USC football practices with spring in its step
It might be the beginning of March, but the USC football team is gearing up for the 2015 season with guns blazing and 50 Cent blaring on the loudspeakers. For players, spring practice is a time of mental and physical preparation, learning the playbook and bonding with teammates.
Spring practice features an environment unlike any other. The nonstop adrenaline from coaches, trainers, players and managers is on show as the team gears up for the spring game on April 11.
On Thursday, players participated in position-oriented drills, sprints and a number of dynamic stretching exercises. They then went into game scenarios with the offense facing the defense — minus the contact of course. Redshirt senior quarterback Cody Kessler has clearly picked up where he left off last season. Kessler threw for more than 3,800 yards in 2014 and posted a remarkable 39 to 5 touchdown-interception ratio. Kessler looked to be in a good rhythm with his receivers during Thursday’s practice, as did soon-to-be redshirt sophomore signal caller Max Browne.
Kessler lost his primary target in dynamic senior wide receiver Nelson Agholor, who connected with Kessler a whopping 104 times this season. Agholor is off to the NFL, but freshman wide receiver JuJu Smith looks poised to become the team’s top receiver in 2015. Smith racked up 724 receiving yards in 2014, wearing the storied No. 9 jersey previously worn by former USC star wideout Marqise Lee.
Speaking of Lee, he and former USC wide receiver Robert Woods were in attendance on Thursday, pacing the sidelines and appearing to be just as locked into practice as the players wearing helmets out on the field. Lee and Woods comprised arguably the most formidable wide receiver duo in all of college football in 2011 and 2012. It would not be a surprise to see the Trojans’ passing attack put up stellar numbers in 2015, though, as Kessler is a wily veteran who has returned for the final act of what has been an outstanding career thus far.
USC’s aerial attack should be prolific, especially seeing as Smith should be even more dominant this upcoming season. Sophomore wide receiver Darreus Rogers is another player to watch out for in 2015, as his production (245 yards, four touchdowns) should increase this year.
Of course, freshman cornerback Adoree’ Jackson should be electrifying on both sides of the ball again in his sophomore season, assuming he continues to play wide receiever on offense as well. A major storyline this off-season will be whether or not Jackson is leaning towards exclusively playing one of the positions, but he is so talented at both that Trojan fans will likely see the dynamic playmaker all over the field again in 2015.
Kessler, and the entire offense for that matter, looked sharp and displayed noticeable chemistry in spring practice. Of course, the defense does not have the opportunity to make any tackles during these contact-free practices, but some excellent players are filling in the holes from this past season’s departures. Former linebacker Hayes Pullard is currently preparing for the NFL, but his successor appears to be Lamar Dawson, who will be a redshirt senior in the fall. Dawson missed the second half of the 2013 season and all of the 2014 campaign. Dawson is thrilled to be back on the field and looks like he will fill the void at “Mike” inside linebacker, the role Pullard filled previously. The defense reacted to a big play at the end of practice, and while he may not have been visible in the conglomeration of white shirts, one can only assume that he was in there celebrating with the rest of the defense.
“We like to compete with each other,” Dawson said. “We just want to make sure we are finishing at the end of practices.”
This kind of laser focus is not lost on Dawson’s fellow linebacker Jabari Ruffin. Ruffin has been impressed by the level of play from the defense thus far. “The biggest strength of this defense is just how hungry we are,” Ruffin said. “We want to win.”
The energy at spring practice is contagious. Every big play, whether it is a circus catch by a receiver or a well-diagnosed play leading to an interception by a linebacker merits an enthusiastic reaction from the players. Even some die-hard Trojan fans were in the stands at practice, frantically checking their rosters in hand to see who had just made the jaw-dropping play on the field.
Even though there are still six months before the Trojans face Arkansas State in the season opener, getting into this kind of rhythm and building this kind of camaraderie in March will not hurt the Trojans’ cause.