USC looks to ‘mix it up’ as defensive line struggles to rack up sacks
Trojans are the only Big Ten team whose secondary and middle linebackers have more sacks than the defensive linemen
USC safety Akili Arnold tackles MARYD QB Billy Edwards Jr. during the first half of their game Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in College Park, Md. (AP Photo/Alyssa Howell)
Luca Evans (OC Register) — LOS ANGELES — It would be foolish for him, Jamil Muhammad theorized, to worry about sacks. Foolish, because he was once a three-star kid out of Alabama who had once signed with Vanderbilt and somehow ended up at Georgia Southern and somehow ended up in Southern California. Foolish, because he was once a high school quarterback who’s now a 260-pound defensive end four years later. He’d clung to his football life, for years. His exact sack count wasn’t a concern.
‘I mean, this thing we call life is just a daily fight,” the senior said a couple weeks ago, still without a single sack in 2024 after leading USC with 6.5 the year before.
And yet, the chance that slipped away still haunted him.
Two Saturdays ago, as fourth-quarter minutes ticked away and Penn State was pinned on a fourth-and-10 from the 40-yard-line, Muhammad timed a snap perfectly and burst untouched through the middle toward quarterback Drew Allar. He bounced off running back Nick Singleton, helpless to stand in the way of a charging bull that once weighed all of 208 pounds in high school. Muhammad dove for Allar, as the quarterback rolled right.
He missed. Allar stepped up, hit a receiver for a first down, and Penn State went on to score a game-tying touchdown in a brutal USC overtime loss.
“Yeah, could’ve been game right there … I’m sure I’ll be in a lot more positions like that,” Muhammad said.
He was, last Saturday against Maryland. Muhammad led USC with three quarterback pressures and a hit on the Terrapins’ Billy Edwards Jr.
Still, no sacks.
USC’s defensive front has often looked transformed against the run in 2024. But they’ve been one of the least productive pass-rush units in the Big Ten, both in pressures and sacks, as the season’s midway point has passed.
It’s presented a unique challenge for defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn, who – outside of his squad getting repeatedly torched by Penn State tight end Tyler Warren in a loss two weekends ago – has shown an equally unique ability to adapt to enemy personnel and his own. On Saturday, needing to create some form of pressure against a Maryland program that treated running the football like a contagious disease, Lynn continued to throw virtually his entire on-field unit in eccentric blitz packages.
Linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold got a first-quarter sack, his first of the season. Safety Kamari Ramsey added another on USC’s most crucial defensive play of the game, careening off the edge on a late fourth down that seemingly sealed the game for the Trojans before the disaster that unfolded in Maryland.
Through seven games, USC has more sacks from its middle linebackers and secondary (5.5) than its defensive line (2.5) – the only team in the Big Ten with such a distribution.
“We’re going to keep on trying to mix it up,” Lynn said Wednesday, “and give different people opportunities.”
He’ll have to, if USC hopes to affect opposing quarterbacks. When asked the formula to figuring out pass-rush momentum a few weeks ago, Lynn answered “the guys just developing into pass-rushers,” not exactly heaping praise on USC’s edge and interior group.
“I think they’ve gotten better,” Lynn said, then. “And then from our end, from a schematic standpoint, how can we put them in the best positions to succeed?”
Sophomore Devan Thompkins (98) made his second consecutive start at defensive tackle in Maryland, but didn’t record a single pressure. Braylan Shelby, a clear breakout candidate in the fall, had a season-high four pressures against the Terrapins but hasn’t been able to consistently hunt opposing quarterbacks. It could all mean more snaps for true freshman Kameryn Fountain, a 6-foot-6 athletic marvel who saw his first defensive action since Week Two against Maryland.
“It’s going to just depend on the flow of the game,” Lynn said last week, “but Kam is going to be a guy that, his role is going to continue to grow.”
