USC Spring Camp: Practice Notes 3/9

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The USC Trojans assembled at the Coliseum on Saturday for the first scrimmage of spring camp. They practiced in full pads for the first time this year, and it was a productive day for the Trojan defense, which had a particularly strong showing against the offense this afternoon.

Here are the quick hits from the scrimmage:

USC had 52-play scrimmage on Saturday, with two quarterbacks seeing action. Cody Kessler was 12-15 for 192 yards while Max Browne was 2-7 for 48 yds and one touchdown.

Before the scrimmage, the Trojans did a 1-on-1 drill where cornerbacks and receivers switched roles. Marqise Lee playing as a corner snagged an interception in the endzone. He landed awkwardly, tweaking his knee and leaving practice as a result. He left of his own will power, and later told the media that he was OK. Kiffin joked later that Lee was the best cornerback out there, too.

QB Max Wittek also injured himself during Saturday’s practice, hurting his knee holding during a field goal. He left practice early, and did not participate in the scrimmage.

As previously noted, the Trojan defense looked sharp today. In the first half of the scrimmage they surrendered no points to the offense, and hardly any first downs. Coach Kiffin told the media after the scrimmage that the defense “dominated” today, and that it was good to see.

DE/OLB Morgan Breslin had four tackles in the scrimmage, all of which were for losses.

CB Torin Harris was not in attendance at practice early at practice, but later participated in drills.

With Wittek out, Max Browne got a lot of reps in the scrimmage, and Kiffin remarked that he played particularly well. Defensively, the head coach noted that LB Lamar Dawson distinguished himself from the other linebackers as well.

Despite his praises of Browne, Kiffin did address the fact that the Trojans are currently struggling with ball security, and the quarterback/center exchange. With three new quarterbacks, growing pains like these are expected, and will likely be one of the major focal points of spring camp this year.

Five-star cornerback Adoree Jackson, a strong interest of the Trojans, was in attendance at the Coliseum for the scrimmage.

The Trojans have the next two days off, and will meet again next Tuesday at Howard Jones Field for the second week of Spring Camp.