The renewal of the defense may motivate a new era of Trojan football next season.
USC’s 2023 football season can be summed up in two words: utter disappointment. And even that is an understatement for some. Led by a Heisman-winning quarterback, the Trojans went a woeful 8-5 with a 5-4 convention record in their finale. with the Pac-12. As the Trojans approach one of the most competitive games in high school football, many questions arise.
Some answers will be given Saturday at the annual spring game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. On Thursday, the format of the match was not made public.
This game is an opportunity for rising stars to show off, as familiar faces explain to Trojan coaches why they are playing in the upcoming season.
There are a lot of things to keep in mind for the game, adding a complete overhaul of the defensive coaching staff. Head coach Lincoln Riley has brought the superstar prospect to the ball aspect by leading the defense. The Trojans’ third-year coach hired the former UCLA D defensive coordinator. ‘Anton Lynn, who took on the same role with the Trojans.
Last season, the Trojans conceded 34. 38 points per game, the 13th-worst score in the entire country. To get rid of those defensive issues, USC is relying on new recruits to secure and load the defense for next season. The hires include former Los Angeles Rams defensive line coach Eric Henderson, former North Dakota State University head coach Matt Entz and former University of Houston defensive coordinator Doug Belk.
This comprehensive list of defensive workers along with a few moves may set the tone for the Trojans’ move to the Big Ten.
True to Riley’s beliefs, the Trojans have been busy on the move portal, as they have so far added 11 players through this route. Of those 11, seven are defensive players, providing much-needed assistance in Riley’s domain. To be suffering with more.
One thing to watch out for on Saturday is red-jersey sophomore defenseman Kamari Ramsey, who will look like one of the Trojans’ most productive additions this offseason. The former UCLA star, the first to stay with their former defensive coordinator from Westwood to South Central and will surely be a key component of that defense.
Riley singled out Ramsey as one of the players who had a spring.
“We got to see him last year, but he’s done a wonderful job of coming here and affecting the group,” Riley said at a post-practice news convention Tuesday. “He’s obviously very familiar with this scheme. “
In 11 starts last season with the Bruins, Ramsey totaled 40 tackles (2. 5 of which were tackles for loss), assists and one interception.
On the offensive side of the ball, an apparent question: Who will update former Hesiman Trophy winner and projected No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, Caleb Williams?
There are two candidates: junior red-jersey quarterback Miller Moss and red-jersey sophomore Jayden Maiava, who transferred from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
At last season’s Holiday Bowl, Moss adamantly defended that the answer was him. Moss threw a record six touchdowns and 372 passing yards in the Trojans’ 42-28 loss to the University of Louisville.
“I just tried to be very diligent in the theater, keep making the next right decision, and Coach Riley sees that and appreciates it,” Moss said.
Due to his remarkable functionality in the bowling game, it is presumed that Moss will be the quarterback this season.
However, Maiava has a case for himself. He led UNLV to its most wins since 1984, throwing for 3,085 yards and 17 touchdowns, while carrying the ball 277 yards on the ground. Those impressive stats earned him the College Football Network’s freshman quarterback honor.
No matter who leads the organization on the first play in Las Vegas, Riley has proven to be high-quality quarterbacks year after year. At just 40 years old, Riley has been the brains behind Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Williams.
Another facet to watch out for is the quartet of second-year wide receivers in Zachariah Branch, Duce Robinson, Jakobi Lane and Makai Lemon. In a glimpse of the future, this wide receiver organization combined for 8 catches and 188 yards last season. Holiday Bowl win.
Branch, a true first-year All-American last season, will pick up momentum from the spring into the regular season.
“We’re looking to achieve a certain purpose, just getting closer to that purpose, we’re getting bigger every day as a unit,” Branch said. “We’re getting closer to that purpose every day, as we get closer to the spring game we’re taking appropriate action. “
Admission to the Spring Game is completely free and you’ll get your first look at the Trojans in their final game at the Pac-12 convention on Saturday at noon at the Coliseum.
We are the only independent newspaper here at USC, published in all grades through students. This means that we are bound by no interest other than that of readers like you: the students, faculty, staff, and citizens of South Central who together make up the USC community.
Independence is a double-edged sword: we have a unique view of the University’s movements and policies, and we can hold difficult figures to account when others cannot. But it also means that our budget is very limited. We are already scattered while paying the writers, photographers, artists, designers, and editors whose amazing paintings you see in our daily lives; As we work to revamp and expand our virtual presence, we now have additional staff creating podcasts, videos, web pages, our first magazine, and social media content, that may not be able to get the attention they deserve.
That’s why we’re indebted to readers like you, who, by supporting us, help us keep our daily newspaper (we’re the only college newspaper on the West Coast that prints every day of the week), independent, flexible, and widely accessible.
Please don’t forget about us. Even a dollar goes a long way in improving our work; If you can, you can also do it with monthly or even annual donations. Thank you.
We may require cookies to be placed on your device. We use cookies to tell us when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to personalize your appointments with our website.
Click on the titles in other categories to learn more. You can also update some of your preferences. Please note that blocking certain types of cookies may affect your experience on our websites and the facilities we may offer.
These cookies are strictly mandatory in order to provide you with the information available on our website and to use some of its features.
As these cookies are strictly mandatory for the operation of the site, their rejection will have an effect on the operation of our site. You can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and forcing all cookies to be blocked on this website. But this will ask you to accept/decline cookies when you revisit our site.
We fully respect your wish to refuse cookies, but to ask you to come back again and again, please allow us to store a cookie for this purpose. You can opt-out at any time or accept other cookies for a better experience. If you reject cookies, we will delete all cookies set on our domain.
We provide you with a list of cookies stored on your PC on our domain so that you can see what we have stored. For security reasons, we are unable to display or modify cookies from other domains. You can do this in your browser’s security settings.
These cookies collect information that is used in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is used or the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns, or to help us personalise our website and online application based on your experience.
If you do not need us to track your access to our site, you can opt out of tracking in your browser here:
We also use third-party facilities such as Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and third-party video providers. Since those providers would possibly collect non-public information, such as your IP address, we allow you to block them here. Please note that this would possibly particularly diminish the capacity and appearance of our site. The settings will take effect once you reload the page.
Google Web Font Settings:
Google Maps Settings:
Google reCaptcha settings:
Embedded videos from Vimeo and Youtube:
The following cookies are also mandatory; You can do this if you need to allow them: