Tuesday Morning Practice Notes

Today was the second two-a-day of fall camp for the Trojans, who began working this morning at 9am in shorts and helmets. Here are a few notes from this morning's practice...

• There's a long list of injured players that sat out practice or spent the majority of practice on the trainer's table. The list includes: Hershel Dennis, Marc Tyler, Emmanuel Moody, Desmond Reed, Travon Patterson, Mark Sanchez, Kevin Thomas, Cary Harris, Alfred Rowe, and Luther Brown.

• Vidal Hazelton attempted to participate in today's practice however he was pulled out of practice by Coach Morton. Morton apparently didn't want him practicing on a sore knee.

• Jamere Holland was practicing this morning. I'm hoping he will participate in the evening practice because I have yet to see him practice in full pads.

• Position Switch: Garrett Green the former quarterback turned safety turned quarterback is now working with the receivers. Green may be the most versatile athlete on the team. I wouldn't be surprised if I saw him kicking field goals tomorrow. I almost forgot that he also participated in kickoff coverage last season as well.

• As expected Aaron Corp received a lot of reps at quarterback today. The highlight of the day for Corp was a deep completion to Brandon Carswell down the right sideline. Or maybe it was when he scrambled out of the pocket throwing on the run to David Ausberry for a touchdown.

• I'm not sure whether or not Shareece Wright is injured but today the second string corners were Vincent Joseph and Jim Abbott. Scary I know.

• The defense continues to get pressure on the quarterback forcing JDB to throw the ball away or dump passes off to the tight ends.

• Joe McKnight had a good practice displaying soft hands catching out of the back field. The play of the day for McKnight was when he out-jumped Keith Rivers to haul in a pass from Booty in the redzone.

• Carroll spent time after practice talking to the receivers and tight ends about the importance of hand placement when making catches. Carroll used a number of receivers and tight ends to demonstrate his point as he rifled balls at them. Vidal Hazelton takes the prize for best hands.
  

The Trojans will return to Howard Jones at 4:00 pm. Unfortunately I don't believe anyone here at USC Sports Talk will be able to attend the evening practice.

Fight On!

Saturday Morning Practice Notes

The USC football team will conduct 4 days of two-a-day style practices during fall camp. On those days the team will have a morning practice at 9am and then return in the afternoon at 4pm. Saturday is the 1st two-a-day session of camp, and here are a few notes from the hour and a half long morning session, in which the players wore helmets and shorts...

• The team continued to work on special teams, and today the focus was on the punt coverage and field goal units. Junior kicker Dave Buehler had a solid workout, showing good accuracy and a strong leg. I didn't get a total count on his attempts, but his only miss came when he hit the right upright from at least 40 yards out. It is obvious that Buehler has the skill necessary to be an efficient kicker at this level, the only question is if that incredibly clutch 49 yard kick he made against UC-Berkeley last season was an aberration or a sign of things to come.
  

• The offensive star of the morning workout, again, was David Ausberry. This guy is a fucking "beast." I know the term "beast" has been overused lately, but Ausberry is very deserving of it. It's debatable whether he's the best WR on the team, but he's by far the most impressive. Just watching him play on the practice field makes you say "Wow!" He has soft hands and is a mismatch nightmare for whichever defensive back that lines up against him. With Travon Patterson and Jamere Holland sitting out, Ausberry often lined up at split end (X), with Ronald Johnson at flanker (Z), and Patrick Turner in the slot. That's a line-up that very few teams in college football can match-up against.
  

• Offensively, the first team offensive line and most of the running backs had a light session during the scrimmage type 11-on-11 team period. The focus during this period seemed to be on the passing game, as the offense went against the defense (which was rotating players regularly).
  

• There wasn't any contact, as the workout was brisk and smooth, but look for that to change in the afternoon session. We'll get a better look at the defense once the team comes out in full pads again.
  

Friday Practice Notes

The USC football team suited up in full pads today, for this time this fall, and entertained the crowd. The team went through their usual routine of individual position drills, but lined up for some live scrimmaging for much of the 2nd half of practice. PCbestever and I were able to attend the entire practice, and he'll fill you in with his thoughts on the LBs, DBs, offensive backs and WR's. Here's what I observed from the offensive and defensive lineman, and the team session...

