It’s been a long and winding road for USC redshirt senior cornerback DeCarlos Nicholson.

Five years ago, Nicholson was playing quarterback — his position throughout high school — as a first-year at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Now, two schools and a lot of extra practice later, Nicholson has established himself as not only one of USC’s (5-2, 3-1) most consistent defensive players but one of the best in the Big Ten.

In a tough loss to No. 12 Notre Dame (5-2) on Saturday, particularly for the defense, Nicholson was a bright spot with a career-high six tackles, earning the highest Pro Football Focus defensive grade on the team with 78.4 and becoming the only Trojan on either side of the ball to make PFF’s Big Ten Team of the Week.

Over football’s upcoming bye week, Nicholson floated a few ways to relax and recover after practice Wednesday: take his first-ever visit to Legoland, enjoy the California weather at Big Bear Lake, or play video games and watch football at home. 

However, his overall message was clear: Neither he nor the rest of the team are taking any weight off the gas.

“We’re ready to come in and work, fix everything that needs to be fixed, and get out there and take our anger out against someone else,” Nicholson said when asked about preparation for next Saturday’s matchup with Nebraska (5-2, 2-2) in light of the latest loss.

Extra training paid off for Nicholson

After practice Wednesday, Defensive Coordinator D’Anton Lynn recalled Nicholson’s progression at cornerback since coming to USC last season — also Lynn’s first season with the Trojans — as being “raw” considering he hadn’t played the position as long as many of his peers. Despite his late positional transition, Nicholson was ESPN’s No. 4 junior college cornerback prospect before he left for Mississippi State University in 2023.

“He still has a ways to go, but he’s been more consistent,” Lynn said. “He’s been communicating. We feel like he can continue to get better and better and better. He’s helped us a lot.”

Nicholson said after he announced his commitment that he was “scared” to leave Mississippi, where he had spent most of his life before, to come to Los Angeles, according to The Los Angeles Times. However, Head Coach Lincoln Riley believed in him and said at the time that he felt like Nicholson had a lot of room to grow, which is why he pursued him anyway.

But now, after making a good impression in 13 games and starting three last year, as well as breaking out with 18 tackles and a sack this year, Nicholson bleeds cardinal and gold. He said the loss to Notre Dame left a “bad taste in [his] mouth.”

“[I’m] trying to bring that pride, that swagger, back to this University. Man, I love it,” Nicholson said. “I love everything about this place.”

At Mississippi State, Nicholson almost exclusively played press coverage on receivers, forcing him to make a major change in his footwork and hip movements to develop into a complete cornerback at USC. At one point last season, Nicholson said Secondary Coach Doug Belk told him he would need to take his own time to work on his adjustments, which he took in stride.

“​​Because it’s just something that I had never [done] before, I would be hard on myself,” Nicholson said. “I worked on it extra here, coming out a few minutes earlier, later, and not only with that but also my offseason training, doing it as well.”

After Nicholson worked with many of his teammates during and outside of practice, junior safety Christian Pierce said he has seen a significant increase in Nicholson’s confidence, which he attributed to his recent success.

“As a DB, as a corner especially, it’s really just a confidence factor,” Pierce said in a post-practice news conference Wednesday. “He’s gaining that confidence, and has that confidence, and [now] it’s more about improving and keep gaining more and more confidence.”

‘We can be a good defense’

Even with a strong personal showing, Nicholson said both the defense and himself had things to improve over the bye week. Multiple players and coaches previously attributed some of Oct. 11’s dominant win over No. 25 Michigan (5-2, 3-1) to strong practices over the bye week, which the Trojans will hope to replicate this week.

“It’s been extremely competitive — a lot of learning, going back to the basics and fixing things we need to fix,” Nicholson said of the team’s bye week practices. “Just getting better at doing our job.”

Lynn called Saturday’s loss “very frustrating” due to his defense largely failing to contain Fighting Irish junior running back Jeremiyah Love, who finished with an unreal 228 yards — over three times more than USC’s entire rushing attack — on 24 carries to go along with a touchdown. Lynn said the focus of this bye week has been tackling, shedding blocks and communication after the defense combined for a season-high 10 missed tackles.

“We have to come up with, ‘Okay, are we doing the right drills? Is there anything different we can do?’ Walk through wise, playing guys in different spots,” Lynn said. “When we’re all on the same page, we can be a good defense, but we all have to be on the same page, and we have to trust that the guy next to us is going to do his job.”

After practice Tuesday, Riley said blown assignments were the biggest problem for the Trojans against Notre Dame, pointing to Love’s first big run of the game — which went for 63 yards on the Irish’s opening drive — and saying the play call should have stopped him for a small gain had two players not been “completely out of position.”

“We were motivated and ready to play,” Riley said. “But in those games, you’ve got to combine that with playing just really good ball at the end of the day and being really in sync. Obviously, we’re going to dedicate a lot of time to working on that here in the bye week.”

Lynn said the inside linebackers specifically needed to run more physically and aggressively towards the ball more often.

Depth chart changes on the table

When asked whether he would be evaluating any changes to the depth chart or different positional looks, Lynn said the team is always reevaluating playtime based on trust and consistency in practice and games.

“Any guys who earn our trust are going to get a chance to play. That starts in practice,” Lynn said. “Your good plays might be here, but how bad are your bad plays? The guys who we feel like we can trust earn more in playing time, and that can adjust all throughout the year.” 

Both Riley and Lynn pointed to redshirt freshman linebacker Jadyn Walker as an example of a player who earned more game time through consistent performances. Walker, who is new to his position like Nicholson, has carved out a bigger role as of late, amassing 12 solo tackles and three tackles for loss after only seeing the field once last year in part due to injury.

“He’s been, I think, one of our most impactful players,” Riley said. “He plays violent, takes on blocks. He plays without hesitation, and he’s just getting better week by week.”

After the bye week, the Trojans will head to Lincoln, Nebraska, for a bout with the formerly-ranked Cornhuskers. Should USC lose, its chances of making a College Football Playoff debut will shrink to near none; however, a clear path is still available should the Trojans win out, including a Nov. 22 road contest against No. 6 Oregon (6-1, 3-1).