Fall Camp #7: Notes

The Trojans held their first scrimmage of Fall Camp on Saturday.

USC head coach Clay Helton had his eyes on the quarterbacks during today's scrimmage, and he said JT Daniels and Jack Sears stood out. "I thought they both played very maturely," Helton said.

While seasoned wideouts like Velus Jones Jr. and Amon-Ra St. Brown made big plays today, Helton also praised freshmen Drake London and Munir McClain, and said they'll definitely see playing time this season. "In this offense, I think you've got to have eight receivers," he said. "You've got to have a two-deep that can go at any point in time. And those guys have showed that they can pick up the offense."

Helton has still been impressed with St. Brown's progress this offseason. "I thought he was phenomenal today," Helton said. "What really stood out to me is his yards after catch ... His ability in space to get open and then do something with it is special, and you can see why he's one of the best in the country."

The experienced WR corps got the better of the young DBs during one-on-ones, but Helton is confident that will help prepare the backs for game days. "I don't know if they'll go against a better group this year than what they're getting right now," Helton said. "And that's the way you want it: You hope that on Saturdays you're comfortable because you've gone against one of the best groups in the country ... So yeah, there's gonna be failures, but I'll bet you they learn from them and I'll bet you they end up looking better on Saturdays."

After giving up two long TDs at the beginning of practice, freshman corner Adonis Otey responded by nabbing his first interception of camp against fellow freshman QB Kedon Slovis during the two-minute drill.

Helton shifted the DBs around during today's scrimmage. "To be able to move Greg [Johnson] from corner to nickel when we need to and Chase [Williams] from nickel to safety, I thought was invaluable today to double-train those guys," he said.

Fifth-year senior linebacker John Houston took limited reps during today's practice. "He's like the quarterback for us and has gotten a lot of snaps in the first seven practices," Helton explained. "With Jordan [Iosefa] out, we really wanted to push Ralen [Goforth] and Eli'jah Winston and those guys a little bit forward and give them some invaluable reps."

Gallery: (8/10/2019) 2019 USC Football Fall Camp #7

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