USC coach Lincoln Riley has a habit of loving every freshman in training camp. I’ve been curious when he would speak about wide receiver Makai Lemon, because five-star Zacariah Branch tends to get most of the publicity for the new receivers. “He’s had an awesome camp,” Riley said. “We’ve been able to move him around position wise. He’s handled it well mentally, stayed healthy. He’s … Continue reading USC Notes: A Freshman WR Finally Gets A Mention
I identified the offensive line as an area of inconsistency during training camp. Here’s another one: The secondary. “They have good days and not-so-good days,” a source said. The safeties are basically the same trio from last season: Caleb Bullock, Bryson Shaw and Max Williams. So we know what we have there. It’s the cornerback position that has been a bigger point of contention. The … Continue reading USC Morning Buzz: Another Area Of Contention
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark is a guest this week on the John Ourand-Andrew Marchand podcast. It doesn’t come out until Wednesday. But this preview concerns Yormark calling Kliavkoff after taking Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State. A collegial conversation? “George was fantastic.” The Pac-12 needed a wartime consigliere. Instead it got a collegial guy who banked $3.5 million for a few years’ work and oversaw … Continue reading George Kliavkoff Seems To Be Feeling Fine
USC being ranked No. 6 in the AP poll is significant from a historical perspective: Since 2004, every national champ was ranked in the AP preseason poll’s top 7 except Auburn (2010) and Florida State (2013). I actually think No. 6 is a bit high for USC but the polls agreed on it. USC safety Calen Bullock made the watch list for the Bednarik Award, … Continue reading USC Notes: History Suggests Poll Ranking Important
Since the coaches’ preseason poll comes out first, it’s not unusual for the AP poll to have some remarkable coincidences. For example, USC is ranked No. 6 today in the AP Top 25 poll, just like in the coaches’ poll. Five Pac-12 teams made the Top 25. RANK SCHOOL POINTS 1 Georgia (60) 1,572 2 Michigan (2) 1,490 3 Ohio State (1) 1,400 4 Alabama … Continue reading USC Ranked No. 6 In AP Poll
One thing going on in USC training camp is a slower-than-expected development with the offensive line. With so many new transfers starting, it was expected to take some time for the line to gel. But sources said some of the problems the first two weeks were not necessarily related to the unit’s cohesion. “There’s been some sloppiness, penalties, things that are going to get fixed,” … Continue reading USC Morning Buzz: Some Things Take Time To Fix
