USC Pro Day is underway.
Here are the 40 times:
Amon-Ra St. Brown 4.51
Talanoa Hufanga 4.61
Tyler Vaughns 4.62
Jay Tufele 4.97
Alijah Vera-Tucker 5.10
Marlon Tuipulotu ran the 10-yard dash because he pulled his hamstring two weeks ago.
All times were hand-timed
St. Brown had a 38.5-vertical leap.
- The benchpress was interesting. First the marks, then some analysis.
Alijah Vera-Tucker 36
Jay Tufele 30
Marlon Tuipulotu 30
Amon-Ra St. Brown 20
Talanoa Hufanga 12
Tyler Vaughns 7
Analysis: Vera-Tucker’s mark was excellent. Tufele and Tuipulotu also good. St. Brown’s 20 reps was good for a receiver. I was surprised Hufanga did only 12 reps given his physicality as a player and Vaughns’ 7 reps was poor.
Vera-Tucker is doing nothing to hurt his status as a top 20 pick. The NFL Network keeps mentioning he has short arms and project him as a guard.
Meanwhile, here is Josh Imatorbhebhe talking about his time at USC.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsImatorbhebhe sure was candid on what went down at USC. Essentially, his dream school told him he wasn't good enough.
— Tyler Dunne (@TyDunne) March 24, 2021
"Every day, you're struggling with reality. You're struggling with identity. You're struggling with your self-worth." pic.twitter.com/E4iWkPis6V
InsideUSC with Scott Wolf 
AVT had a 32″ vert, announcers described how he might be best OL in the draft. St. Brown looked really good. Slovis was throwing tight spirals.
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ALL good!
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I’m nauseous- I am truly interested in these players mental acuity. My first question would be what difference would you attribute to your head coach from signing day to your last day. Next question, how did you lose at home to Oregon? My last question would be greatly informative- Knowing what you know now would you resign and play for that Moron again? My new fantasy is as powerful as my favorite All- Time sport event 1980 USA hockey team. My fantasy is the Mobley brothers taking down “MOUNTAIN GONZAGA “to go to the Final Four. I’m sorry but I cannot or will not think about football knowing that Moron is still getting FIVE MILLION Dollars to constantly lose with Superior talent. I’m done until there’s a change of head coach that can’t come soon enough. Dear Santa- I promise to be a very good father and human being this year All that I ask for is a new football coach for Xmas.
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I can answer the question about how we lost at home to a below average Oregon team. Cristobal had his team sky high. Helton brought his team out ice cold. According to reports, Slovis asked Helton to say a few words before they went down the tunnel to start the game…….
Slovis: “Coach didn’t say anything —he just did what he always does if we try to talk to him before a Big Game—fall to the floor and play dead.”
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P. S.
“He can stay that way for hours without moving. Eyes open, not blinking. It’s amazing.”
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USC missed a bet with the Imatorbhebhe brothers. Both are phenomenal athletes. Both are filled with an intense desire to compete. Most schools would have found a place for them —and they would have excelled.
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Vaughn’s better get a degree if he hasn’t already
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Applied wingspan!
#KeepItUp!
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It is amazing how the department and the board don’t see how damning each one of these little things are. One of the worst penalized teams in the country year in and out, transfers who are mired in the system until they go elsewhere and flourish, incoming transfers who arrive and comment on how lax the program is compared to where they were. Lack of development over 1, 2, 3 and 4 years. Lack of injury progress, turnover in staff repeatedly (and not from staff going to better opportunities). Staff in fighting, player exit interviews on lack of discipline, personnel choices, etc. A complete circus, and at a really high monetary cost. If the pac12 wasn’t so week (especially the south) would it have lasted so long?
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BTW 38.5″ and 4.51h doesn’t equate. The vertical shows he should be faster especially hand timed. Especially an athlete of his size and one that runs for a living. With that explosiveness he should be around mid to high 4.3s. Obvious no one knows how to teach these kids sprint mechanics. Ex. My vert at 30 years old (tail end of my athletic career, well last 6 years at least) 32.5″ and my 40 time was an electric 4.38. Now I had damn good mechanics because I worked with very good sprint coaches (I’m not a sprinter). But I worked hard at it and understood acceleration. Teach it to this day. No one on staff understands this. Believe it or not, the team chiropractor knows more about sprint mechanics than any coach on that football or s/c staff. The guys responsible for speed development are strength and conditioning guys. Basically Hipster dudes with big full beards and shaved heads and rolled up sleeves with skinny sweats on. Probably never sprinted in their life. LSU on the other hand had a former pole vaulter/sprinter working with baseball and assisting football who had his masters in kinese and biomechanics and had jumped 19′ and run 10.34. Now that’s outside the box thinking. The tigers were all faster each year and were more effective in game speed because of the way they trained.
