LOS ANGELES, CA – The Trojans hosted the 2019 Fall Showcase and scrimmage game for the fans, boosters and anyone interested in seeing them on Saturday afternoon. This allowed the numerous USC fans to see what they are in store for during the 2019 season.
The Fall Showcase was hosted in the newly renovated Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Coliseum is visually stunning since they have fully renovated everything from the interior to the field. The Coliseum first opened in 1923 and it took an amazing team of engineers to give this ninety-six year-old building a much-needed facelift and bring it into the twenty-first century. It took 315 million dollars to renovate this historic building and they did it perfectly while still maintaining the iconic look of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Just before the start of the scrimmage, USC honored the 50th anniversary of 1969 football team, the 25th anniversary of the 1994 football team and the 10th anniversary of the 2009 football team. It was a nice way for the USC fans to show the players their appreciation for all the work and joy they gave the fans in the past years.
USC looks to make a come back this year and go back to being one of the top teams in the country. They ended the 2018 season with a bleak 5-7 record and went unranked. Although the men of Troy had a rough season last year, they had glimpses of what could be a great team. The Trojans looked really good in their scrimmage game. Both offense and defense seem to have shaped up and come to figure out a way to deal with the inconsistencies that plagued them last year. It does seem that the major issue was that the Trojans were not quick enough or physical enough.
Although it was only scrimmage, they definitely addressed these issues and seemingly have approached them with the correct responses. Mainly with the acquisition of new offensive coordinator Graham Harrell, a good recruiting class and key returning players. Harrell brings a lot to this team with the way he likes to approach the game with an “air raid” style of play. USC head coach Clay Helton has his eyes on the prize and expects nothing but the best from his student athletes. He has an enormous amount of confidence that this team will be one of the best teams in the country.
This 2019 season the Trojans will be looking to turn the team around and become the powerhouse PAC-12 team they have been in years past. USC is still trying to figure what they will be doing at the quarterback position. JT Daniels is the front-runner for the starting job, however, Matt Fink and Jack Sears will be fighting him for the starting position. It will be interesting to see who ends up in the starting position but regardless who does, they will have some serious fire power on offense.
If Daniels gets the nodas the starter, he will have plenty of options down field with senior Michael Pittman, a couple of sophomores in Amon-Ra St. Brown and Devon Williams who have been showing great promise and redshirt junior Tyler Vaughns. The Trojan back field will more than likely be a shared rotation of running backs with Vavae Malepeai as the main starter then rotating with Stephan Carr and redshirt freshman Markese Stepp. USC’s offensive coordinator coach Harrell is known for a fast and physical style of play that this Trojans offense will undoubtedly thrive in. Willams and Stepp will be player to watch for in this 2019 season.
The Trojan defense has an unproven secondary and linebacker corps and will be relying heavily on the defensive line to make the big stops and come up with clutch sacks. There is however a lot of potential for the Trojans’ secondary to be great. The secondary is young and may have to deal with growing pains as they get situated in collegiate level sports. However, from what was shown during the scrimmage, it would seem that the secondary will be ok and will learn quickly on the fly.
The Trojans have defensive lineman Christian Rector, Jay Tufele and Brandon Pili returning as well as some others returning to see that the defensive line is as menacing as can be. The defense will want to dominate the opponents backfield this upcoming season and apply as much uncomfortable pressure on opposing quarterbacks as possible. Although the USC defense has lost some serious power in the linebacker position, there are players like Conner Murphy and Drake Jackson that show some hope especially when it comes to edge rushing. The defense will definitely have to do a bit of stepping up but with the new and returning players, they have they should rack up more than the twenty-nine sacks they got last season. With Harrell’s offense, all the targets and options that will be available, and a young and productive defense, this USC team could be a resurgence to the glory days of Trojan Football.
With confidence and the right tools to make it happen, it will be interesting to see just how this upcoming 2019 season plays out. The home opener for the Trojans is just a short two weeks away where they will host the Fresno State Bulldogs. USC will have some tough matchups in the coming months. They are set to face off against Stanford, Utah, Oregon, Washington and Notre Dame which all those teams had a record of nine wins or more.
It will not be an easy task to go undefeated considering the strength of their schedule. No matter what mountain of odds there are against this USC squad they are ready to take it head-on and prove to the nation why the USC Trojans are historically one of the best football programs in college football. The anticipation for the season is building and many of Angelenos and Southern Californian football fans are extremely excited for the 2019 Trojan football season.
Written by Robert Henry
Image Credit: Luis Rodriguez
