USC is still trying to find the right combination at tight end
Trojans are hoping to play more 12 personnel in 2021 if they can find two reliable tight ends to make that formation finally work
Adam Grosbard (OC Register) — One thing USC football has experimented with during spring practices is playing with two-tight end sets, or 12 personnel. It’s the product of being in the third year in the Air Raid offense, which allows you to install more packages.
USC has been playing down several receivers during camp, so tight ends are being asked to do more.
“Being able to go from a pass-game set to a run-game set and not change personnel,” tight ends coach Seth Doege said Tuesday, “if we can find two tight ends that we feel really good about, man, watch out. It’s going to be dangerous.”
Finding those reliable tight ends has often been the rub for USC. It’s a position frequently forgotten in the passing game in recent years.
But Doege, in his first spring camp since being promoted from quality control analyst to position coach, has a larger pool of tight ends to evaluate than in past seasons at USC.
The returning starter is Erik Krommenhoek (above), who in six games last season had the first two touchdown catches of his career. Though he had just nine receptions for 59 yards in 2020, assuming he kept the same pace through a 13-game season, Krommenhoek would have broken his career highs (11 and 122).
Krommenhoek was one of the seniors who opted to stay for his extra season of eligibility.
“I think losing last year to Oregon at home in the Coliseum was a sick feeling,” he said. “You want to win that Pac-12 game, you want to get back to the College Football Playoff.”
Doege says he feels Krommenhoek is the most improved player this spring for USC. And the assistant coach was happy with the performance of Josh Falo before a bone bruise sidelined him last week.
But one standout to Doege this fall has been true freshman Lake McRee. An early enrollee out of Texas powerhouse Lake Travis High in Auston, McRee has shown his football instincts in spring ball and his ability to move to the slot.
“His only deal is we have to develop his body, let him mature physically,” Doege said of the 6-foot-5, 220-pound McRee. “He doesn’t have a problem throwing his body around because he’s fearless, but we have to put a little more mass on him.”
USC will add another true freshman, Michael Trigg, during the fall. Doege has been happy with the adjustment Sean Mahoney is making to tight end and expects to see last fall’s rising star at the position, Jude Wolfe, back soon after foot surgery. And Ethan Rae is adjusting to football again after two injury-plagued seasons.
“The culture in the room has been established the last couple years, so I’m just continuing to build on that,” Doege said. “They’ve made the transition a lot easier than most would.”
__________
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.
The NCAA hit Southern California’s men’s basketball program with two years’ probation on Thursday because a former assistant coach violated NCAA ethics rules when he accepted a bribe to steer players to a business management company.
The Division I Committee on Infractions announced the penalties, which include a $5,000 fine and a 1% loss of the private school’s basketball budget. The probation, which does not include a postseason ban, runs until April 14, 2023.
USC’s “Exemplary Cooperation” wins the day. Official baby wrist slap. I’m happy for Enfield and USC hoops. Nice save by Enfield. The $5,000 fine is symbolically lenient. I don’t think you could be fined less, though the 1% budget forfeiture is a penalty I haven’t heard of before. I wonder what that comes to? Poor Tony Bland’s life has been ruined (still under 3-year show-cause order), but at least he avoided jail time, if not purgatory, with his guilty plea. USC played this one absolutely correctly. The NCAA expressly noted that USC displayed “exemplary cooperation” and self-imposed meaningful penalties in… Read more »
“We Cooperated and our Reward is Obvious. What do you think Mike Garrett about that outcome?” Our football product is still being damaged because you wouldn’t cooperate. 🖕
I know there are a lot of Mike Garrett defenders out there. And USC has probably never had an AD, or athletic official, whoever wanted USC to win more. I grant him that. A very unique man, who unfortunately knew how to create enemies way too easily. Garrett certainly botched the Reggie Bush deal big-time because he refused to play the game. As a result, he pissed off the evil judge/jury/executioner NCAA and USC suffered the worst of consequences for that massive, irresponsible miscalculation. Had Mike Bohn been our AD during the brutal, illegal Bush takedown, the penalties would have… Read more »
Granted, MG wasn’t going to bend over and beg for forgiveness for what he nor the University could control, dealing with what happened some 100 miles away in San Diego. How could that have been prevented? Too many felt the NCAA had it in for USC and no matter how MG reacted, the penalty was going to be the same.
