USC Football: Unknown Quantities Could Be Advantage in 2016

USC football faces an uphill battle against Alabama in the season opener, but the unproven defensive front could have an advantage in being such an unknown quantity.

With the USC football spring game and NFL draft in our rear view mirror, the quiet period of college football sets in, signifying the beginning of summer and a rapidly approaching fall camp.

With little say on the matter, and clear pictures rarely if ever set in place, teams often see their stock rise or fall with the capricious nature of those providing coverage.

With that being said, after all that has been endured over the course of the previous decade, the USC Trojans couldn’t find themselves in a better position heading into 2016, strategically speaking.

As prognosticators put the Trojans anywhere from No. 8 all the way to No. 25, one thing has been apparent from the onset and become more pronounced at the conclusion of the spring football season: Not a soul outside the Land of Troy perceives the Trojans as capable of doing anything more than what was accomplished a season ago.

And while most programs would revel at these preseason predictions and rankings the Trojans do not count themselves among them, and rightfully so.

The loss of Kenny Bigelow Jr to a season-ending ACL injury does nothing to quell the notion that the Trojans entire season will revolve around the productivity of the defensive line. Yet the same can be said for every other team in the nation thus far.

The climate of college football can be described as mercurial at best. Effectively insulating some programs from the win-big-right-now attitude that has quickly begun to catch fire throughout the sport, while other notable programs are put on public display amidst the constant rumblings, firing, and subsequent changes.

Circumstance has fortuitously placed the Trojans in a position of power typically unheard of when referring to the historically great programs.

When USC lines up to face the defending national champion Alabama Crimson Tide at AT&T Stadium, they’ll be doing so knowing the outside world gives them little to no shot of doing the unthinkable.

Could the Trojans realistically find themselves in a more favorable position considering that?

The exodus of defensive linemen to the NFL indeed limits the amount of cumulative experience along the line, while simultaneously providing a silent benefit. Outsiders have no true gauge for what they’ll see come September 3rd.

USC has recruited tremendously and those recruits have an opportunity before them to rewrite college football history for the foreseeable future.

Whether it be Malik Dorton shooting the gap disrupting the flow, Noah Jefferson bulldozing his way into the backfield, or Rasheem Green wrecking havoc on the edge, the Trojans will not be lacking explosive options along the defensive line as in recent years past.

Jabari Ruffin and Porter Gustin are primed for a big year. JC transfer Josh Fatu joins Uchenna Nwosu, as well as a strong incoming freshman class featuring five-star recruit Oluwe Betiku, in what just may be the sleeper position group this upcoming college football season.

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With just as much to prove as their counterparts in week one, this Trojan defensive front consisting mostly of sophomores and freshmen has a chance to be dominant if they are able to quickly grow into their roles.

Make no mistake about it, this unit is young, talented, and extremely disruptive.

Far from a finished product, the coming months will be utilized to become a more cohesive unit, as camp looms.

The opening line suggests the Trojans will have no trouble getting up for this one, primed as heavy underdogs to the Tide. The game is shaping up to be one for the ages.

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