In the meantime, though, Lynn’s best option may be a continued dosage of safety and weakside-linebacker blitzes, as USC continues to try to finish games – and finish one-on-one battles against linemen.
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USC football doesn’t pay nearly enough attention to detail IMO.
Failure to take care of the little things is always a killer.
The Trojans also seem to be on the wrong end of the field position game way too much even though we have a great punter.
These are obviously coaching issues, which I also suspect have to do with Zach Branch’s disappointing season, resulting in many missed special team opportunities.
I’m still trying to process the loss of Fernando, a baseball hero who was younger than me. At the end of the day I heard the news and it was especially strange because Friday the World Series is on Fox just before USC plays. Historically that means “we join the game already in progress” will be a possibility. So I am going to be at a concert, and not able to record the whole game for a few reasons including the World Series. I went through the guide on my Cox box and when the game finally appeared I clicked… Read more »
30 years ago, Aaron Boone and Dave Roberts played in the USC-UCLA rivalry. Now they’re managing in Dodgers-Yankees World Series. Steve Henson (LA Times) — The video is grainy, but Dave Roberts’ thin mustache and Aaron Boone’s peach fuzz are discernible. The year was 1992 and the future managers of the Dodgers and New York Yankees were 19-year-old freshmen immersed in a rousing chapter of Los Angeles’ prominent college rivalry. Now Roberts, 52, and Boone, 51, will lead major league titans in the World Series beginning Friday at Dodger Stadium. Since college, they ascended on parallel paths, enjoying solid professional playing careers punctuated by a single… Read more »
Our season is now that of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic–we’re still having a disappointing season at the end of the year with a crappy bowl game–if we are lucky.
I have to agree except the players are usually in the right place to make the stop on defense. The coaching on defense has gotten better, the players haven’t. (Although losing two true starters hasn’t helped) Football is a game where everyone has to do their job. It takes ten players to get one man free to make the sack. If he misses, then no sack. Earlier in the season we saw more sacks and rushes because everyone was doing their jobs. Now everyone is trying but not winning their battles.
Sophomore 
USC football doesn’t pay nearly enough attention to detail IMO.
Failure to take care of the little things is always a killer.
The Trojans also seem to be on the wrong end of the field position game way too much even though we have a great punter.
These are obviously coaching issues, which I also suspect have to do with Zach Branch’s disappointing season, resulting in many missed special team opportunities.
I’m still trying to process the loss of Fernando, a baseball hero who was younger than me. At the end of the day I heard the news and it was especially strange because Friday the World Series is on Fox just before USC plays. Historically that means “we join the game already in progress” will be a possibility. So I am going to be at a concert, and not able to record the whole game for a few reasons including the World Series. I went through the guide on my Cox box and when the game finally appeared I clicked… Read more »
30 years ago, Aaron Boone and Dave Roberts played in the USC-UCLA rivalry. Now they’re managing in Dodgers-Yankees World Series. Steve Henson (LA Times) — The video is grainy, but Dave Roberts’ thin mustache and Aaron Boone’s peach fuzz are discernible. The year was 1992 and the future managers of the Dodgers and New York Yankees were 19-year-old freshmen immersed in a rousing chapter of Los Angeles’ prominent college rivalry. Now Roberts, 52, and Boone, 51, will lead major league titans in the World Series beginning Friday at Dodger Stadium. Since college, they ascended on parallel paths, enjoying solid professional playing careers punctuated by a single… Read more »
Our season is now that of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic–we’re still having a disappointing season at the end of the year with a crappy bowl game–if we are lucky.
Kind of ironic. For all the off-season change, nothing has changed, results-wise.
I have to agree except the players are usually in the right place to make the stop on defense. The coaching on defense has gotten better, the players haven’t. (Although losing two true starters hasn’t helped) Football is a game where everyone has to do their job. It takes ten players to get one man free to make the sack. If he misses, then no sack. Earlier in the season we saw more sacks and rushes because everyone was doing their jobs. Now everyone is trying but not winning their battles.