USC Practice Report: Notes & Observations (8/30)

During the season the media attends practices each Tuesday & Wednesday. On Tuesdays, my Notes & Observations report will focus on the defense, and be able the interview the defensive coaches and players. On Wednesdays, the script flips with the offense.

Wednesday’s report has the players & coaches from the offense meeting with the media. However, due to proximity, the media’s view of what the offensive players are doing is limited. I have zero doubt that it’s by design.

**Practice has its 3:10 scheduled start and the first one of USC’s (7) kickers & punters is ahead of the special teams guys. When Denis Lynch makes a move to tap into Goux Gate one of the security guys calls out Lynch for his dance skills with a “That boy can do it!”

**And right behind the specialists are Coaches Donte Williams and Taylor Mays. The secondary group is getting in some work while the field isn’t overly crowded. Christian Roland-Wallace & Ceyair Wright are walking together, while Domani Jackson & Jacobe Covington are paired up.

**During practice Donte put on someone’s gold-plated helmet to demonstrate one of the drills.

**It’s not quite as warm as Tuesday, but still, warm enough. The team is wearing shorts & shells following Tuesday’s full-pads practice, so Bennie Wylie decides to wear black tights under his black shorts and a hooded sweatshirt.

**When Alex Grinch arrived for practice he noticed me sitting in the one shady area near the player’s entrance in front of the Trojan Sword. “You found some shade,” Grinch said. I wanted to respond back, “You can’t have it all!”

**Duce Robinson is singing along with Lil Wayne’s Hustler Musik playing on the practice field.

**Lincoln likes to keep a tight ship and the news information to a minimum, and that includes talking about certain players running with the scout team offense. So when the practice reports come to an abrupt end just know that it wasn’t WeAreSC’s fault.

**One of the drills that used both WRs and DBs was working angle pursuit. Raleek had a couple of repetitions that made two starters in the secondary look silly.

**Jack Sullivan is ready for work! He let out a Ric Flair type of “Woooooo!!!” on his way to practice.

**Max Williams acknowledged one of the players on the All-American Wall on his way to work. I love it when players pay respects to the guys who paved the path.

**A’Marion Peterson’s size is impressive and he’s just a freshman. USC’s 2023 recruiting class is going to pay big dividends.

Freshman running back A’Marion Peterson

**It’s been a few minutes since I’ve mentioned big booming kicks from the punter. But Eddie Czaplicki just launched a moonshot that traveled at least 50 yards before Zachariah Branch brought it in. Perfect spiral off his foot too! Following practice Branch told the media he finally heard back from NFL All-Pro WR Odell Beckham Jr. Apparently Branch hit up O’Dell up months ago on X, but now Zachariah is more well-known.

**The same group of returners that I’ve reported on throughout fall camp and from Tuesday’s report are going through their repetitions.

**Erik McKinney duly notes that Makai Lemon and Christian Pierce wear the same jersey, have similar hairstyles and bodies, and they’re hard to tell one apart from the other.

**No scout team stuff with the media present Wednesday; see above. But the 1st & 2nd groups on defense from Tuesday’s session were the same on Wednesday. The first group was Jamil Muhammad, Kyonn Barrs, Bear Alexander, and Solomon Byrd were upfront. Mason Cobb and Tackett Curtis were the linebackers, and they were teamed up with Domani Jackson, Jaylin Smith, Max Williams, and Ceyair Wright. When the first group came back out Bryson Shaw subbed in for Williams.

**Lots of competition happening at Rush End, so I’m curious to see this week’s depth chart. I anticipate a couple of “ORs” in there.

**Coach Roy Manning is working on hand-placement techniques to gain leverage advantage. Get the hands inside of the shoulder pads and lift the player off his feet!

**Shaun Nua and the defensive linemen are going to break the 3-man sled the way they’re two-hand punching the apparatus before rag-dolling it onto its side. The next group of three linemen stand the sled back up and start the same routine.

**I hope Coach Brian Odom doesn’t hold any grudges. During one of the linebacking drills, there was a funny moment when Raesjon Davis planted his position coach on his backside. It was a tackle drill where Odom was holding the tackle pad and was a little off-balance when Davis attacked.

**Alex Grinch is the DC, but Lincoln Riley is the head coach, so I asked a source at practice how much time Lincoln Riley spends with the defense during the team 11-on-11 periods. I was told that Riley bounces back and forth from offense to defense.

**The media was able to ask Josh Henson some questions after practice. One of the first questions he asked was when he’d have a better idea of who the starting 5 will be. He said, “I’m waiting for somebody to quit throwing body blows and throw some knockout punches.”

**A sentimental moment happened after practice when Gino Quinones was asked about his start at the Coliseum with his family in the stands. Gino has not been home for over a year. He said, “I’m my biggest critic and I’ll never be satisfied.” When he started to talk about his dad, the emotions took over as he held back his tears of joy.

**Miller Moss has more rushing TDs than Caleb Williams this season, so I asked him if he called his own number on his TD run. He laughed and said no, it was a designed pull for him.

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