FOOTBALL

It’s Not Just Offensive Line That Needs More Help

USC’s leading tackler last season, linebacker Kana’i Mauga, announced he will enter the NFL Draft.

I have to say that USC’s got few linebackers on the roster and fewer good ones. This is feeling like a problem area like the offensive line.

USC has signed only one linebacker so far, Garrison Madden, who is a three-star from Georgia. It tried to get Daiyan Henley, who transferred from Nevada to Washington State. So USC will hit the portal if it can.

I think some USC fans think Lincoln Riley will work his magic with the offense no matter what. I don’t think Alex Grinch will on defense unless he has some players.

  • Former USC assistant Kyle Devan has been named offensive line coach at Colorado. Devan was one of those guys credited with helping hold things together during the Sarkisian-Helton circus era.

40 thoughts on “It’s Not Just Offensive Line That Needs More Help”

  2. Michael Guarino- USC Recruiting Coordinator -State of Hawaii

    Michael: How come this blue chip offensive lineman from Hawaii is going to Syracuse rather than USC. Is our recruiting coordinator drinking Mai-Tai’s in Lahaina, and then enjoying the beautiful sunsets on Kannapali Beach with some hot looking Wahine’s. We need to recruit Hawaii harder for some big linemen on both sides of the ball. If we don’t get this done we may end up in the Aloha Bowl next year which no longer exists.

    Kalan Ellis
    St Louis School (Honolulu, HI)
    IOL
    6-5 / 350
    0.8410
    NA 84 8

    6-5 350 is pretty big for a high school kid. We can offer this kid a job at In and Out Burger, or Tommy’s so he gets to the 400lb level. Even Clay Helton can run behind a 6-5 400 lb offensive lineman, and the real key is this kid is still growing.

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    1. I don’t get it, T.E.D. I recruited this kid personally —lots of playing on the swing sets at Whale Park —multiple late nite Monopoly games with neat Hawaiian tokens and 3 bottles apiece of Fever Tree Ginger Ale — fun walks all over South Maui Gardens (stopping in for Hawaiian Sourdough bread at Blue Door bakery) — I thought we’d get him for sure….
      #MaybeDonteDOESKnowAFewThingsAboutRecruitingIDon’t…

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      1. Michael, my man, these days you have to tell the kids about all the possible money that can come in through NIL in order to sell them on their college of choice.

        Telling them about Tree Ginger Ale and Hawaiian Sourdough bread is for our generation, which could be bought for a dime on the dollar.

        No more!

        Liked by 2 people

  3. hello football fans, be humble the slovis and pittsburgh u the saying used to discribe that school was is, eat shit pitt!? was chantted often!!!!!! regards, E

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    1. Lincoln called this his “first NORMAL press conference.” Was that an oblique reference to the way Mike Bohn acted at the last one?
      #TroubleInParadise?

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      2. I cannot believe it– On the Eve of the Eve of the Eve of Christmas I have to scold Michael Guarino for chastising my boy, Mr. Bon-Bon of SC.

        Come on, Bon-Bon is an introvert cast in a role that requires extroverted abilities. Yeah, he can talk gibberish for minutes at a time, but it’s like he is mentally reading from a script he has previously worked out in his mind. If you are expecting ‘Hollywood glitz’ out of the guy, I hope you can settle for Midwest Monotony instead.

        And of course SC’s Wiley-Riley is from Middle-America where a man can sniff out a
        City- slicker’s hidden agenda inside of one-minute or less.

        The popularity of the team of ‘Bon-Bon and Wiley-Riley’ will probably never rival the team of Burton and Taylor

        Besides, to take a common phrase for its literal meaning:

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Bohn and Riley immediately surpass Burton & Taylor if they team up for a live production of “Taming of The Shrew”…..
        #IfYouCatchMyDrift…..

        Like

    2. MG also sans the Wee President Carol Folt and Tricky Dick Caruso. Kind of like the weird, eccentric relatives you try to hide. “Coach Riley, she wouldn’t quit talking about how the world is going to end in 11 years.”

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      1. Ha! Love it? [How come you get away with this stuff & I always get in trouble]?
        “Is This Justice? Is this fair?”
        Robert de Niro as Al Capone in The Untouchables

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Very important never to let Carol get behind you at the dinner table with a baseball bat …
        #[BohnWouldBeTheGuyNextToTheVictimPretendingItsNotHappening]

        Liked by 1 person

  6. USC has been hurting for linebackers for quite a while. Some were good tacklers, but they just could never pass cover and were all slower than mud. I like that LR is going for speed at all positions, they sure need it.

