Breakdown of USC spring game

by Garry Paskwietz The Trojans held their annual spring game today at the Coliseum with plenty of live scrimmage action mixed in with some drill work, and even an appearance by Jake Olson during a field goal drill. With the scrimmage action, Clay Helton split the reps for the first unit between Max Browne and Sam Darnold at quarterback, with Jalen Greene and Matt Fink alternating with the second unit. Here was the first team offense and defense that started off the day: Offense – Browne (QB), J Davis (TB), McNamara (TE), Smith-Schuster (WR), Mitchell (WR), Rogers (WR), Wheeler (LT), Brown (LG), Falah (C), Talamaivao (RG), Banner (RT) Defense – Nwosu (OLB), Green (DE), Jefferson (NT), Dorton (DE), Gustin (OLB), Hutchings (ILB), Powell (ILB), Marshall (CB), Tell (S), McQuay (S), Langley (CB) The first series got started right for the offense as Browne lofted a deep pass to an open Rogers at the goal line for a score. With that, the second units came out as follows: Offense – Greene (QB), Jones (TB), Peters (FB), Whitney (WR), Burnett (WR), Petite (TE), Hemsley (LT), Mama (LG), C. Smith (C), Simmons (RG), N. Smith (RT) Defense – Betiku (OLB), Rector (DE), Jimmons (NT), Scott (DE), Ruffin (OLB), Tucker (ILB), Masina (ILB), Harris (CB), Pollard (S), Hart (S), Carrasco (CB) Greene got things going with a nice scramble to show off his legs, then he hit Daniel Imatorbhebhe with a screen pass. Dominic Davis burst through the line for 17 yards. First unit: Darnold to Rogers for a six-yard gain. Rasheem Green got into the backfield with a TFL loss on Jones. Second unit: Pollard with a nice smack on James Toland on the tackle. Fink hit Daniel Imatorbhebhe for 16 yards. At that point the ball was placed deep in the offense end at the two-yard with the goal being to get 20-yards against the defense. First unit: On the first play, Justin Davis ran for 23 yards to the 25, first offense off the field. Second unit: First play again, Jalen Greene hits Darreus Rogers who goes up really high for the catch to get the necessary 20 yards. First unit: A few Ronald Jones runs gets the offense past the 20 yard goal. Second unit: Fink hits Mitchell with a slant for 13 yards, and then a 10 yard run reaches the goal. At that point the ball was placed on the 50-yard line. First unit: Rasheem Green with one of the better plays of the day for the defense when he batted down a Browne pass at the line. Marvell Tell read a screen pass to Daniel Imatorbhebhe and made a hard tackle for no gain. Browne hit Smith-Schuster with a nice 38-yard touchdown. Second unit: Aca’Cedric Ware got things going with a 14 yard run before a hard hit by Ruffin. Greene to Petite for 11 yards. Dominic Davis with another nice showing of his speed as he got to the outside for 10 yards. Ruffin with a tackle at the five-yard line to halt the drive. First unit: Darnold tries to hit Smith-Schuster in the end zone but Marshall breaks it up. Sam comes right back on the next play with a four-yard TD pass to JuJu. Time for a red zone drill with the ball placed on the 25-yard line: First unit: Browne tries to hit Mitchell in corner of end zone but Steven couldn’t come up with it. Justin Davis for 8, then Justin for 7 more, but Matt Lopes came up to stop a screen attempt to Jones for a one-yard loss. Second unit: Jalen Greene and the offense didn’t score. First unit: Darnold hits Daniel Imatorbhebhe for a short TD pass. Matt Boermeester came on to try a pair of 27-yard field goals and the Coliseum crowd gave a standing ovation to his long snapper, Jake Olson. Both snaps were good, the first kick was good but the second one missed. For the last reps of the day the ball was placed on the 2-yard line. Justin Davis ran one in, then was stopped short by Tell and Langley. Finally, it was Browne to Smith-Schuster for the final TD pass of the day. Key stats Browne 7-11, 114 yards, 3 TD's Darnold 6-7, 63 yards, 2 TD's Greene 4-7, 52 yards Fink 4-8, 42 yards, 1 pick   J Davis 8 carries, 62 yards, 2 TD's Jones 14 carries, 64 yards, 1 TD D Davis 8 carries, 45 yards Ware 7 carries, 33 yards   Smith-Schuster 5 catches, 55 yards, 3 TD's D Imatorbhebhe 5 catches, 65 yards, 1 TD Rogers 3 catches, 91 yards, 1 TD   Tucker 6 tackles Hutchings 5 tackles Tell 5 tackles, 1 pass deflection Houston 5 tackles Carrasco 2 tackles, 1 pick