Football deals with injuries as trip to South Bend looms


Clay Helton photographed by Austin Paik | Daily Trojan

USC continued its week of practice on Wednesday ahead of a big road game against No. 13 Notre Dame. Head coach Clay Helton said the team solidified its third-down game plan and will practice Thursday morning before boarding a plane to South Bend, Ind.

Injury Update

Redshirt junior offensive lineman Toa Lobendahn sat out again Wednesday with a pectoral strain. The same goes for junior cornerback Isaiah Langley, who was held out with an undisclosed illness.

The defensive line will be hobbled against the Fighting Irish. Helton said that senior nose tackle Josh Fatu will probably be out as he continues concussion protocol after being injured in a car accident earlier this week. Helton also said that junior defensive tackle Rasheem Green did not practice as a “preventative measure.”

“We’re a little light,” Helton admitted when asked about the defensive line depth.

Helton referenced redshirt sophomore Christian Rector, redshirt freshman Liam Jimmons and redshirt junior Malik Dorton as players who double-train, giving the Trojans flexibility to fill positions opened by injuries.

Helton also gave an update on junior linebacker Porter Gustin, who had an MRI and CT scan earlier this week.

“He’s just not right yet,” Helton said. “We’ll check it week-to-week, and when the doctors feel really good about it, we’ll move forward.”

In addition, freshman running back Stephen Carr was out once again and Helton listed him as “doubtful.”

On the bright side, Helton is optimistic about junior offensive lineman Chuma Edoga’s recovery from an ankle injury sustained against Washington State which kept him out the previous two weeks.

“He looks really good — he looks a lot better than he did last week,” Helton said. “He was right on the brink last week of being able to play and just didn’t feel perfect going into that Utah game after warm-ups, so we decided to hold him and get him really healthy. Fortunately, we got a victory, and now he’s healthy for Notre Dame.”

Focus on the Irish

The Trojans will have to account for Irish quarterback Brandon Wimbush, who has run for 402 yards on 5.9 yards per carry and a team-best eight touchdowns, while also throwing for six scores.

“We understand that he’s got a really strong arm and he’s a good runner, so we just have to play physical and fast the whole game,” sophomore cornerback Jack Jones said. “If we send too much pressure, he’ll air us out. If we sit back and wait, he can run for 80 yards if he wants to.”

Wimbush is just one part of a fierce Irish running game. Running back Josh Adams has rushed for 776 yards on nine yards per carry and five touchdowns. Notre Dame also has two more backs with four touchdowns each in Deon McIntosh and Dexter Williams.

“They run the ball hard: They’ve got three good running backs and a good group of offensive linemen,” junior linebacker Cam Smith said. “[Stopping them is] our main priority.”