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  7. Biggest CIF high school player ever- Bob Big Man Pointer
    He played with Sam Cunningham at Santa Barbara High School.

    6 ft 1 inches tall- 447 pounds…

    Re: Biggest dude ever to play in OC
    Post by oracle » Mon Aug 01, 2011 10:32 am

    The biggest player in CIF history was Bob “Big Man ” Pointer, Santa Barbara High, 1967, played with Sam Cunningham, Pointer was 6’1, 447. Had to sew 3 uniforms together. They played in the CIF Finals that year.

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  9. The new coaching staff is cleaning out the linebacker room due to lack of talent and to be even more precise, lack of speed. Out goes Echols, Falaniko, Mauga, Scott. Next to be shown the door will be Nomura and Katoa. USC”s tradition of great Polynesian linebackers was destroyed by Helton. He mostly recruited 2 and 3 stars not the 4 and 5 stars Pete recruited. The only survivors will be Goforth, Simon, Winston and Tuliapupu. The coaches will hit the portal hard and begin recruiting fast, tough, smart linebackers starting with the 2023 class. Everything that is happening is by design. No one either declaring for the draft or transferring is doing so voluntarily. It’s all part of the plan to quickly and decisively upgrade the terrible roster left by the incompetent moron Helton.

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    1. As a former linebacker at USC, I totally agree with you. The current linebackers look like DB’s.. And you know DB’s can’t tackle worth beans.. Time to clean house with these over-hyped, undersized Junior college Linebackers.

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    2. They wouldn’t be so willing to kick people out en mass if they weren’t confident that they could replace them with better people.

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  11. Solomon Tuliapupu was a very good highly rated out of Mater Dei. The problem has been injuries each year he has been at SC. Big guy, decent speed. We need to find a Lofa Tatupu, Keith Rivers type of player who has a nose for the ball, and has decent speed. It all start at the MBL position, and then get some speed at the outside linebacker positions with guys that can tackle, and not afraid to punish the opposing running back.

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  12. WE NEED OUR HAWAII RECRUITING COORDINATOR TO GET A GUY LIKE THIS WITH 4.4 SPEED. IMAGINE HAVING TO SEW 3 UNIFORMS TOGETHER TO GET THE GUY READY FOR GAMES. IN HAWAII THE TIGER SHARKS HEAD FOR TAHITI ONCE THIS MONSTER HITS THE WATER.

    The biggest player in CIF history was Bob “Big Man ” Pointer, Santa Barbara High, 1967, played with Sam Cunningham, Pointer was 6’1, 447. Had to sew 3 uniforms together. They played in the CIF Finals that year.

    No more GUTTY LITTLE/ SLOW TROJANS- WE NEED TO BUILD AN EMPIRE. In 5 years I expect to see a LINCOLN MEMORIAL RIGHT NEXT TO THE MCKAY CENTER.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. I think you’re describing my computer specialist, tommyd. Fast & smart. Maui Built. Plays football as a junior here in South Maui. Lifted an entire bookcase filled with books in order to get to a wire.
      #AndHeLovesLincolnRiley

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  13. Coach Harvey Hard Hyde has long suggested many players were playing out of position last year. Korey Foreman was often “handled” by bigger OL is what I have heard. What would Foreman’s best position be in the NFL? Maybe linebacker. I wonder if…….

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  14. And thinking along the lines of prior comment, Bru McCoy was a good linebacker in HS. What would be his best position in the NFL? Would he want to play there and come back on the team? Could be a good fit for him.

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    1. Just read Slovis broke up with his girlfriend. He’s thinking of playing for UCLA now –where his backup girlfriend goes to school. If that doesn’t work out, he’s going to Texas —which his 3rd string girlfriend attends….

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    2. I’m not sure Mauga was very good. When I re-watched a few games this season I noticed that Mauga seemed to be horrible at dropping back into coverage. Maybe it was a problem with the defensive scheme, maybe I am just remembering a few plays, I dont know, but I think Riley has a good idea of what he wants on his defense.

      My guess is that Riley/Grinch would prefer to teach a really great athlete their offense from scratch, than re-train a player with one year left who needs to unlearn bad habits.

      I think most of the players announcing for the NFL are doing it because they were told to move on. Playing one more year under Riley would boost nearly every player except for Drake London.

      The players that are remaining at USC must be 100% bought into Riley.

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