USC’s Alex Grinch overseeing defensive overhaul

After three seasons with Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma, the new coordinator will implement his scheme with the Trojans

Adam Grosbard (OC Register)  —  LOS ANGELES — As the USC football team prepared for its season finale in December, Alex Grinch could be seen walking around practice. The Trojans’ new defensive coordinator had an iPad in hand and took notes as he observed.

It was a baseline evaluation, clouded by factors like late-season injuries and the previous staff’s scheme. But now the winter workouts have begun and the heaviest recruiting season has passed, Grinch can dig into seriously rebuilding the USC defense.

This is Grinch’s fourth stop as a defensive coordinator, first spending three years at Washington State prior to one season at Ohio State and the last three at Oklahoma. He followed new USC head coach Lincoln Riley to Los Angeles, boarding the plane that brought Riley from Norman without a contract in place.

“Anytime you have an opportunity to be a part of elite leadership, that’s very rare in this sport,” Grinch, 41, said Thursday in his first press conference since arriving at USC. “More from a player standpoint than maybe even more from a coaching standpoint is having those guys in a leadership role that’s going to have the players’ back and be in a position to be a mentor to them. As an assistant coach, you recognize that ability in a head coach.”

Grinch’s scheme is predicated on a single-gap approach, having the defensive line attack gaps rather than try to engage linemen and hope that creates a tackle opportunity for linebackers behind them. It’s evolved as offenses have become more run-pass option reliant, but the principle stays the same, as does the emphasis on gang tackling and speed to close out on ball carriers.

As he’s moved from program to program, he’s kept some familiar assistants in place. Brian Odom and Roy Manning worked under Grinch at Washington State and Oklahoma and will serve as the inside and outside linebackers coaches, respectively, at USC.

“We see a lot of the things the same way,” Odom said Thursday.

They are joined by former Michigan defensive line coach Shaun Nua and cornerbacks Donte Williams, fresh off his stint as USC interim head coach. As a group, they will have a lot of work to do to get the Trojans’ defense back on track after it finished 11th in the Pac-12 in points allowed last season.

USC lost four starters to the NFL draft and several other contributors to the transfer portal. The new coaching staff has made efforts to restock the shelves, from five-star cornerback Domani Jackson to transfers like Alabama linebacker Shane Lee and Colorado cornerback Mekhi Blackmon, in addition to returning players like Nick Figueroa, Isaiah Pola-Mao, Tuli Tuipulotu and Korey Foreman.

So there is talent on the roster, even if depth at certain positions like defensive tackle and middle linebacker remains a concern. But Grinch will have much to do, even down to the basics of teaching Trojans how to tackle properly.

“There’s a lot to be done in a short period of time but what you saw was I think a fairly competitive group,” Grinch said. “That’s something that’s kind of early on in the process, saying a lot of guys looking to compete, which is a good starting point.”

ocregister.com

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