USC Fall Camp Day 7: Notes & Observations Report

Here is a report from USC’s practice No. 7 filled with my notes & observations based on what I see, hear, and can report. The Trojans began their week wearing shorts, shells, and helmets, and by the end of the week, the pads were on, and so was the physicality.

**Day 7 is scheduled to start at 8:00 AM and it feels like a casual Friday workday with the players still arriving at 7:00 AM. Eddie Czaplicki and Hank Pepper drag themselves into the McKay Center just ahead of Denis Lynch speeding on his scooter.

**I observed Eddie with a bandage over his nose.

**INJURY UPDATE** Cornerback Maliki Crawford has suffered an (undisclosed) season-ending injury. Braylan Shelby and Amos Talalele are dinged up.

**At the end of practice, Elijah Paige was seen leaving practice with a stiff leg limp and he looked like he was in serious discomfort. Coach Riley addressed it after practice saying, “Elijah is fine…Elijah is fine. He practiced all day today got a lot of work in.”

**Tyler Robles must have already been getting dressed because he was the first player out of the locker room and the team is back in pads.

**Coach Dogg has his community stereo waking up campus while cruising to the parking lot on McClintock.

**A handful of NFL scouts from Seattle, Pittsburgh, Raiders, Houston, and Tennessee are watching practice today. I spied the Seelers scout studying the secondary when they were over on Brian Kennedy like it was a college finals exam.

**The representative from the Titans was Lake McRee’s doppelganger. I mean he looked like a taller identical twin. McRee is a full participant and he’s moving very well despite wearing a very big knee brace like the lineman wears. It’s a little more streamlined but still noticeable.

**The refs are back and it almost looks like there’s enough of them to officiate two games simultaneously. Howard Jones can accommodate.

**Toward the end of practice USC AD, Jen Cohen showed up. This is the first time I remember seeing her during fall camp.

**Riley said he and Jen Cohen have begun strategizing about how best to attack the upcoming roster limits.

**Agree or disagree?–When you see Zachariah Branch, Ja’Kobi Lane, and Makai Lemon walking to practice together, your first thought is, “Here comes the 3 most dangerous guys in football.” The coming-out guy crossing guard dude thinks so!

**Yesterday I asked Lemon about the white shoes, today he was wearing black like everyone else. Coincidence?

**After practice Lane wasn’t his gregarious outgoing vocal self with every serious and determined look on his face.

**Nate Clifton was telling one of his teammates that he doesn’t miss the humidity that was used to working in at Tennessee.

**Jayden Maiava is in a good mood, “It’s a nice day…it’s my kind of day!” I agree, he looked great throwing routes today.

**Coach Riley walked through Goux gate at 8:00 and for the next 10 minutes or so, it was pretty quiet.

**Funny moment when Greedy Vance realized he was missing the team huddle after the skip & stretch.–he began to head over to Kennedy Field for the DB drills before it was time and had to reverse his course.

**Vance is a part of the special team group that warms up with Coach Huard, Jones, and Ryan Daugherty.

**The punters were making the return guys’ job more difficult than the drill itself. The return man will line up with his back to the punter, and after the ball is kicked, they have to turn around and locate the ball in the air. When the “booming” kicks are true, no problem. However, a few of the kicks are going sideways is a problem.

**Riley said the kicker competition began wide open and he’s been pleased with the performance of all five guys. “We didn’t perform well enough,” he said of last season. He said the kicking percentage numbers so far in camp have been as good as any year he and Ryan Dougherty have been together. “It’s raised the competition in that room.”

**I predict that Michael Lantz will be the placekicker and the competition is wide-open for a kickoff specialist.

**I also predict Branch and Lemon as the kick-off and punt return specialists, however, keep an eye on Josiah Zamora and Jay Fair getting opportunities too.

**The media didn’t get to spend a lot of time observing Day 7’s practice, but we did get to spend some time in Linebacker Land AND we were gifted a few minutes of camera time with the defensive line group, and offensive line off in the distance.

**Coach Entz has his guys using obnoxious communication while they’re dropping into zone coverage. If they drop off or hand off a player everyone is on the same page.

**When he describes how physically he wants something on a drill attacking the offensive line it’s described with a “POP POP!!!”

**Whatever happened after the media viewed the practice, it took a toll on some of the guys. Following Day 6 there was lots of energy and everyone was in a good mood. Not so much after Day No. 7.

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