The USC coaches finally allowed true freshman cornerback Olaijah Griffin to get some first-team reps during Wednesday’s practice, signalling he might start against Arizona.
It is stunning to me it took this long.
Here is what I wrote after the USC-Texas game: “I’ve seen enough of some of the veteran corners. USC has two five-star freshmen corners on the bench (Olaijah Griffin, Issac Taylor-Stuart). If they are not ready, Clay Helton should say so. Otherwise give them a shot.”
Here is what I wrote last week: “With the new redshirt rules, why is USC refusing to try out their 5-star freshmen corners? Either Olaijah Griffin and Isaac Taylor-Stuart are overrated or not ready. Which is it? It’s not like USC is getting stellar play from its current corners.”
I am not a coach. But why does it take the USC coaches so long to do things that seem obvious?
The most glaring example will always be not starting Sam Darnold.
But this cornerback move illustrates how slow the coaches can be to react. You can point to how long it took to start Tyler Vaughns last season, which happened only through injury. Or how long it took Stephen Carr to start this season.
InsideUSC with Scott Wolf 
Wolfie’s still got that razor-sharp hindsight.
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Man I wish I could resurrect his posts from the 2016 fall camp when he was saying the coaches had a tough decision about who to start at QB and agreed that Browne should start due to his experience. It would be classic.
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I am a Wolf defender; but I also don’t remember every reading anything about how Darnold was clearly better than Browne in the fall 2016 training camp.
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You two share donuts together, just asking
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Hindsight…. ha! Griffin has been playing. And the ferocity with which you bashed USC for the Pete Carrol hiring was palpable…..
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Wolf is the gift that keeps on giving. The only difference is now there are very few who see his drivel.
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I am not always one to agree with Wolf, but I do remember him saying that Darnold has clearly been the most athletic quarterback. He should possibly be named the starter. That SC should not just choose the QB by seniority.
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So do I. And he said it more than once.
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Another reason why Helton has no business running an upper Tier 5 program whatsoever….for strong opponents Helton is the gift that will always always never be prepared and an easy mark in the 2nd half because, unlike truly good coaches, Helton does nothing and changes nothing at half-time.
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Agree with all your points. Helton couldn’t even make it as an assistant at a top tier program. He neither has the football acumen, nor thre imagination (or the cojones) for the job and we’re stuck with him for at least another year, or until the new President, who won’t even be named for another 6-9 months, takes a broom to the whole athletic dept, top to bottom.
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bozo u “…..upper Tier 5 program…..” LOL. The only thing upper tier at bozo u is the number pending lawsuits, class-action lawsuits and the collection of ‘deviated preverts’ that bozo u loves to employ. Latex on Commie SUCC.
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So maybe the system is complicated and the coaches felt they weren’t ready. Raw talent only gets you so far before frustration sets in. It actually could be that someone was more ready. Or with this new redshirt rule they thought “what the heck he couldn’t be any worse than what we have now, but if he is we can redshirt him still.”
We may never know until someone gets inside USC
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No excuses! If the kid is a baller he will play.
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Helton has played at least 3 guys at that corner spot this year and the 2 older guys couldn’t seize the job. It’s not that easy to start a true freshman at corner and it probably had as much to do with the DC as it did the HC. Did you ask the coaches about it?
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