- The Friday scrimmage at the Coliseum, which is closed to the public, will be a tackling affair. For the remaining healthy players, Lane Kiffin wants them to stay physical and learn to tackle in a live setting.
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The injury numbers are only slightly improved with 22 players missing today. However, Marqise Lee continues to progress and play a bigger role in practice. - S Dion Bailey is the latest injury concern as he is relegated to crutches because of a hip issue, but Kiffin called him day-to-day, and said, "It is not as bad as it looks."
- The quarterbacks were sharp in team drills today. Cody Kessler threw a rocket to Xavier Grimble for a touchdown, while Max Wittek used his mobility to buy time before lofting a perfect touch pass to the corner of the end zone for Nelson Agholor.
- Kiffin came away impressed with the defensive line. In particular, he admired the work ethic of George Uko and Devon Kennard. "Once again, 90 and 42 really brought it today," said Kiffin. "Those two guys, every practice, every day, every drill, regardless of what it is, bring a championship effort. You want to see how to practice like a champion, watch those two guys."
- The front seven is loaded with experience and elite talents, but the secondary, and the cornerbacks in particular, remain a question mark. "No, not really," said Kiffin about any player standing out. "Guys still have ups and downs, and flash and get beat, so it really has not shown itself yet. I think tomorrow will be big."
- Kevon Seymour (pictured) played only briefly during an injury plagued freshman season, but he is likely going to be thrust into a starting role this season. "There's no pressure at all. I'm just out here having fun and competing," said Seymour about the competition with Torin Harris, Anthony Brown and Devian Shelton. "Whoever gets the starting spot, you get it. I'm just trying to win games."
- In fairness to the cornerbacks, it is not easy to look consistently good covering Marqise Lee and Nelson Agholor rep after rep. "We've got great receivers, and it's good going up against them every day. Anybody beats you, you've just got to forget about it," said Seymour. "You've got to have a lot of confidence, but also you have to be very humble."
- Seymour patterns his game after a pair of No. 21s, Deion Sanders and Nickell Robey. "I try to look like [Deion] and carry my technique over like him. Last year, Nickell helped me a lot."
- Speaking of all-time greats, Mike Williams attended practice today. He is looking to become a coach, and spoke to the team a couple weeks ago. Kiffin was Williams' position coach at USC. "That's what they used to look like," Kiffin joked.
- Here is the head coach's entire presser with lots of quarterback talk...
