2022 Southern Cal Preseason (Summer)
Summer, 2022
Ahh, my favorite part of being a coach - setting up player schedules. Well, no one on academic probation this season, so the agony of the process is worth it I guess.
Some very good students in this past recruiting class. That should help them develop more fully, and more quickly as we don't have to allocate so much of their time just keeping them eligible.
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Finally, after a long off season of speculation and introspection, we got to play some football, even if it was just summer camp. Putting the kids through two-a-days was cathartic for me after all the speculation - mainly fed by my own sulking after the Virginia loss - that I might not return. It was definitely good to play some football again.
On the defensive side of the ball, our defensive line, always a strength, looks to be the best it has been in years, maybe as long as I have been here. Returning at starting NT is 5th year senior and four year starter Mel McWilliams. Mel is one of the best run-stoppers in college football. Flanking him at DRE is 5th year senior Floyd Jeffers, who has become quite a solid run stopper to go along with his 20 sacks from last season. At the other end is 5th year senior Austin lew, who starts for the first time this year, but has seen plenty of action over the past four seasons. Lew is equally adept at stuffing the run and rushing the quarterback, so we look to have a defensive line that can make some big plays this season.
We've started to turn our linebacker deficit around, and this is most noticable on the inside, where we have two very solid starters and two future starters right behind them. Starting at the ILB spots will be 5th year seniors Walt Whalen and Monty Garcia. Both made a big jump in their development in their one year under former Defensive Coordinator Leland Shepard and look to be significant factors on a strong defensive unit. Right behind them, backing them up but pushing hard for starting jobs are redshirt junior Brod Frias and redshirt sophomore Walter Nadeau. We're hopeful their development will continue under new Defensive Coordinator Horace Brusca.
The weakness in our defense is at the outside linebacker spots - though even that is improving. Redshirt sophomore Russell Warren will start on the strong side and is developing into a very good OLB. His opposite number on the weak side will be 5th year senior Matt Blackston, who is a pass rush specialist and we'll be sending him a lot this year.
Our secondary continues to be among the best in the nation. 5th year senior shutdown corner Brad Knight returns for his fourth year as a starter and redshirt junior Mario Barber joins him at the other CB spot. 5th year senior Jared Esparza enters his fourth season as a starter at safety, and he is joined by redshirt sophomore Chester Knight, Brad's younger brother. Chester looks like he is going to be one hell of a safety for us, and this is one terrific unit back here.
Defensively I think we're going to really stop some teams cold this year. We're strong just about everywhere, can apply pressure to the quarterback, can stuff the run, and have a corners that can play man on an island defense with some nice safeties in deep zone - that's a recipe for success.
Offensively we're a little bit rock and roll and a little bit country - er, that's to say a little bit new and a little bit old.
Our offensive line regressively ages as we go from left to right. At LT will be 5th year senior Nate Dillon, an absolute stud run-blocker who gets winded changing television channels with his remote. Astride him like a colossus is All-American LG Des Connell - also a 5th year senior. We'll be running left.
A lot.
At OC is redshirt junior Josh Woodson who still has a long way to come before he's an elite blocker. The right side of the line is very young with OG Dustin Lucas being a freshman - I think Dustin has the ability to be a great run blocker by next season, he's already solid - and OT Mario Harper, a true sophomore and second year starter. I'm very disappointed in Harper's lack of development over the offseason and it's possible we could recruit a freshman that might step in as a starter right away next season.
Running the wishbone - if he can stay healthy this year - is redshirt senior Kenny Finch. Finch still has a lot of developing to do as a passer - which he probably isn't going to get done - but he is an outstanding runner, doesn't throw the ball away for turnovers and is a good clutch passer. Right behind him is redshirt junior Tony Felkey, who saw a lot of action last season. Tony isn't nearly as well developed as Finch, but I'll have no hesitation in using him this year if Kenny gets hurt again.
We've also got some very raw, but outstanding runners in the quarterback pipeline. Our third stringer this season will be redshirt sophomore Thomas Kluge, an excellent runner who has a long, long way to go throwing the ball. And redshirting for us this season may be the best running quarterback we've ever had here at Southern Cal, Joel Rhodes. if I had to make bank on it, I'd guess that once Finch graduates Rhodes will be our starter - even though Felkey has much more experience and Kluge far more potential, I think Rhodes is going to be the guy. Just a guess from looking at him in practice.
We had a very heated competition for the starting Tailback position this summer, with incumbent 5th year senior Ike Daugherty barely coming out ahead based on his yards per carry. Redshirt senior Alf Snyder really blossomed over the offseason after getting a fulltime role this year and you can expect to see more carries from our Wingback this season - he's become really explosive and a big playmaker. At least that's how he looks in practice.
At Fullback, redshirt senior Tyrone Horrie takes over what is primarily an offensive lineman's role/pass receiver in our offense. Joining him as primary targets will be freshman Randy fix, who won the starting Tight End job in camp, and sophomore Britt Wells, who looks to have another explosive year in the wideout position.
