Los Angeles, CA- USC Football hosted their fifth annual Media Day on Monday, August 3rd, from 9:00am to noon in the Bashor Lounge at Heritage Hall. For the first half hour, USC Defensive Linemen & their position coaches, Coach Jones and Coach Nua kicked off a series of interviews. Next up were the Defensive Backs & their position coaches, Coach Gonzales and Coach Reed.
‘It’s exciting right now, one of the most exciting times of the year,” said USC veteran cornerback Prophet Brown, “Everyone’s getting prepared and lots of anticipation for the upcoming season.”
Entering day four of Fall Camp, both coaching staff and student-athletes seem well-adjusted into preseason, though mere enthusiasm appeared along with having high expectations with their season’s first game right around the corner on August 29th against San José St.
Assistant Head Coach for Offense/Running Backs, Anthony Jones Jr., and Cornerbacks Coach, Trovon Reed, both kept it lite in their interviews when sharing about how much progress has been made since last season into this offseason especially with a reported No.1 incoming recruit class.
“Well I tried to lose weight, I tried Coach Carroll’s workout plan, and that didn’t last long either…,”said Coach Jones, “But more importantly from a football standpoint, I tried to study as much as I could…just like we demand those guys to give the best of themselves daily, they should expect the same from me as their position coach.”
In addition, Coach Jones mentioned that he got to talk with a lot of defensive coordinators to pick their brain on why or what challenges them from the running backs position. On the opposite end of the ball, his colleague, Coach Reed, shared how he spent the offseason with his wife and children but did see the work his boys put in by not taking any shortcuts.
“I can see the things that I asked them to work on and it’s showing up in fall camp,” said Coach Reed. At that position [safety] there is always room for growth and we’re going to grow every day. I told them “if we do that everyday, we’re going to be where we want to be by the first game.””
While USC’s first game could be for southern and northern Californians fans, there was also an announcement of a past highly anticipated matchup being reinstated between USC Fighting Trojans and Notre Dame Fighting Irish for the following seasons, beginning in 2027. Still for this season’s team there remains an underlying motivation for their performance on the field regardless of whom they face as their opponents.
“My why, I have a few, obviously my faith is important to me,” said USC backup quarterback, Sam Huard. “My why is my parents and family, through the ups and downs, they have always been there for me…and because of how much I love this [game].”
Huards’ sentiments shared commonly among his fellow teammates as each reflected upon their motivation, providing thoughtful responses and revealing more about themselves or their coaches.
“Just’ve been getting stronger in the gym, working everyday…alot of recovery, trusting the process and just building bricks,” Aussie-born, Memphis transfer-USC Punter, Lachlan Carrigan, said to FI360News.
Building bricks, week by week, game by game, practice by practice, is a running theme from both players and coaching staff. Whether there are questions around how this team will fare after enduring a tough last season, there remains no doubt or questioning about what and why these position coaches and student-athletes want to be a part of this Trojan community and play the game for something bigger including each other.
“We have a great team, we have a lot of depth too, so it’s really exciting this fall camp,” said Brown “Going into this season we’re going to need everybody…its high energy, high competition and what you want as an athlete.”
