USC Practice Report: Notes & Observations (8/29)

Looking in the rearview mirror, USC’s 56-28 victory over San Jose St. is slowly fading away and becoming a memory. This week, the (1-0) Trojans are looking ahead to making the Wolfpack from Nevada their next roadkill, and I’ve got all the notes & observations from Tuesday’s practice where the focus is the defense.

During the season the media attends practices each Tuesday & Wednesday. On Tuesdays, the 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.

**Remember when USC football practices were harder than the games? Well, Tuesday’s practice was definitely hotter than this past Saturday and much hotter than the 80 degree-day forecasted for Saturday’s Labor Day Weekend game.

Tuesday’s practice was a hot summer’s day for the Trojans as they prepared to host the Nevada Wolfpack.

**Having the heat turned up seemed apropos considering the Trojans’s defensive performance against the Spartans last week. This is the first time the media gets to speak with defensive coordinator Alex Grinch since none of the assistant coaches spoke after the game. From the frying pan to the fire with the USC fanbase.

** Coach Lincoln Riley and Coach Alex Grinch are available on Tuesdays (immediately after practice on the field), and either Coach Dennis Simmons or Coach Josh Henson will be available on Wednesdays.

**2:25 is the set time for Tuesday’s sessions and I’m at the spot by 1:30. Very little shade to work with so I’m committed to sweating and telling myself to just deal with it! Every few minutes a small little breeze blows and it feels like a TD. Yep–that’s good!

**What kind of human wears black sweats WITH MULTIPLE LAYERS including a hoody when it’s 90+ degrees outside? S&C coordinator Bennie Wylie, that’s who. I’m wearing a bucket hat, T-shirt, and shorts, and I’m sweaty!

**I’m mentioning Kicker Tyler Robles because he’s the first guy out for practice and he’d be the only one for at least another 20+ minutes before Jac Casasante joined him. Eventually, the rest of the special teams’ kickers came out together. There are a combined (7) punters & kickers on the roster.

**I know practice starts at 2:25 so Austin Jones is cutting it close pulling up on his scooter at 1:55. He might’ve been caught in traffic. I know the Downey parking lot was full. There are six levels, and four of them are red.

**I just noticed that Tre’quon Fegans has his gold-plated helmet.

**Rush End Romello Height definitely looks the part and he’s healthy! He also has that “swoll walk.” You know what I’m talking about; he’s that guy at the gym who can’t put his arms all the way down.

**Aye! *facepalm moment*–One of the security members that escorts the players across McClintock just asked a player wearing a white jersey No. 42 why he’s wearing Ronnie Lott’s retired jersey. Inside linebacker Deuce Palmer let him know that it’s not retired.

**Cooper Lovelace is taunting a couple of us standing near Goux Gate. He’s talking about how cool it is outside. Then he said, “But not quite as cool as the 60-degrees inside the McKay Center, huh?”

**A scout from the New York Jets is watching practice. He and defensive analyst Greg Brown are chatting about some of Brown’s former players that he’s helped develop over the years.

**I saw Solomon Tuliaupupu outside of practice wearing his Oakland A’s cap while his right leg was wrapped like the Mummy, from ankle to hip.

**The following players were going through punt return drills off the leg of the Jugs machine: Domani Jackson, Tahj Washington, Dorian Singer, MarShawn Lloyd, Quinten Joyner, Makai Lemon, Zachariah Branch, and Michael Jackson III.

**Many of the players who did not play in Saturday’s game were in full uniform, including De’jon Benton.

**During the team conditioning, Kliff Kingsbury is kneeling down near Lloyd who is stretching his groin. They’re talking business.

**Speaking of the coach/analyst role. I’ve been getting some questions about what an analyst can and not do. Analysts can be on the field and even listen in on the team scrums during the game. What they can’t do is offer coaching advice. However, they can offer “support.”

**The media’s viewing time of USC practice was pretty limited overall, maybe 15 minutes?

**One defensive note of interest saw a couple of changes with the defense during the scout team portion.

**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.

**The second group consisted of Anthony Lucas, Stanley Ta’ufo’ou, Jack Sullivan, and Romello Height at the line. Linebackers Raesjon Davis and Shane Lee teamed up with Prophet Brown, Zion Branch, Anthony Beavers Jr., Christian Roland-Wallace, and Jacobe Covington.

**During the scout team, Malachi Nelson threw an absolutely perfect shiny dime to Josiah Zamora with Roland-Wallace and either Brown or Beavers in coverage. The ball was in the air for 25-30 yards before Josiah did the rest for the TD catch. Grinch raised his hands signaling TD, and then a few seconds later Katie Ryan was telling us it was time to leave until the interviews.

**On the way out from the cone of silence I was talking with a colleague about Eric Gentry. Despite the weight gained during the offseason he still looks like a big WR rather than a linebacker. As long he produces the way he does during games, who cares?

**When the interviews started shortly after 4:30 everybody spoke, including Lincoln, Riley, Alex Grinch, and the players, all said they saw more good than bad during the film review. They acknowledged the breakdowns but also put everything into context with the number of players and combinations used.

**I asked Mason Cobb(at the 1:56 mark) if he felt the team missed an opportunity to show the college football world that the defense was improved. He was very candid with his response.

**One of the game moments that was brought up from the film in the breakdown was the 3rd down and 22-long quarterback run. Riley said it was Bear Alexander who got out of his rush lane. However, the rest of his game was very disruptive, “the stuff that doesn’t show up in the stats.”

**Grinch said he took responsibility for asking Domani to do something during his first start when he hasn’t seen that type of situation enough.

** Domani Jackson spoke after the practice and he took full responsibility for the dropped interception opportunity, He then said he “won’t drop another one all year.”

** I made sure to ask Coach Riley about the officiating at the end of the game and if he had received any feedback. He said “we” were right on both accounts.(3:15 mark)

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