Handling special teams duties will be sophomore Placekicker Burt Givens and redshirt sophomore Punter Calvin Grbac. Returning punt will be CB's Brad Knight and Mario Barber and handling punt return duties will be Brad Knight and WB Alf Snyder. I wouldn't at all be surprised to see some big returns out of the four of those players - particularly Knight.
Overall I think we're strong enough for another run at another national title - and definitely should be a solid contender for the PAC-10 championship. I think defensively we're going to stop a lot of teams cold, and offensively the key will be just developing our passing game enough so that good defenses that stack against the run cannot shut us down completely.
If we can do that, we should do well this year.
Here's a look at our full roster.
2022 Southern Cal Roster
Code:
The College Years
The University of Southern California Trojans
2022 Roster/Scout Overview
From The Desk of Fernando Farrell, Lead Scout
Player # Pos Elig Current Estimate Future Estimate
Felkey, Anthony 13 QB Jr* 42 66
Finch, Kenneth 1 QB Sr* 57 74
Kluge, Thomas 5 QB So* 19 100
Ratto, Vinny 2 QB Sr 29 70
Rhodes, Joel 8 QB Fr 15 62
Daniels, Reuben 38 RB Fr 53 100
Daugherty, Ike 24 RB Sr 72 100
McChane, Andrew 48 RB So* 50 55
Snyder, Alfred 25 RB Sr* 71 71
Thompson, Jeffrey 47 RB Sr* 62 76
Gardiner, Warren 31 FB So 43 83
Horie, Tyrone 28 FB Sr* 47 95
Keisel, Joey 36 FB Fr 24 51
Washington, Spencer 45 FB Sr 56 72
Carley, Ricardo 97 TE Jr* 42 82
Fix, Randall 83 TE Fr 45 84
Griffin, Arnold 96 TE So* 35 71
Hastings, Fred 82 TE Jr 47 55
Wynn, Dustin 80 TE Jr 46 62
Leavitt, Joel 81 TE* Sr 5 5
Mogolov, Conrad 89 TE* Jr* 23 42
Freeman, Phillip 3 WR Jr* 36 59
Hill, Myron 88 WR Fr 27 77
Myers, Al 86 WR Sr 42 62
Wells, Britt 6 WR So 48 84
Westbrook, Marty 9 WR Jr* 40 96
Linquist, Kevin 85 WR* Sr* 28 28
Burroughs, Adam 51 C So* 18 58
Leong, Dexter 50 C Sr 39 55
Slusher, Jim 54 C Fr 7 94
Woodson, Josh 57 C Jr* 44 98
Connell, Desmond 68 G Sr 78 78
Deason, Chester 74 G Jr* 22 93
Lucas, Dustin 62 G Fr 33 96
McConnell, Gus 61 G So* 20 88
Warkentien, Desmond 66 G Sr* 20 47
Dillon, Nate 69 T Sr 91 100
Gash, Ryan 64 T Jr* 14 87
Grodin, Peter 67 T Sr* 27 55
Harper, Mario 76 T So 36 100
Lofton, Renaldo 78 T Fr 3 79
Grbac, Calvin 11 P So* 57 100
Small, Norm 18 P Fr 32 73
Terry, Ronald 12 P* Sr 3 3
Givens, Burt 14 K So 62 96
Gillespie, Tony 19 K* So* 9 18
Battle, Jamie 91 DE Fr 34 88
Jeffers, Floyd 72 DE Sr 78 78
Lew, Austin 70 DE Sr 70 83
Malcomson, Ronald 92 DE Fr 23 66
McIntyre, Shaun 77 DE Jr* 40 92
Whiting, Conrad 95 DE* Sr* 9 9
Farr, Peter 79 DT Fr 22 88
McWilliams, Mel 98 DT Sr 75 100
Shepard, Jim 94 DT So 36 82
Johnson, Stanley 71 DT* So* 6 6
Norton, Lawrence 75 DT* Jr* 11 33
Andersen, Vince 43 ILB Sr* 38 71
Andrews, Leon 59 ILB Fr 9 47
Fauber, Floyd 56 ILB Fr 35 79
Frias, Broderick 93 ILB Jr* 45 91
Garcia, Monty 41 ILB Sr 64 73
Nadeau, Walter 52 ILB So* 44 100
Sly, Casey 58 ILB Sr* 33 77
Whalen, Walt 49 ILB Sr 83 83
Blackston, Matt 42 OLB Sr 38 86
Kariya, Kenneth 90 OLB Sr 33 75
Loucks, Jermaine 53 OLB Fr 26 86
Pritchett, Jessie 46 OLB Jr* 30 69
Warren, Russell 99 OLB So* 33 75
Barber, Mario 37 CB Jr* 79 94
Cheng, Walter 23 CB Sr* 65 94
Garcia, Marvin 22 CB So* 40 72
Jacobs, Justin 35 CB Sr* 60 94
Knight, Brad 26 CB Sr 83 83
Carpenter, Amos 44 S Jr* 56 95
Esparza, Jared 20 S Sr 80 97
Kinsey, Mel 34 S Sr* 56 99
Knight, Chester 30 S So* 57 74
McElroy, Stephen 39 S Sr* 60 79
Swafford, Howard 27 S So* 45 72
Washington, Toby 32 S Fr 45 88
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