• I spent most of the day watching the defensive line during the positional drills, and later the unit drills, when they combine with (and go up against) the offensive line. The focus of today's d-line drills was on defeating cut blocks (where offensive blockers dive at a defender's legs in order to get them to the ground). The younger players seemed to struggle early on, but got better as the drill progressed. The next drills emphasized hand use techniques such as swim moves and slapping a blocker's hand away. I must say, I'm very impressed with the hand speed and power of the Trojan d-linemen. The 1-on-1 battles between the offensive and defensive linemen featured some great match-ups. Starting left guard Jeff Byers in going to be nasty this season. He displayed incredible technique and physically dominated starting DT Fili Moala twice. Averell Spicer showed that he is ready to contribute at NT this season as he beat starting C Matt Spanos on the same pass rushing drill. The best battle of the drill however, was DE Kyle Moore going against All-World OT Sam Baker. Moore has a very quick first step and gave Baker all he could handle. There is no doubt in my mind that Moore will be the starter on the right side this season, as highly touted freshman DE Everson Griffen continues to learn what big time college football is all about. The o-line looks very solid and has not skipped a beat with Charles Brown filling in at RT for projected starter Drew Radovich.
  

• During the 11-on-11 team scrimmage segment, there wasn't really much separation at RB. Marc Tyler and Hershel Dennis didn't practice, and Broderick Green (along with WR Brandon Carswell) wasn't in full pads, which meant more carries for the 7 other backs. Redshirt freshman WR David Ausberry was the star of the day for the offense, showing off his big-play capability with an impressive touchdown grab in the back of the end zone. Ausberry's size is a definite mismatch for any opponent, and is making a strong case for extensive playing time this season. CB Jim Abbot had the hit of the day when he leveled sophomore RB Stafon Johnson, who had broken off a nice run on the play, with a crushing tackle that got Johnson off his feat and put him on his back.
  

• Joe McKnight had a sub-par workout today and, like Everson Griffen, is still getting introduced to the rigors of big time college football.

PCbestever what were your thoughts from Friday:

• Safety Will Harris did not participate in today's practice. Apparently he suffered a stinger in his neck after yesterday's vicious hit on Jamere Holland. The coaches held him out as precaution and he should be back for tomorrow's practices.

• Today Josh Pinkard took the majority of the first team reps at free safety alongside Kevin Ellison during the 11-on-11. When he wasn't with the first team at safety he was in at corner. Pinkard is playing very well and if he continues to play at such a high level there is no way the coaching staff will be able to keep him off the field.

• Linebacker of the day... Clay Matthews. Matthews had a great day in practice today. He was blowing by offensive linemen in the 11-on-11 team scrimmage, batting down passes, and chasing down ball carriers.

• Fielding punts today were the freshmen Joe McKnight, Brandon Carswell, and Ronald Johnson and senior Desmond Reed. The freshmen had difficulties holding on to the ball as Reed looked the most comfortable and consistent.
  

Thursday Practice Notes

Yet another beautiful day for football, unfortunately I couldn't stay for the entire practice. I left about half-way through practice when the players and coaches took a quick break to get hydrated. Here are a few notes from Thursday's practice...

• Apparently Scott Wolf was incorrect in reporting that Pete Carroll would miss today's practice as he was there running the show as usual.

• Will Harris continues to impress. No one with the ball is safe when Will Harris is on the field. Today's victim was Jamere Holland who got blasted while attempting to catch a pass. Holland couldn't hold on to the ball and fell to the ground. Holland was on the ground for a few seconds trying to remember who he was, then he headed over to the trainers table.

• Yesterday I commented on how impressive the freshman linebackers looked and the two didn't disappoint today. Chris Galippo is legit. He's the real deal. When he's in at middle linebacker he takes over the defense. He's a very vocal leader, unlike our current starting middle linebacker who tends to lead by example. He always seems to be in the right spot making plays all over the field. Yesterday I mentioned that Luther Brown was limping around. I didn't see him practicing today and am unaware of his injury status. All I know is Brown better get out to practice or learn another linebacker position because I think we've found our #2 at middle linebacker.

• More dropped passes from the wideouts. Hazelton specifically needs to step up in practice, especially if he wants to hold on to that #2 receiver spot. Ausberry and Rojo have been pretty consistent catching balls and making plays.

• Gable got up limping a little after a tackle by Terrell Thomas. He seemed to be slightly favoring his right leg as he walked to the sideline. I was unable to catch the rest of practice, so I'm not sure whether or not he is okay.

• The best tailback through the first half of practice was again Stafon Johnson.

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• Moody got man-handled by Chris Galippo. After the play Moody got in Galippo's face attempting to tell the freshmen that it wasn't a tackling drill. Comments welcome.

• Hersh sat out practice with a large ice wrap on his left leg.

Tomorrow's practice should be exciting as the players suit up in full pads for the first time. Hopefully we will get to see some of the freshmen who were recently cleared by the NCAA suited up tomorrow. However according to Scott Wolf it is unlikely that we will see Marc Tyler and Brandon Carswell suited and booted.