That wasn’t the moment in time that bothered me as much as his BS, snarky statements during our appeal. That’s when any AD should show that he has the intellectual horsepower/maturity to lead. But no, he was far too arrogant. Our current AD did not make that mistake and thus, the better outcome for USC.
Sorry, sounds like you’re a big Mike Garrett apologist. I’m just not buying it, probably because I was a litigation lawyer and fully realize how much total devastation a guy like Garrett could do to our chances of any success. It’s simply complete bull to think the penalties would have been as horrific had an experienced, intelligent, respected, savvy AD been in place to steer USC away from Garrett’s near-death penalty course. Of course, Garrett would never have the guts to apologize. But he never had to actually. All he had to do was keep his big fat mouth shut,… Read more »
I have read no where…… that MG was fired by Haden!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Do you care? I don’t. What difference does it make? Haden replaced him. Nikias, Haden’s buddy, finally fired him.
Why is USC waiting to fire bumbling athletic director Mike Garrett? (SI.com, Michael Rosenberg, June 14, 2010) This is Mike Garrett’s world, and nobody else is living in it. In Garrett’s world, all logic is circular: USC is never wrong, therefore USC is never wrong. Nobody else is buying the denials anymore. Nobody else is buying the delusions. USC went on a cheating spree, got caught and got sentenced, and Garrett is still playing the victim. Judging from the way he has handled this USC scandal from the beginning, Garrett seems like the kind of guy who would sucker-punch you… Read more »
I don’t believe the press anymore. Everything from mainstream media has a strong taint of strong—well, let’s just say, “anti-individualism, pro-big organization” viewpoint. Not what I thought my country was about. Sporting Press, especially national groups like ESPN and SI will be sure to take the side of the big group. Certainly, SI pushed this point of view with SC’s troubles.
Actually, the press rips apart the NCAA all the time. They’re practically an evil culture whipping boy. And the truth is, Pete Carroll may have known a lot more about the Reggie Bush problem than he ever let on. We’ll never know the whole story. Teflon Pete was always very slick and smart with how to negotiate through issues. And he never cooperated with the NCAA in its investigation. He just strung them along and said he knew nothing. Without any deposition powers, the NCAA couldn’t touch Pete and his golden image. He basically just said whatever he wanted without… Read more »
And nobody, as a result, believed that Todd McNair, Reggie’s position coach, didn’t know — and we have a pretty good idea now just how rich Todd could end up being. I hope he bankrups the NCAA so college sports can start over and get it right the 2nd time, although I doubt it — just mark it down as wishful thinking.
Todd’s life was basically ruined for quite a while. I’m so glad to see him with the Super Bowl-winning Tampa Bay Bucs now. How cool is that?!
I hope he settles with the NCAA now that he has somewhat of an upper legal hand. Any other outcome will just be appealed over and over by the NCAA, until another 20 years goes by.
This is sad news Allen. I just heard that Chris Brown has died at the age of 24. No cause was given to my knowledge.
The distance of the violations from the SC campus was the bright shining example of the NCAA and member schools (and I posit some of the schools in our lousy conference) hard a hard-on to give us the SMU treatment. The fact that Paul Dee (our judge, jury and executioner mentioned elsewhere) from the U at Miami was chairman of the infractions committee at the very time when his Hurricane football players were getting big time cash rewards from local rap stars; of which the NCAA said “move along, nothing to see here.”. You have to go to Washington, DC… Read more »
Seth Doege, Stanford has been using your brilliant idea for years.
You mean first year asst Seth isn’t a genius?
Allen,
You were dead on, Lloydwent to Arizona. I didn’t think it would happen. I think the writing was on the wall that Few isn’t stepping down at Gonzaga any time soon. I can’t blame the guy for leaving.
he will be tough at Zona, that is a great hire.
Lucky guess, but he was always the frontrunner. Big repair job ahead!
