Pac-12 training camp preview: QBs, DCs, edge rushers and search for breakout stars…
Jon Wilner (Bay Area News Group) — Training camp begins this week across the conference and, admittedly, the development would have prompted mild interest around Hotline HQ in past years.
We learned our lesson in 2021.
The Pac-12’s abysmal early-season showing, which included losses to Montana, Nevada, Northern Arizona, Utah State, BYU, San Diego State and Fresno State, underscored the significance of training camp as a tool for evaluation and positioning teams to win immediately.
Sure, there was a COVID hangover last season resulting from limited practices and games during the prior 12 months. Stamina and physicality clearly were not up to standard when Sept. ’21 arrived.
But COVID wasn’t the sole reason the conference underperformed a year ago.
We saw numerous instances of head coaches picking the wrong quarterback: Oregon State, Stanford, Utah, Arizona and Washington State all started the season with their best option on the bench.
The situation this month is vulnerable to additional whiffs in judgment, with seven teams likely to have new starters.
Our preview of Pac-12 training camp begins there …
1. The QB Carousel
That wasn’t a misprint: At least seven teams are expected to have new starting quarterbacks after an offseason in which the transfer portal loomed large.
USC is set with Caleb Williams, the Oklahoma transfer. So is Arizona with Jayden de Laura, who’s coming off an impressive rookie year for Washington State. The Cougars, in turn, have a replacement lined up in Cameron Ward, the talented transfer from Incarnate Word who will be playing in a familiar system.
The next level of quarterback security finds Oregon with Bo Nix, the former Auburn starter; Cal with Jack Plummer, who threw 492 career passes for Purdue; Arizona State, which found Florida’s Emory Jones late in the transfer cycle; and Washington, where Michael Penix Jr., the Indiana transfer, is our frontrunner for the job.
Meanwhile, Oregon State’s Chance Nolan and Colorado’s Brendon Lewis are returning starters who seemingly must cement their status this month to earn the starting spot.
That’s another way of saying only Stanford (Tanner McKee), UCLA (Dorian Thompson-Robinson) and Utah (Cam Rising) have returning starters and no competition.
Should be an interesting month.
2. The DC Overhaul
Far less easy to assess than the quarterback competitions, but only slightly less significant, is the massive turnover at defensive coordinator.
Arizona hired Johnny Nansen, who spent the previous two years on UCLA’s staff.
The Bruins replaced Jerry Azzinaro, the source of deep fan frustration, with Bill McGovern.
Arizona State elevated Donnie Henderson to the post after Antonio Pierce escaped to the NFL.
New USC coach Lincoln Riley brought along his defensive guru from Oklahoma, Alex Grinch.
New Oregon coach Dan Lanning hired Tosh Lupoi, a veteran of several Pac-12 teams and one-time coordinator for Nick Saban.
In Seattle, Kalen DeBoer brought his defensive staff from Fresno State, including co-coordinator William Inge.
Oregon State promoted Trent Bray to the full-time coordinator prior to the LA Bowl, so he’s not completely new to the task.
And Washington State has hired Brian Ward to run the defense that head coach Jake Dickert oversaw last season.
All in all, just four teams (Stanford, Cal, Utah and Colorado) are starting 2022 with the same defensive coordinators they employed at the beginning of 2021.
The speed with which they install and ingrain their systems will be vital, and challenging. Starting defenses throughout the conference are stocked with newcomers and inexperienced returnees.
3. Off the Edge
From our vantage point, the area of greatest intrigue this month (other than quarterback, of course) is the state-of-play at edge rusher.
Why? Because pocket pressure is essential, because the conference needs a flag-bearer off the edge following the departure of Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeau, and because the existing pool of talent carries fascinating subplots.
Is Washington’s Zion Tupuola-Fetui fully recovered from the Achilles injury suffered in the spring of 2021? If so, he has All-American potential.
Will the Murphy twins, Gabriel and Grayson, have the desired impact on UCLA’s pressure generation after arriving from North Texas?
Will Van Fillinger become Utah’s next elite pocket crusher and fill the void left by Mike Tafua? What about Mohamoud Diabate, the Florida transfer, or Gabe Reid, the Stanford arrival?
Where is the pressure point on Oregon’s seemingly stellar front seven? Is Brandon Dorlus ready for the role? Or perhaps Justin Flowe?
Will any of USC’s edge options, which include ASU transfer Eric Gentry (left) and former No. 1 recruit Korey Forman, materialize?
4. Top Talent
Our final area of keen interest this month is not restricted by position, system or side of the ball.
It’s a broad search for talent … for Day One draft talent.
In its latest ranking of 2023 NFL Draft prospects, Pro Football Focus includes just three Pac-12 players in the top-32 slots: Stanford’s McKee (No. 17), USC receiver Jordan Addison (No. 25) and Oregon linebacker Noah Sewell (No. 30).
