LOS ANGELES -- USC's assistant coaches spoke to the media Tuesday afternoon. It was a good opportunity to gain some insight into the Trojans, who have plenty of experience returning but also welcome a highly touted No. 1-ranked recruiting class.
Here are some takeaways from conversations with USC coaches as the program looks to reach the College Football Playoff for the first time under coach Lincoln Riley.
- There have been several occasions in the past few seasons when USC's defense needed just one stop to close out a game. Think back to Illinois this past season, or Penn State, Michigan, Maryland or Minnesota the year before. The Trojans have come up empty in these situations, and it's something that eats at defensive ends coach Shaun Nua.
- I highlighted freshman wideout Trent Mosley after checking out a USC practice early in the spring. I thought that was a good time to buy some Mosley stock for the coming season. A few weeks later, I'm feeling even stronger about that take, based on how the coaches have spoken about him and his preparation.
- Of course, Huard is working closely with another true freshman USC fans are very interested in -- four-star quarterback Jonas Williams, who looked college ready from a physical standpoint in the spring. His arm looked impressive too based on limited practice viewings.
- One thing that tends to get overlooked with offensive line play is cohesion and chemistry. USC’s best offensive line in recent memory was its 2022 group, which was Riley’s first season on the job. It was a group full of veterans who had played together for several years by that point.
- The secondary will have to improve after some inconsistent play last season. There is plenty of young talent joining that group, but it'll be worth keeping an eye on one of the longest-tenured players on the roster -- corner Prophet Brown, who missed all of last season after suffering an injury in fall camp.
"So you have to find reasons why it didn't happen. And you've got to face the truth. It's really tough, man, those are the ones that are always hard," Nua said. "If you've got a chance to hold people down, you do that. You cannot let them breathe."
USC has a lot of talent. It has an experienced quarterback. The running back group is deep. The offensive line has an exciting mix of veterans and young talent. The receivers have a lot of potential, as do the defensive backs.
But none of that, ultimately, matters unless the Trojans find a way to close games against tough competition. That's where the defensive line, particularly the pass rush, has to be better. In USC's three regular-season losses last season (Illinois, Notre Dame and Oregon, all on the road), it notched just two sacks. One of those came from a corner.
"I think they're tired of not getting the job done," Nua said when asked for his takeaways from the spring. "I think they're tired of just getting close. I think they really feel what we're feeling as well, obviously what the fans are feeling. That's my takeaway from the spring right there. They're eager to do whatever it takes to get the job done."
The Trojans have edge defenders who were highly rated recruits and have potential, such as Kameryn Crawford and Braylan Shelby, but at some point, that has to translate into production in high-leverage moments. And there will be several of those this fall, with a schedule featuring games against Oregon (home), Washington (home), Penn State (road), Ohio State (home) and Indiana (road).
Those past setbacks forced Nua to do some offseason soul-searching to figure out what the unit, which should be deeper this season, needs to do better.
"You've got to keep your eye on everything that cannot happen," he said. "They cannot come out with one knee brace when they're supposed to have two. They cannot come out with one kneepad when they're supposed to have two. Every detail matters. We all know that. You've got to put more emphasis on that than X's and O's. Obviously, X's and O's will come, and the more you can get all of those things at a higher level, I think you'll give yourself a good chance to win."
Offensive coordinator Luke Huard is in charge of the quarterback group now, but he coached inside receivers during the 2022 and 2023 seasons. So he has familiarity with the room and gushed about Mosley.
"Oh my gosh. Trent’s a stud," Huard said. "The thing about him, too, is he’s not a one-trick pony. He can do everything. He’s physical, he’s strong, he’s fast. He’s got great ball skills. I think for a quarterback, when you’re looking at receivers, when I was in the inside receiver room for the first two years, I think my greatest strength was bringing a perspective because my background was a quarterback. A receiver like Trent is so easy to read because you can tell when he’s going to break a route off; he does a great job of setting DBs up; he’s got a really good catch radius for a guy who’s not 6-foot-4; he’s just extremely strong and competitive.
“The thing I’d like to give Trent credit for is not the plays he made in practice but how he prepared himself each day to go in there and execute and know what he’s doing on each play. For a freshman that just got here, that was the most impressive thing—a lack of mental mistakes. You didn’t feel like you were around a guy that just got here because he was able to execute and line up in different spots.”
Tuesday was the first opportunity Huard has been able to speak about Williams since he signed with the Trojans. Huard said his arm talent—how Williams throws a catchable ball; has the strength to make every throw; is accurate—stood out during the recruiting process along with his running ability.
Huard said Williams can get more comfortable with pre-snap communication and with footwork and timing, and he anticipates that'll come with more reps.
Huard also spoke about the wall that true freshmen hit during their first spring on campus, but “that just never happened (with Jonas),” he said. “He kept getting better, better and better. Certainly excited about where he’s at and where he’s going to go.”
This year’s group has some semblance of that. Elijah Paige, Alani Noa, Tobias Raymond, Justin Tauanuu and Kilian O’Connor have played together for several seasons. It’s a group that played better than many expected last season, and there’s some correlation between this group and that 2022 unit. Offensive line coach Zach Hanson, however, said success isn’t guaranteed.
“It’s not going to happen just because we’ve got some guys coming back who have played some games last year,” Hanson said. “Talked a lot about handling success, and I’ve talked to them a lot about success breeds complacency and complacency breeds failure. That’s going to be our biggest battle right now; competing with each other every single day and handling the little success we had last year and continuing to grow, push, drive and get better every single day. That’s going to come through competition.”
USC addressed that by signing four blue-chip offensive linemen: Keenyi Pepe, Vlad Dyakonov, Esun Tafa and Breck Kolojay.
“I think that’s huge,” Hanson said. “Bringing those guys in and having 20 guys for spring ball was a huge advantage. The older guys can see the talent level of the younger guys, and the younger guys can see the talent level of the older guys too—and see where they’ve got to make up some ground. So we’ve got the opportunity to be really special, but we’ve got a lot of work to do before we get there.”
Brown likely would've started at nickel if not for the injury last season. His injury highlighted the lack of depth there. Kamari Ramsey had to move from safety to nickel, and he made fewer plays than he did in 2024.
Brown's return should provide a boost and allow the other defensive backs to play their natural positions. Corners coach Trovon Reed sounds as if he has full confidence in Brown's ability as he returns from injury.
"It's been great. I'm a Prophet fan. I'm probably Prophet's No. 1 fan," Reed said. "I love everything about that young man. He's a guy you wish you could coach forever. He tries to do everything exactly how you say it. ... He's going to do whatever you ask him to do, and you don't want it any other way. He's the definition of a USC man."