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UCLA Football Early 2018 Schedule Preview: USC Trojans

By TuAnh Dam

SANTA CLARA, CA - DECEMBER 01: Head coach Clay Helton of the USC Trojans looks on from the sidelines against the Stanford Cardinal during the Pac-12 Football Championship Game at Levi's Stadium on December 1, 2017 in Santa Clara, California. The Trojans won the game 31-28. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CA - DECEMBER 01: Head coach Clay Helton of the USC Trojans looks on from the sidelines against the Stanford Cardinal during the Pac-12 Football Championship Game at Levi's Stadium on December 1, 2017 in Santa Clara, California. The Trojans won the game 31-28. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – SEPTEMBER 16: Stephen Carr #7 of the USC Trojans carries the ball during the second quarter against the Texas Longhorns at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on September 16, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – SEPTEMBER 16: Stephen Carr #7 of the USC Trojans carries the ball during the second quarter against the Texas Longhorns at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on September 16, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

USC Offense

The Trojans return a lot of pieces on offense – but they won’t have the man who’s been key for the last 2 years.

Former starting quarterback Sam Darnold left for the NFL and will play for the New York Jets this fall. Darnold, along with Helton, resurrected a USC program that stalled with Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian at the helm.

The Trojans will instead turn to another Southern California product, freshman JT Daniels, to man the offense. The freshman beat sophomore Sophomore Matt Fink and redshirt freshman Jack Sears for the job, as he has the arm (4,000 yards and 52 touchdowns his last year at Mater Dei) and the improved run game (561 yards and nine touchdowns his junior year) to lock it down before the opening game against UNLV

Daniels graduated from high school a year early to join the Trojans and will be battled-tested by the time his first rivalry game rolls around.  The rookie will face Stanford, Texas, Washington State and Arizona all in the first half of the season.  While Daniels tries to get his bearings in college football, he’ll have plenty of guys with experience on the field alongside him.

USC 2017 Offensive Stats

Total Offense Passing Offense Rushing Offense Scoring Offense
 484.1 (2nd)  299.0 (3rd) 185.1 (4th) 32.6 (4th)

( ) – denotes ranking in the TEAM CONFERENCE

His offensive line has three senior starters back – Toa Lobendahn, Chris Brown and Chuma Edoga – and three more players in  Andrew Vorhees, Clayton Johnston, and Austin Jackson who played at least 13 games last year.

The other big name missing for the Trojans this season will be running back Ronald Jones who had 1,550 yards and 19 touchdowns before signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Having that run game would lighten the load for Daniels, but with no Jones-caliber player, the Trojans will rely on both Stephen Carr and Aca’Cedric Ware to carry the ball.

USC won’t have the same problem with passing the ball though.

Daniels, like Darnold, will have receivers downfield who can help make the big plays. Veterans Michael Pittman Jr. and Daniel Imatorbhebhe and younger players like freshman Amon-ra St. Brown and sophomore Tyler Vaughns all bring a mix of speed and instinct that will fill the void left by Deontay Burnett.

Long story short, USC will have options no matter where they look. They’ll need younger players to step up now that some of the biggest names from last season are in the NFL, but regardless they have the depth and balance needed to adjust no matter the opponent.

UCLA had the second-best passing defense in the conference last year, but that was offset by the worst run defense in the country. They’ll need to improve or expect to get run all over, again, this year.