The situation will change many times over before April, but the Pac-12 seemingly has a paucity of elite players across all units.
Who’s the next Laviska Shenault or Rachaad White?
If breakout stars are to emerge, the first clues should appear this month.
ocregister.com
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This season will be all about “our new guy can beat your new guy.” I tend to think one reason writers are giving Utah their pick to win the PAC 12 is because they have the most known commodity in the conference . I believe we have the best new guy in every position, so I expect to see it proven this season.
Very sound logic Rialto. Nobody knows what to expect from USC this year. That is why we are all so excited, can’t wait for season to start.
By mistake***
Many think Baker Mayfield is the favorite to start for the Carolina Panthers, but NFL.com’s Nick Shook says Mayfield is off to a poor start in training camp.
“Baker Mayfield still has the edge, and you won’t find many folks believing Sam Darnold can usurp him. But Mayfield isn’t off to the hottest start in camp history,” Shook wrote.
It’s still early days, but I’m still squarely in Darnold’s camp. He’s one of my favorite USC QBs, especially when it came to making spectacular plays. Come on Sam. Beat out Mayfield and make this team your own.
I am on the Sam Darnold bandwagon and want him to be a good NFL QB. Think his big mistake was leaving for the NFL too early and before he learnt to read defenses. Being able to read defenses and make the right pass and play is a huge factor. Sanchez with the Jets also left for the NFL one year too early. If they had stayed one more year to work on reading defenses their careers would have been much different. Sam’s ball throwing talent is very good and so is his escapability. His arm is more than NFL… Read more »
The fact that Sam has stuck around this long is proof he has the talent. Too bad he had to be trained by the worst in the business at USC. Another year of CH would have probably gotten him injured and out of football completely. He was smart to get out and get some true professional coaching, although going to the Jets did not help his career much.
That’s right for both Mark Sanchez and Sam.The Jets were QB killers having little talent on the line & skill positions.
Sanchez should have stayed˜his senior year and upped his value as PC had a good team ready for another championship run.Sam on the other hand
needed to escape the possibility of seriously getting injured under the
CAT’s inability to develop anything.
Maliki Crawford, 2023 Oxnard Pacifica 4-star CB, commits to USC In two years at Pacifica, the versatile 6-3.5, 180-pound Crawford made 81 tackles and had two picks. 247Sports.com ranks Crawford as the No. 23 CB nationally and the 211th overall 2023 prospect. Crawford, very tall for a CB, was committed to UCLA as recently as January. Sorry Bruins! Crawford received 18 offers and chose USC over ARIZ, CAL, FSU, MIA, MICH, ORE and UW. Crawford — “I committed to USC for a lot of reasons. I like their player development and I have great relationships with the coaching staff. I… Read more »
I love having tall CBs if they have loose hip action so they can turn and cover wideouts on deep patterns. They can play physical at the line but catch up if a WR goes past him.
If he ends up better at safety, fine with me.
I can’t off the cuff come up with names of superior CBs who are that tall. I’m sure there are a couple, but they are a huge rarity.
Perhaps with his given abilities this is the corner of the future. It is hard to figure why a 6’3″ guy cannot play the position if his abilities match those of someone 2-3 inches shorter. Perhaps LR and Grinch know where they want to place him, so I will trust their judgement. He has to have speed or LR would not recruit him.
Maliki Crawford — “They feel with my versatility I could play Cornerback, Nickel and Safety for them. It all depends on matchups. I could end up playing three positions in one game.”
Yeah, but look how tall some WRs and TEs are these days..
Safeties cover those guys too, especially the increasingly important TEs. Ronnie Lott was primarily known as a safety, both free and strong, and could also play corner if needed. Versatility to help out a team where it needs assistance seems like a Maliki Crawford advantage. Gil Brandt surprisingly only ranked Lott as his #3 safety of all time, when most others would give Lott the #1 spot. Brandt’s top 32 (USC’s had some great ones): 32 Dennis Smith (30 career picks) 31 Leroy Butler 30 Carnell Lake 29 Nolan Cromwell 28 Eric Weddle 27 Jack Tatum 26 Cam Chancellor 25… Read more »
“Crawford, very tall for a CB”, that .5″ makes all the difference! 😂 Seriously, having DBs as tall as WRs makes so much sense as long as they have the speed and vertical leap.
Scott Schrader (WeAreSC) claims Crawford (who really committed to USC last week during an unofficial visit) is really 6-4. He seems to be growing. Schrader — “Crawford has tremendous length with his 6-4 frame and long arms, much like Calen Bullock. Bullock isn’t quite as tall as Crawford, but their games are extremely similar. Bullock came to USC as a cornerback, but was needed at safety last season. Safety is where he’ll remain as we approach Spring Ball in two weeks. (Bullock has since nailed down one of two USC safety spots).” If you look at Crawford’s tape (where he… Read more »