Takeaways from USC’s first two-deep depth chart
Adam Grosbard (OC Register) — USC released its first two-deep depth chart of the season on Thursday ahead of the season opener against San Jose State. There were no shocking decisions, but still some enlightening revelations from the release. Here are a few takeaways.
1. Malcolm Epps secured the starting tight end job (or Y receiver, per depth chart) despite missing much of camp with turf toe. That shows USC’s trust in the Texas transfer and his knowledge of the playbook. True freshman Michael Trigg got the nod as Epps’ backup after a fall camp in which he wowed with his athleticism and his hands. Last year’s starter at tight end, Erik Krommenhoek, was listed as the first-string h-back, the 12th position on the offense, with Jude Wolfe behind him on the depth chart. USC has used some two-tight end sets in camp, so Krommenhoek will be utilized but not as much as in past years.
2. Let the redshirt freshmen reign on the offensive line. Courtland Ford secured the left tackle job while Jonah Monheim will start on the right side, supplanting last year’s starter Jalen McKenzie. The writing was on the wall in regards to this decision, but USC went with the players who had the best camps. There might be some growing pains early in the season, but Ford and Monheim are the future of the USC offensive line.
3. Another presumed decision was that USC’s 1A and 1B running backs would be Vavae Malepeai and Keaontay Ingram, and that is indeed the case, with both listed as the first-string backs for this coming weekend. TCU transfer Darwin Barlow and Kenan Christon get second-string distinction on the depth chart.
4. Everyone knew Drake Jackson would start at receiver, the question was who would take the jobs next to him. The answer, at least for this week, is Memphis transfer Tahj Washington and true freshman Joseph Manjack IV. Both impressed during camp, Washington with his route-running ability and Manjack with his athleticism and hands. Kyle Ford, John Jackson III and K.D. Nixon are listed as the backups, but Gary Bryant Jr. (in health and safety protocols this week) is not listed, so a shakeup to this position could be in the future once he returns.
5. There were no major surprises on the defensive side, where there haven’t been position battles. But USC isn’t tipping its hand for how it will handle nose tackle, with Stanley Ta’ufo’ou, Jamar Sekona and Kobe Pepe all listed as co-first stringers.
ocregister.com
___________
TrojanDailyBlog members — Always feel free to add information or topics to the TDB which don’t necessarily pertain to any particular moderator post or member comment.
USC 38 SJSU 21 London is unstoppable, Slovis is back, and the USC defense is that good.
Posted up for a big Saturday. Let’s go!
Nice to see some of the players now receiving some of the money that used to go exclusively to their colleges.
Money is king, and in fact worshipped, so the colleges fought hard and long to avoid paying their “servants and slaves” from receiving a penny of t.v. money.
The hypocrisy of the colleges has now been exposed. There is now a new king– the players!
Sorry, friend, but to compare a free college education with slavery is being disingenuous to slavery.
Woman often complains that her man treats her like a slave. Workers often say they are mistreated slaves. The use of the word has become so FREELY used that it is now merely a figure of speech…
And BTW, footballers are probably worked harder than the true slaves were.
Difference is the footballers are willing to do it, slaves have no choice. The word slavery is as misused and the word racist. Both over used with little power behind them.
Only difference now is that the players can take the money publicly, before it was under the table and quiet. The now impotent ncaa kept players down doing the dirty work for the schools. Amateurism is dead. Hopefully so is the ncaa.
A football game is similar to a game of chess because each game plays out differently. Hence, the attraction of both “sports.” And the “experts” seldom get it right in their college predictions. That is part of the reason of how ‘Vegas was able to build its monolithic casinos…
It is finally September 3, the eve of the avalanche of college games tomorrow. All of the estimations, the anticipations, the exclamations, the predictions, and forecasts will finally come to a head. Play ball!
Denny’s has announced an NIL deal with some of the nation’s top OLs from CLEM, OHIO ST, USC and ARK at PINE BLUFF. “The All-Pancaker team” consists of CLEM freshman tackle Tristan Leigh, OHIO ST RT Nicholas Petit-Frere, USC RT Jalen McKenzie and ARK at PINE BLUFF LT Mark Evans II. “At Denny’s, we love college football just as much as we love our pancakes and our patrons. Over the course of their promising athletic careers, these remarkable young players have perfected pancaking the opposition,” John Dillon, Denny’s EVP and Chief Brand Officer, said. “We couldn’t be more excited to work with Jalen, Mark,… Read more »
NIL is all about being in a big market and an aggressive agent. Advantage USC over other players who are maybe better but have no cache. Who is Mark Evans’ agent, or are the SEC OLs to expensive?
Rece Davis of GameDay sees a big challenge on Saturday for JT Daniels vs CLEM:
Davis — “JT certainly energized the Georgia offense last year, but it was not against the greatest defenses in the world, I don’t say that to cast disparages or say I don’t think he can do it. We just haven’t seen him against the level of defense that he is going to see tomorrow night.”
The Vibe from this article, Young and Inexperienced. Combine that with Helton mismanagement and that spells trouble. Looking for 10 men on field for special teams, delay of game penalty after a time out, we all know the drill by now.
But hey, as long as come Sunday I’m over 20K in credits I’ll be happy, right John?
Golden, The Kool Aid goes away tomorrow afternoon. SJS is a legitimate team, but has no where near the talent of SC. As Allen stated, Clay has yet to cover any opening game. My guess is SJS is better than AZ and probably on a par with CO. I can hardly wait to see what happens!
What’s that saying about serenity and expectations? The less I expect, the more serene I will be. It definitely applies to USC football. I don’t really expect USC to beat the 16.5 spread, but sooner or later, every blind squirrel finds a nut. As in, sooner or later, USC is bound to cover the point spread in an opening game. It’s just a statistical likelihood. USC has been under so much negative pressure the last several years that I figure its new strength and conditioning regimen has to be worth a few points. That’s where I’ll hang my hat —… Read more »
Not sure if you’re a Seinfeld fan, but all I can picture is George’s dad yelling “serenity now!”
😂👍
Festivus for the rest of us!
Tight end is a perfect example of guys not getting coached up.