USC football is at the halfway point of spring ball.
As the Trojans embark on the second half of spring practices, head coach Lincoln Riley has liked what he has seen out of everyone, especially on the defensive side of the ball. One player in particular that has stood out to Riley and the defensive coaches is redshirt freshman cornerback Marcelles Williams.
“He’s right in the middle of it,” Riley said of Williams after practice on Thursday. “With all the guys that we lost at corner, there’s some real position battles and some real opportunities right now. He had a really good spring last year, he had a solid camp too. Some of the other guys kind of stepped up and were just a little bit ahead of him, but it was a great Fall for him.”
Riley also stated that he is impressed with who could play in the nickel position.
“We could go a lot of different directions there,” Riley said. “You got guys that have played that position in games for us, [redshirt senior cornerback] Prophet [Brown], [redshirt junior safety] Kamari [Ramsey], you know guys like that can certainly play it. We’re experimenting with some of the young guys, [freshman defensive back] Alex Graham, JJ [freshman defensive back James Johnson], a few of those young guys to see what they can do.”
Redshirt senior defensive lineman Kobe Pepe has been impressed with what he’s seen from the new players on the roster.
“They’re buying it all in,” Pepe said. “[Freshman defensive lineman] Floyd [Boucard]’s been asking me to stay in with him, going over the playbook, making sure he’s on his Ps and Qs, so they’re all really bought in.”
Redshirt senior cornerback DeCarlos Nicholson talked about the progress that he has seen from USC’s defense as a whole so far during spring camp.
“It’s going pretty good. I think we’re ahead of schedule,” Nicholson said. “We’re doing a lot of
good things, we got guys to understand the scheme. We’re picking it up pretty good and just
stacking things day by day and getting better for sure.”
Nicholson’s statement about the defense was echoed by sophomore defensive tackle Jide Abasiri.
“I think we’re in a good spot,” Abasiri said. “There are things we need to improve on and keep working and just being a team. Just working together, loving each other, keeping that competitive nature, while trying to keep things simple and everything. We keep improving on that, we’ll go places as a team.”
Redshirt senior linebacker Anthony Beavers Jr. spoke about the impact of new assistant head coach for defense and linebackers coach Rob Ryan and the energy and passion he brings to the team.
“We got a lot of experience from his coordinator days, and you know he just comes with a lot of league examples and whatnot,” Beavers Jr. said of Ryan. “He just shows us things of Maxx Crosby and Sean Lee and different things of that nature, so just being able to just teach it to us, show it to us and then just being able to implement it is big.”
Redshirt freshman defensive end Elijah Newby spoke about the adjustment of switching from linebacker to defensive end during spring ball.
“I feel like it’s an opportunity,” Newby said. “High school, I got the chance to play both linebacker and end. So being switched over I know I’ve got the capabilities, and then with great coaches like [defensive ends] coach [Shaun] Nua… making it super easy for me, simplifying it, just telling me go out there and play ball like I know how to.”
The Trojans look to keep the momentum going as they head into the back half of their spring season.