FOOTBALL

USC Morning Buzz: Culture Change Underway

Offensive lineman Andrew Vorhees has been in the doghouse at times in his USC career but perservered and enjoyed a successful junior season.

Vorhees is considered one of the top linemen in college football by Pro Football Focus and gave some interesting comments Tuesday to offer insight into the past at USC and how Lincoln Riley works to change the culture.

“Whether guys are missing class or late to tutors or whatever it may be, it’s addressed and nothing goes unseen,” he said. “That’s something that hasn’t necessarily been the case in the past here.”

  • USC currently starts Courtland Ford at left tackle; Vorhees at left guard; Brett Neilon at center; Justin Dedich at right guard and Jonah Monheim at right tackle.

This is fairly similar to the start of last season, so one could argue it will be better with experience. At the same time, I’m not sure how much this line would scare opponents based on previous play.

It will be a true test of what Riley does if he can improve this group.

  • Riley on the offensive line:

“There’s certainly some things schematically that we do differently that these guys haven’t done before, but they’re picking up on it quick,” Riley said. “But I think more [so] learning to play with the mentality that we want to play with, learning to see a defense with the vantage point that we do has been the bigger part of it. And it’s progressing.”

  • USC has offered a scholarship to LSU linebacker Josh White, who just entered the transfer portal. White, who has four years of eligibility, missed the 2021 season with injuries.

43 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Culture Change Underway”

  1. I think that we have a number of very good players on that O-Line. If this guy is as good of a O-Line coach as they say he is, we should have a very good O-Line in 2022. I thought that we had a good O-Line in 2021. We gained almost 1750 yards on the ground on a team that threw the ball 55% of the time.

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    1. USC has a culture of recruiting Big Time Busts, especially along the offensive line.

      That girl Courtney Ford isn’t worth a shit.

      ‘Ol Mule Shoe isn’t too bright, he’s as clueless as his cousin Clay Helton when it comes to understanding the importance of an offensive line.

      Neither of those two idiot’s could give a shit about the offensive line, all they’re ever concerned with is recruiting WR’s, DB’s and RB’s…it’s all they know.

      Those two hicks have the same shit for brains philosophy, they must be related.

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      1. The USC culture of recruiting Big Time Busts went into full effect with Lane Kiffin and has continued to the present.

        We’re all aware of USC’s pedigree when it comes to producing great players, especially offensive linemen, so I wasn’t referring to USC’s history of recruitment, but rather crap job of recruiting from 2010 to present.

        ‘Ol Mule Shoe is continuing the tradition of clueless recruiting that the three previous knucklehead idiots before him started.

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  2. Nice words from Lincoln on the progress of the O-Line [all these guys were top 50 coming outta high school]. They just haven’t played like it yet —not consistently, anyway. We’ll know more when we get a chance to see how many times Caleb has to avoid a sack with his feet in the spring game.
    [Of course this is more or less what Ed has been telling us for months]….

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      1. So true, G. T. Ed has spent his life warning the rest of us about loopholes —it’s on us that we haven’t heeded his warnings…
        #TheWorldIsNowPayingThePrice

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    2. Jason Rodriguez #77 and a handful of other offensive linemen aren’t worth their weight in gold, and they were all top 50 in their class. Those ratings don’t mean a damn thing, because lots of those linemen played against inferior players in high school, and just looked good on videos. Some of them look like Tarzan, but play like Jane.

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    3. If Ed can’t get an analyst job at SC, then he should move on to the Dark Lord at Bama. There’s always a position there.
      #AllYyouHaveToDoIsGoCapInHandAndKissHisRing

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    2. Important Memo to George: It’s okay for you to spend time in the doghouse — you didn’t get there by skipping practices or not holding blocks…

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  4. ugh,seams like bigur problum is that the huosing crysis is maiking fotbal playurs liv in dog huoses,wut john dont say and shuold be axing is ware r all the dogs livving?thay aint livvin with me cuz missus ed dont let me have them,smdh

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    1. ED. YOU CAN ADOPT ME AND THEN WE’LL LOCK MISSUS ED IN THE BASEMENT AND KEEP HER THERE UNTIL SHE WARMS UP TO ME. I CAN BE WARM AND FUZZY AND SHE GONNA LIKE ME I KNOW

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    2. When he’s at his best, Ed gives off all the indicators of belonging on Joe Biden’s speech team…
      #LoveToHearJoeGiveEd’sPostVerbatim…
      #..WithABig,BlankSmile

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  6. Watching last year’s line work was a puzzle. It seemed like they were taught they only blocked the person in front of them. Once they hit the guy they shut down as if their part of the play was over. There are too many memories of linemen looking back at their quarterback as he was being swallowed, and saying, “don’t blame me I hit my guy.”
    If they correct that mindset, the offense might have a chance. I hope the portal has some O line players we can use. I don’t see any yet.

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    1. A lot of our guys –Vorhees included — believe in the Instantaneous “Brush Block” —wherein you slow down the opposing line by one millionth of a second….
      #HistoryProvesThisFormOfBlockingIsn’tHealthyForQuarterbacks

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  7. Hound dog barkin upside the hill. Love be draggin him through the mill. One thing baby I’ll never stand. Your lips kissin some other man.

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  8. Bobby Haskins will be starter at left tackle, he’s just banged up at the moment. Connerly, if he signs with us, will get in the rotation as well.

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    1. ..Which is why Chris shoulda yelled out ‘hey don’t walk off!” —and when Smith turned back toward him — crouched low and uppercutted him in the dick —

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  11. What Riley’s offensive scheme does is shift the OL to go on the attack instead of just pass blocking and predictable run blocking. By pulling the tackle to the point of attack, the OL becomes more mobile and plays are less predictable. Under Helton’s “scheme” many fans could call the next play before it happened. The OL got bored of playing the mole in a game of “whac a mole”.

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      1. You’re being facetious —but it IS weird when one receiver leads the Pac 12 in all receiving categories even though he only played half the season—and you can’t win a game after he leaves…

        Liked by 1 person

  14. SC has NOT historically had problems recruiting great young football players. That said, we have an abysmal record DEVELOPING that talent. Hopefully, that changes NOW. Fight On LFR!

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  16. For what it’s worth, my wife hired a college student a few years ago to help around the house (Voorhees is now 23), who went to high school with him. She described Voorhees as humble, thoughtful, great work ethic. All things equal, I like a 23-year old matching up against a 19-year old. We keep worrying about the o-line, but a balanced attack (50%-50% is Riley’s norm, 60% pass-40% run was average under the village idiot), better coaching, new schemes, and the fact that the o-line delivered a good run game last year suggest o-line will not be the weak link. I suspect the weak link will be the D. Orlando and company wasted an entire year with 5 star talents like Foreman and Raesjon Davis.

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    1. Astute comment. We all got so used to criticizing the 0-line that we were kinda blind to how much they improved in the last half of 2021. They fought real hard (and almost took us to a “W” in that BYU game) under Donte…
      #..CreditWhereCreditIsDue

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