I’ll be very curious to see how hard the NCAA hits the Wildcats, but I suspect they’ll be bringing in the big-time recruits as usual. Overall, this is good for the Pac-12 IMO.
Speaking of the USC RB competition:
Antonio Morales (The Athletic) — “It’ll be interesting to see how the rest of the rotation shakes out between Stephen Carr, true freshman Brandon Campbell — who rips off some of the team’s longest runs in practice — and Kenan Christon Jr., who is currently working with the track team.
I’m thinking less and less that speedy Christon Jr (remember, he had lost A LOT of weight) will ever carry the ball for USC again, especially with USC’s desire to abandon the tailback-by-committee approach (which I am totally in favor of).
What gets me is why they don’t try to get Christon the ball in open field and let him use his tremendous speed.
There’s lots of fast track guys who aren’t good football players and maybe Christon is one of them. Adoree Jackson he isn’t. He appeared in five games (all but ORE) in 2020 and ran for 70 yds on 10 carries (7.0 avg) and caught two passes for no yds. He often was deep on kickoffs, yet never had a single return. I’ll stick my neck way out and again surmise we’ve seen the last of him, unless USC gets a big lead on someone and they throw him in the game late, or he finds a way to return a kick.… Read more »
Perhaps he knows he isn’t nfl bound and has decided to focus on track and let football pay for the education he is getting.
USC is basically Sprinter U. Good luck to Christon. I really hope he can help the Trojans out there!
Dane Brugler (The Athletic) ranks Alijah Vera-Tucker as the #1 OG in the Draft: 1. ALIJAH VERA-TUCKER | USC 6-4 | 308 lbs. | rJR. Oakland, Calif. (Bishop O’Dowd) 6/17/1999 (age 21.87) #75 BACKGROUND: Solomon Alijah Vera-Tucker (VARE-uh-TUK-ur) was born and raised in Oakland and grew up in two households after his parents divorced when he was young. Both of his parents remarried and he added the name of his mother’s second husband (Sylvester Vera) in high school. Vera-Tucker started playing football at Bishop O’Dowd High School and became a starter as a sophomore, earning first team All-League honors in… Read more »
I realize an OL is 5 players, but I still am amazed that the SC OL could have two NFL first round talents on the same OL and it just plain stink. Either the other three are just awful and there is something very wrong with the coaching and/or scheme.
The Big Three
Colin Cowherd (a total Draft and recruiting nerd) — “There’s three offensive linemen that everybody likes. Everybody likes OT Penei Sewell (ORE), OG Rashawn Slater (NW, stock exploding lately), and OG/OT Alijah Vera-Tucker. Those are the only three that have no red flags or concerns.”
i know that spring football always produces false hopes or at the very least a hyper inflated story line or two, but I like what I’m reading from those who are there. Yesterday they ran goal line plays with QB under center. Apparently the O line actually won a few of the contests. Again, it may be hype but I’ll take it. Oklahoma drills leading off practices and tackling to the ground? Cant be. Seems like steps forward on fixing the soft practices of the past.
Jack Follman’s (SportsPac12) updated mock draft (in Cleveland on April 29-May 1):
13. Chargers – Alijah Vera-Tucker, Tackle, USC
The Chargers stay local to get Justin Herbert’s protection. AVT was superb in 2020 and it paid off, pushing him into the middle of the first round. His versatility will also be a huge value as he can play anywhere on the line, though a franchise left tackle is probably where the Chargers would like to have him most.
sportspac12.com
For those who feel that Carol Folt and Rick Caruso could ever actually lead USC football to any Ivy League-type, or lesser stature of any sort, does this SportsPac12 piece (partially reprinted) by Dane Miller on Arizona basketball affect your thinking about the future of USC football at all? Or not? “The uncertainty of the penalties from the NCAA remain, as does the damaging effect it has on recruiting, but the tradition of the Arizona program can’t be discounted. “In the long run, the choice to replace Sean Miller arguably isn’t going to make-or-break the program. “The Arizona basketball brand… Read more »
FYI — Markese Stepp is not participating in spring ball at NEB. Scott Frost says Stepp came to Lincoln with an injury he did not know he had and will return to the team this summer.
