANGELES — The first day of practice is as standard as the 12 days of Christmas.
The lords are always leaping, the ladies are dancing, the new (name the position) coach has added a lot of good stuff, everyone is in better shape than he ever has been, the pipers are piping, the sophomores are much more confident after a year of experience and there are three French hens.
On a toasty late afternoon at USC, there were at least 12 coaches yelling and several dozen players chirping.
All Opening Days blend together, but the Trojans wanted to make this one different. They have a new Air Raid offense and a more proactive defense. Considering most of the evaluators likened their recruiting year to the Poseidon adventure, some newcomers seemed comfortable and feisty.
When you win five and lose seven at USC and put the footballs away in November, there had better be differences by the next August. Clay Helton did what every endangered coach does. He remodeled. If nothing else, it gives the illusion of motion to a month of invisible events.
“We’re more bonded on the field,” said John Houston, the senior linebacker. “We’re more focused and competitive. I think there’s more of an urge to get on the field. We needed more togetherness.”
Why? Two years ago USC won the Pac-12 and went to the Cotton Bowl. Three years ago USC won the Rose Bowl. There isn’t that much player turnover from year to year. What happens to attitudes?
“I can’t tell you how it slipped,” Houston said. “You got to keep a short hammer on it. If you let loose just a little bit, it’s going to slip. If you forget about it for just a second, it’s going to be too late.
“That year we won the Rose Bowl, we all bought in. We had me and (Michael) Pittman playing special teams, playing any role that we could. You didn’t have guys complaining about how much they were playing.”
He added this, interestingly:
“We had more competition in our strength program this year, which helped because guys don’t want to come in last. And we have a (coaching) staff that comes out with a lifestyle that they live, not something that they’re just saying.”
There were no pads, but there were lots of four wide-out packages, lots of throws, a few spectacular plays.
J.T. Daniels threw a majestic parabola down the sideline that John Jackson took to the end zone, and someone on the field said, “He’s going to make a lot of money,” not specifying who.
Receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown returned to the practice field and specifically noted Blake London and Munir McClain, 6-foot-5 and 6-4 freshmen. Houston liked the playmaking of Ralen Goforth, another freshman, in the secondary.
“I thought we were deadly accurate in the one-on-one drills,” Helton said. “Really it was a pretty clean practice. There were not a lot of busted assignments. It’s an execution offense, that’s the nature of it.”
“It’s a simpler offense than the one we ran last year,” St. Brown said. “You run to the open grass and hopefully you have that chemistry with the quarterback.”
There was no shortage of noteworthy defensive backs, either. Freshman Chris Steele practiced even though his status has not been cleared yet by the NCAA. Receiver Bru McCoy would have joined him if not for a fever.
“The ball was bouncing off some guys,” Helton said, “and we were throwing into some tight windows, and that’s what happens when it’s the first day and everybody’s trying to impress somebody.”
Several Trojans mentioned Aaron Ausmus, who was the strength coach from 2010-13 and is so again.
“I’ve put on five pounds since last year,” St. Brown said. “We have more energy this year and I think that’s what AA has brought to us.”
If the NCAA decides to make 7-on-7 football a varsity sport sometime in the next three weeks, USC could be in business. But big people are still required, and that is where Ausmus’ handiwork will be judged.
The schedule is not kind. Washington and Oregon are back on the worksheet, the Notre Dame game is in South Bend, and no one with a nodding acquaintance of football is putting a check mark by Fresno State, in the Aug. 31 opener.
St. Brown also brought up the “chip on our shoulder,” another ever-present commodity on the first day of practice. Did Friday give any hints about the Trojans’ whereabouts on the 12 days on either side of Christmas? It depended on what you wanted to see.
Posted by https://goo.gl/TXzGV5
No comments:
Post a Comment