What stood out from Day 2 of USC spring ball
by Garry Paskwietz
* Porter Gustin showing leadership during a defensive drill, when the player who was done was supposed to go in line to be the ballcarrier target. Oluwole took his rep and then headed back to the defensive line, Porter barked at him “take your RB rep Wole!”
* For the 2nd straight day it was Michael Hutchings and John Houston going with the 1’s at ILB. Even though it’s only the first week I don’t think too many people would have predicted that.
* During kickoff drills the following players served as returners – Ajene, Ware, JuJu, Whitney, Burnett, Mitchell and Langley.
* Tommie Robinson was very animated with Ronald Jones during a running back pass block drills, working with his hands and hips to be in the right position.
* In a full team drill, Max Browne tried to hit Deontay Burnett deep but Iman Marshall broke it up in the end zone.
* A 7-on-7 drill got a little chippy, primarily due to a couple aggressive plays by Quinton Powell. The first was a completion to Ware, with Powell making a hard tackle, and Ware immediately made it clear he didn’t like it. A couple plays later, Powell made contact with De’Quan Hampton after a play, and tempers briefly rose again. Helton later brought the team together for a series of “up-downs” with the message being to not hurt the team, but Helton also added “was that not awesome? You want a mad, chippy football team”.
* Chris Brown (LG) and Jordan Simmons (RG) took first team reps today at the guard spots.
* Leon McQuay, Taylor McNamara and Powell were back after missing practice on Tuesday. McQuay broke up a pass in the end zone during the final team period. Browne ended the competition period with a deep touchdown to Burnett.
* Iman Marshall, Ykili Ross and Oluwole Betiku were on the field long after practice to get extra work on bag drills.
* Antwaun Woods and George Uko were in attendance and went through some d-line drills
