2018 WSU Monday: Notes

The Trojans held a typical Tuesday practice today as their short game week begins.

USC head coach Clay Helton announced that kicker Chase McGrath will undergo surgery within the next two weeks to repair a torn ACL. He also announced that safety Isaiah Pola-Mao will undergo shoulder surgery this week on the same shoulder he injured his freshman year. Pola-Mao will miss the remainder of the season. Helton expects OG Andrew Vorhees (MCL) to play on Friday.

Helton also confirmed that USC LB Porter Gustin will miss the first half of this week's game vs. Washington State due to his penalty for targeting against Texas.

USC's defense faces a tough test this Friday in slowing down WSU QB Gardner Minshew II, who leads the nation in attempts (55) and yards (401) per game.

USC QB J.T. Daniels attempted a season-high 48 passes vs. Texas due largely in part to the fact that the Trojans were trying to mount a comeback. "When you're playing from behind, you're not going to be able to run the ball," he said. "There's no negative there, we were throwing the ball and we just kept going with it."

USC offensive coordinator Tee Martin explained that he also called more pass plays than run plays on Saturday to avoid negative yardage on first downs. "I was trying to get out of situations where it was second-and-long, which was leading to a lot of third-and-longs," he said. "If you run on first down, you can lose yards, and it's tough to go back to doing that when you're gaining yards when you're throwing the ball on first down."

Senior RB Aca'Cedric Ware (pictured) is hoping to get is due this Friday. "I've been itching to have a huge game since Stanford," he said. "I just know when the running backs do get the ball, we're going to make something happen, like always."

Ware was excited about the energy at practice today coming off the Trojans' tough loss. "Everybody came out with an attitude and a mindset that we're not losing no more," he said. "We've got to get better. And the only way to get better is to practice hard."

Ware noted that Helton also brought some extra fire to practice today. "We need a coach that's going to get on our tails when we're not doing things right," Ware said. "That just motivates us to get better, so it's appreciated."

Following two straight losses, Ware stressed the importance of leadership among his teammates. "You can't put everything on coaches, because coaches aren't always going to be there," he said. "Coaches aren't always in the locker room or our meetings. In order for us to get this thing done, it's going to take the team. It's not the coaches — they're not playing no more. It's a group effort. We need leadership from the coaches and we need leadership from the players."

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