Personally, I don’t think Stepp, who once showed so much promise as a powerful back at USC, is going to be missed. He wasn’t the same runner last season from what I observed.
For his sake, I hope it isn’t like the injury Steven Carr suffered. Carr was a sensational RB his frosh year and then chipped his spine. He never recovered his prior form and instead became an average RB. Stepp was unbelievable until he injured his ankle against AZ. A true NFL level talent; I still remember him running over that Utah LB to lead the upset win in Coliseum. It was on the goal line and it was man on man. A hole opened and the LB was totally unblocked. Stepp just overpowered him and went in standing up. After… Read more »
KJ Allen, who was one of the featured players for East Los Angeles College on the inaugural season of Last Chance U: Basketball, announced on Instagram that he has flipped his commitment from USC to Texas Tech. “After careful consideration these last few weeks with my friends and family I have decided to decommit from USC,” Allen wrote. “I thank [USC head men’s basketball coach Andy Enfield] and his staff for their belief in me. I wish them the best. “I would like to thank all the schools that have recruited me and am very appreciative. At this time, I would like to… Read more »
My first memory of a great Tight End for USC was Bob Klein. Then Charles Young who played on the undefeated 1972 National Championship Team. In my years as an SC student, Jim Obradovich, James Hunter and Vic Rakshani all were very good TEs. Fred Davis, Alex Holmes, Randall Telfer are some guys who have played in more recent years. I’ll never forget Fred Cornwell’s catch of a last-minute TD pass from John Mazur against Oklahoma in 1981. I read in a FB Group that Slovis practiced some snaps under center in the last day or so. I’d love to… Read more »
I also liked Hoby Brenner, who’s in the New Orleans Saints HOF. John Allred was a second round pick of the Bears. Per Wiki, Allred currently owns “Toes on the Nose” surf shop in Laguna Beach on PCH. I’ll have to stop in there sometime. Allred’s older sister is Linda Allred, the wife of his close friend and former NFL safety/49er GM John Lynch. He and Lynch had a run-in during a 1997 NFL game that resulted in Allred almost getting knocked out from a hit. I also really liked Brad Banta, from Baton Rouge, who was in the League for 10… Read more »
Speaking of New Orleans, don’t forget Bob Miller (1969 I believe). OJ loved how he blocked for him on end runs.
Big Bob Miller (6-5, 229), from Compton Dominguez. Pretty good size for ’66-68.
One of USC’s centers when I started at USC in ’70 was Dave Brown, from Glendale. He was only listed at 6-0, 229 (probably exaggerated based on how he looked when I saw him around) and was All-Conference on the national championship team in ’72. Can you imagine a 230-pounder being ragdolled around trying to play OC today? Justin Dedich is 6-2, 300. Brett Neilon is 6-2, 305.
Ryan Kalil stands out the most, IMHO, on the List of great USC centers.
Agreed. But IMO, the center position hasn’t been one of USC football’s stronger positions over the years, actually. Maybe I’m focusing too much on their NFL careers. Kalil, from Anaheim Servite and another USC Morris Trophy winner, had an amazing 12-year NFL career and made the Pro Bowl five times. He started 152 NFL games. In 2011, he signed with the Panthers for six years and $49 million, making him the highest paid center in NFL history. Kalil (6-2, 300) ran a 4.94 forty at the 2007 NFL Combine and bench pressed 225 pounds 34 times. Wow. Carolina picked him in the 2nd round, 59th… Read more »
I agree with you 100% Allen! I had the pleasure of meeting John Allred’s parents at the Charlie Chaplin Inn in Montecito/Santa Barbara about 10 years ago. My son was playing in a Water Polo Tournament for Oaks Christian at Santa Barbara HS. I always liked to stay close rather than drive home to Westlake Village and then come back for an 8:00AM game the next day. By chance I was wearing my SC Polo shirt at breakfast and a very nice lady came up to say her son John played football for SC. I told her I had a… Read more »
I still run into strangers at markets, events, etc, and we’ll give each other the Fight On! sign if either has some USC garb on. I hope it’s always that way! ✌