University Southern California Trojans
2017 Fall Camp #1: Notes
July 29, 2017 | Football, USC Ripsit Blog, Features
Preparation for the 2017 season has officially begun for USC football. The Trojans took the field today for their first official practice of Fall Camp, under the shining LA sun and in front of hundreds of Trojan faithful.
- Including the return of WR Steven Mitchell Jr. and DL Kenny Bigelow from season-ending injuries, the Trojans are mostly healthy heading into 2017. Full injury report from Saturday's practice: S Matt Lopes (dislocated toe, out a week), OL Frank Martin (hamstring, day-to-day), DB Jonathan Lockett (hip, will likely need surgery). LB Tayler Katoa and OL Nathan Smith were both out, recovering from ACL surgery.
- Redshirt sophomore QB Sam Darnold is healthy and has a good head on his shoulders heading into the 2017 season. In addition to improving his game and leadership skills over the summer, the leading Heisman candidate learned to deal with increasing attention on himself and his team. "We're just focusing on ourselves," Darnold said. "Any expectations that anyone has, our expectations are higher on the inside. We're just going to continue to work hard, focus on ourselves, and good things are gonna come out of that."
- One of USC's main focuses during Fall Camp is replacing three starters on the offensive line. USC head coach Clay Helton is getting the team prepared by "double-training" Nico Falah and Toa Lobendahn and both center and tackle positions. "Both guys are really healthy — they looked good today," said Helton. "Those two guys have been rocks for us and are going to need to work at both positions."
- Viane Talamaivao, who will start at guard alongside Falah and Lobendahn this season, explained, "We have guys who have played multiple positions and we have guys with experience. I think camp is just a matter of getting that chemistry down."
- The team is also working on building chemistry with the true freshman class, who showcased its talent for the first time on Saturday. "The freshmen have done a great job about not saying anything, just working," claimed Darnold. "I think that's the best trait that these freshmen have. They're big, they're athletic, and they work really hard. But that's the most exciting thing, I think."
- Helton singled out interior linemen Brandon Pili, Jay Tufele, Jacob Lichtenstein and spring enrollee Marlon Tuipulotu as the most impressive freshmen of the day.
- Freshman wideout Joseph Lewis IV also made a number of nice catches, inciting cheers from the Trojan fans on the sidelines.
- Saturday's practice was open to the public, as is Monday's practice at 3:30 p.m. A new NCAA rule which declares August a dead period for recruiting has forced USC to close all other Fall Camp practices going forward to the general public. "If there is even a prospect's grandfather, uncle, grandpa, it's too hard to monitor," said Helton. "It was awesome having the fans out there, I want it every time that we can get it — that's why we opened up this practice, we'll open it Monday, and then we've got to calm things down a little bit until we get through the August period, because I don't want to get us in trouble, and I don't want to risk the eligibility of any student-athlete."
- In other USC news, four Trojans have changed their numbers for the 2017 season: Mitchell Jr. changed from 7 to 4, DB Jack Jones changed from 1 to 25, Keyshawn "Pie" Young changed from 17 to 15 and moved from DB to WR and Jacob Daniel changed from 92 to 52, moving from DL to OL.
Players Mentioned
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C-OG
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Saturday, October 17
Saturday, October 17
Saturday, October 17
