Family Feud: First impressions of USC's spring camp

Mar 07, 2019, 08:04 PM

A tumultuous offseason finally came to a partial close with USC football opening its spring camp on Tuesday.

The Trojans got back to the field and we got our first look at a number of new faces -- both Class of 2019 members that graduated early and enrolled at USC in January and members of the coaching staff that are joining the team or switching duties on the staff.

Shotgun Spratling and Keely Eure return to talk about the first impressions that the new faces and the new directives initiated by head coach Clay Helton made. Except, much like USC last year, this podcast features a role reversal. The Trojans aren't used to going 5-7. Keely and Shotgun aren't used to exchanging roles, but they took a minor step into the team's shoes, going out of their comfort zone and being challenged with a different experience. Shotgun was unable to attend the first practice, so he fills in the hosting role while Keely takes over as the analyst.

Before they get into what was seen on the first day of spring camp, Keely and Shotgun have to first discuss the players that were not in attendance on the first day, including the mounting list of transfers that have left the program with some familiar faces that were expected to have a significant role on the team this season.

Keely talks about how different the short-handed wide receiver and cornerback groups looked with only a select number of scholarship players available on the first day.

The biggest drama of the offseason centered around USC's offensive coordinator position where Tee Martin had his playcalling duties taken away and then eventually his job as well. He was replaced temporarily by Kliff Kingsbury before the Trojans settled on Graham Harrell when Kingsbury left to be the Arizona Cardinals head coach.

And the biggest change of the first spring practice came from the new offensive coordinator. Harrell left the practice field for a good portion of practice to take in things from above at Dedeaux Field next door to Howard Jones Field. Keely talks about how different the timing of that move and the dueling duo discusses the impact of this move and what it could mean for the offense going forward.

Kelly gives her observations and analysis of other differences in the practice. Clay Helton was less involved in the offensive playcalling, but how was his new role as a manager watching over all the position groups and bouncing in between different drills and position groups. But did it seem like a different practice?

She also discusses what she saw of the new coaching staff members, including a closer look at new defensive backs coach Greg Burns, and points out a couple of players that stood out in the helmets-only first practice.

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