"It was a
pretty decent Tuesday practice," said USC head coach Lane Kiffin. "I was really impressed with the offensive
line. We only had 6 offensive linemen
today and they all did well."
Some
observations:
--Once
again, a good portion of the early practice (45 minutes) was devoted to special
teams fundamentals.
--A number
of receivers made nice catches and/or big plays, including Travon Patterson,
Robbie Boyer, Ronald Johnson, Kyle Prater, Brice Butler, David Ausberry and
Jordan Cameron. Prater outdueled
cornerback Shareece Wright in a one-on-one drill, followed soon after by a
--The hit
of the day might have been linebacker Devon Kennard's crunching blow on tight
end Jordan Cameron.
--In run
drills, tailback Allen Bradford charged up the middle and broke through several
tacklers for an impressive long gain.
--The
practice ended with a 2-minute drill.
Linebacker Malcolm Smith ended one drive with a pass deflection that
brought the entire defense unit alive.
Then safety T.J. McDonald, on first-and-goal from the 9-yard line and 2
seconds on the clock, made an endzone interception that concluded the day's
practice.
--The
Trojans experimented with the Wildcat formation for a few plays, with tailback
Dillon Baxter lined up at quarterback. "It's
something I've done at the last two places I coached (Oakland Raiders and
--There was
a new player wearing a gold quarterback jersey:
defensive end James Boyd. The
coaches told him yesterday they were switching him back to the position he
played in high school (he threw for 4,266 yards and 44 touchdowns as a 2008 senior
at Los Angeles Jordan High) and he jumped at the opportunity. "I was happy when they told me," the 6-5,
250-pound Boyd said. "I've got to get
back into quarterback shape now. I spent
the whole past year getting bigger to play defensive line. I have a lot to learn and I have to get my
mechanics down. But I'm excited." Said Kiffin:
"We're thin in our quarterback depth.
James did some really good things at quarterback in high school. He has a big time arm."
--Kiffin
was asked his analysis about last Saturday's scrimmage, now that he was able to
watch video of it: "I didn't like the
defense in the first half and the offense in the second half. It was a great lesson for the offense, which
didn't come out with the same energy in the second half. But I thought Matt Barkley had an
unbelievable downfield day throwing the ball."
--Cornerback
T.J. Bryant and wide receiver De'Von Flournoy, who both shared jersey No. 1,
have been assigned different numbers.
Bryant is now No. 38 and Flournoy is No. 81. "We have some special numbers here at USC,
like No. 1 and No. 43, which have been worn by some dominant players in the
past," said Kiffin. "I'm not sure either
of those players are operating at that level yet. They need to earn that number, to deserve it."
--There
were a number of former Trojan players who watched the first half of practice
before heading to the
--One of
the referees who has been working most of this spring's USC practices is Jim
Farmer, who has officiated many BCS-conference games. He's very familiar with the campus; his late father, Herb, was a professor in the
USC School of Cinematic Arts for more than 70 years and also shot Trojan
football coaching films from the roof of the Coliseum press box.
--Los
Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich and some of his staff members stopped by
to watch part of practice and say hello to Kiffin.
--Kiffin
had a surprise visit at the end of practice from his wife, Layla, and their 3
children, Landry, Presley and Knox.
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