Others must step up after Farmer’s injury
George Farmer’s 2013-14 season is over before it even began.
The junior wide receiver suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and a torn medial collateral ligament in practice Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Farmer, who was the top receiver prospect in the class of 2011, prepped with current Trojan star Marqise Lee and former star Robert Woods at Serra High School and was considered by many to be the best of the bunch. But the magic he found in high school hasn’t translated thus far at USC. Unfortunately, that won’t be changing in 2013.
Add Farmer to the long list of injured Trojans this spring: Senior running back Silas Redd, junior tight end Xavier Grimble and junior linebacker/running back Tre Madden are all sidelined.
It’s an all-star team of injured players, and right now, the Trojans are hurting. Big time. Without Redd, the total number of carries by Trojan runners from last year’s roster is at an underwhelming 72. Thirteen of those were from Lee, by the way. And without Grimble, returning tight ends caught just 14 passes.
Things look rather bleak right now, but in the grand scheme of things, these injuries are going to help the Trojans. Now, I’m not implying that Farmer tearing his knee to shreds is good for the team; for all we know, Farmer could have been this season’s breakout star. But with proven players out this spring and for the foreseeable future, younger players now have the opportunity to step up and show that they deserve playing time when the season kicks off at Hawai’i. Look no further than freshman running back Justin Davis.
Davis, who hails from Stockton, Calif., enrolled early at USC in an effort to get ahead of his freshmen counterparts. Not only is he above the competition in his class, but he is catching up with Redd and redshirt junior running back D.J. Morgan, with whom Davis is splitting the majority of the practice carries this spring. He’s looking great thus far and, with a solid spring game, could go for even more carries come fall camp.
With Grimble out, it is a chance for fellow junior tight end Randall Telfer to step up and take the reins. Grimble caught 12 passes last season, but with players like Lee and Woods around him, he was almost forgotten in the mix. Another tight end, sophomore Jalen Cope-Fitzpatrick, also has a chance to step up his game after catching just two passes as a freshman; he’s now going to be depended on in double-tight sets for the last few practices of the spring. Is there any better time to show his skills? Probably not.
As for the receiving corps, losing Farmer for the season definitely stings, especially in the wake of Woods leaving for the NFL. But in the “glass-half-full” department, it is a chance for sophomore Nelson Agholor to prove without a doubt that he is ready to be the No. 2 behind Lee. Though he was slated to be the starter anyway, with Farmer out and unproven depth behind him, Agholor will likely see a lot more passes thrown in his direction.
And who will step up and be the No. 3 in Farmer’s place? It could be a lot of guys. Victor Blackwell. De’Von Flournoy. It could even be freshman Darreus Rogers, whose debut has long been anticipated since he was ruled academically ineligible last season. In the spring of last season, Flournoy was one of the stars in the spring. Though it didn’t parlay into a great deal of success (he caught one pass in 2012), who’s to say that someone like Rogers can’t have a big spring and turn it into a strong freshman campaign like Lee and Woods did before him?
Nothing in football is guaranteed. Well, there is one thing: injuries. They are bound to happen to every team, regardless of how well trained and prepared its players are. Just because injuries happen doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world, though. Rather, it’s a chance for unproven players to turn themselves into role players and sometimes even stars.
Back in 2009, a freshman named Matt Barkley was slated to be the No. 2 behind veteran Aaron Corp. Corp got hurt in fall practice, and Barkley got his chance. A conference-record 116 touchdown passes later, I’d say things turned out pretty well for the Trojans. Who’s to say that this season’s injuries can’t create more stars?
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