True to its nature, spring football has served as a fresh start in many ways for USC. As the Trojans prepared for their first practice in full pads Saturday, some new faces were already showing promise.
One of those faces might not be strapping on pads, but he’s already impacted the program. Strength and conditioning coach Robert Stiner developed a program in spite of COVID-19 limitations, and the results are showing.
Stiner, who has experience at Notre Dame, Cincinnati, LSU and Mississippi State, helped design an outdoor gym when use of indoor facilities was restricted. Now that the team is inside, albeit in cohorts, they can reap the benefits of Stiner’s program, hip and core strength and injury prevention.
“I’m pretty sure we all we all felt the same thing,” said inside linebacker Kana’i Mauga of Stiner’s regimen. “We felt that it was tough in the beginning. But we found a way to just start doing it. We buckled down. It was very different, it was more upbeat. More, I guess you could say, a higher tempo than the last time.”
Two other USC newcomers are freshmen quarterbacks Jaxson Dart from Utah and Miller Moss out of Bishop Alemany High in Mission Hills, who along with Vanderbilt transfer Mo Hasan will vie to back up starter Kedon Slovis.
Dart was last season’s National High School Player of the Year, throwing for 4,691 yards and 67 touchdowns while running for an additional 1,195 yards. Moss had a 67.4% completion percentage and threw for 3,118 yards and 28 touchdowns as a junior in 2019.
“I have been really pleased with their sense of urgency,” USC coach Clay Helton said of the freshmen. “Reminds me a lot of Kedon when he got here, just their sense of urgency to be great, to put in the extra work that they’ve done not only in the film room, but how they’re really taking command out on the field. So really positive for both of them in the first two days.”
Helton has voiced a desire to improve efficiency in the Trojans’ running game, and senior transfer Keaontay Ingram and freshman Brandon Campbell may be able to help with that.
Ingram accumulated 1,811 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns in his previous three seasons at Texas, in addition to catching 67 passes for six touchdowns. Campbell ran for 1,555 yards and 23 touchdowns in 2018 and 2019 at Lamar Consolidated High in Texas.
“What I’ve seen from both Keaontay as well as Brandon Campbell has been a unique running skill set,” Helton said. “They have a great feel, great patience as runners. They both are extremely explosive, and I’ve been impressed with their patience in the lane, letting things set up and then exploding.”
Spring brings new looks to many areas of the team, but the pads will reveal how much these recent additions will pay off.
“We’re really excited going into this Saturday,” Helton said. “It’s our first full-pad practice. It will be one of our eight tackle opportunities. There will be about 50 live reps that you will get to get to see today, and really see where we stand after a good week of work.”