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The vert should be reliable. I understand that hand timed typically is faster than electronic, but maybe not on this particular day? I wonder about wind, field condition, perhaps other factors. And as Vault91 notes, he may not have been taught about coming “out of the blocks”.
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’67. I wasn’t there but I have worked with many who had pro days at Cromwell. Tatupu, Folly, Lee, Royster, etc. It is always set up with a tailwind. The department and S/C will make sure of that. It only makes them look better. It used to be run on turf, now some schools even set up on the track. Actually hand times are way faster. The scouts are instructed to start the watch when the foot of the drive leg first hits the ground. It is worth 2-3 tenths. You basically are given a step. In the old days and when hand time my kids, (which i don’t do often since i have an electric timing system) you look for the back foot to first initiate movement. It doesn’t include reaction time but it is a pretty pure time. Then new norm is bogus. That’s why most kids go to the combine and are disappointed in their times. Because they are electronic with a thumb sensor.
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Oregon U is likewise state of the art in biomechanics.
On the flipside, I recall watching a piece from Stanford where they had a VR helmet on Andrew Luck trying to “simulate” QB game reads with a simulated pass rush, etc.
That was a long time ago and I don’t see VR helmets on NFL QB’s during practice.
I ran a 4.65 (hand timed) as a walk-on WR for USC in 1982.
I agree that these WR SHOULD be faster, given better weight training info today, better protein and recovery drink use, and with widespread use of film/biomechanics study.
Nevertheless, it’s all about separation, route running/getting open, hands.
Our fellas are super at all three.
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So people leave? With nowhere else to go? What does that prove? People who leave our program are not only afraid to compete….
#…They’reAfraidOf”ThePathToRighteousness”….
#..And”That’sEvenWorser”
—all quotes attributable to U. C. Santa Barbara grad
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BUT…can our President make it up a flight of stairs without falling on his face?
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How dare you! Amend that remark at once!
#HER…Face
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I visit here frequently to try to get some USC news… but the blogger is always so negative and pessimistic it gets old (why even blog about USC…seems like he has oldtimeitis with all his old pics etc.). And then it seems to rub off on many of the posts as everyone just complains and nit picks everything about USC. I can’t even imagine subscribing to the newsletter… I assume just another level of complaining. Re: transfers… blaming USC for everyone that leaves gets old too. Just wondering… did Josh Imatorbhebhe do well at Illinois? And Helton needs to go but there are much more important things in life than constantly hammering that point day in and day out.
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I get ya Greg. But the other sites are so over the top, in the the back pocket of athletic department. They are like propaganda for the program. Every 3 star recruit is going to be the difference maker in the class. I was watching the utah game in review the other day and Magua makes a routine tackle 4 yards down field and gets up and flexes and dances like that tackle iced the national championship on a 30 pt come back. The other sites are like that. Over hype common moves and brush major flaws under the rug. Scott is bitter and negative but we all know that. You have to take it with a grain. But there is quality info there about the program. Ryan Kartje at the times, i know for a fact has a deal with the department, to get early access as long as he writes fluff pieces for the department. So it worthless to read him cause its only what the program wants you to hear. Im lucky that I still have close friends inside the team that tell the truth. It would be like watching MSNBC all day and thinking that is what is going on in the world. You would have to watch something far right just to counter balance it. By the way, Josh was the leading receiver at Illinois in ’19 and’20 and Big 10 player of the week twice. He only got on the field in mop up at usc. He was a physical specimen who never let the ball touch the ground cause he had impeccable hands and precise routs. He is a brilliant kid, as smart as a whip and a great citizen. His brother too. He will be a long time pro and will be a great asset to Illinois football.
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I have to think that Josh was a good receiver, and I–for one–was sad to see him and his brother not star at USC.
Was he as good as Pittman (had a great Rookie year for Indy)?
Was he as good as AMon-Ra?
Was he as good as a very experienced Tyler Vaughns?
Was he as good (or potentially as good) as Drake London?
As good as Bru McCoy?
ARSB said it so well in his farewell statement as he declared himself for the NFL draft. WRU. Ever since Steve Smith and Kearey Colbert, Robert Woods….
I think (USCs) Mike Williams could have had a great NFL career had he not taken a year off after his soph season.
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Your usual litany of smart observations. [Although I am of the opinion you might have a harder time providing the list of Daniel Imatorbhebhe’s betters at tight end]…….
#TylerPetite?
#TaylorMcNamara?
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