Kevon Seymour Deserves More Love and More USC Football News
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1st & 10:
First Take… No doubt USC has defensive stars primed and ready for 2015.
Adoree’ Jackson and Su’a Cravens have taken their share of acclaim this offseason. Even Anthony Sarao made the Butkus Award watch list.
But where is the love for Kevon Seymour heading into his third season as a starter?
The senior led USC in deflections in 2014 with 13, a number which placed him 12th in the nation and second in the Pac-12. He achieved that while usually matched up with the opposition’s best receiver.
Though Jackson has rightfully earned attention as a shutdown corner, Seymour’s steady progression from garbage time sub to shaky starter to Vegas Bowl Defensive Outperformer of the Game to stalwart defender seems to have fallen through the cracks.
Seymour was widely regarded as one of USC’s top performers this spring, yet Phil Steele somehow neglected to include Seymour on his Preseason All-Pac-12 team, which stretches as far as a fourth team. Putting that into perspective, Leon McQuay III made the fourth team as a defensive back.
Wednesday Bleacher Report’s Justin Ferguson proposed a fake trades for college football teams this season including a deal which would send Toa Lobendahn (and Ricky Town) to Florida in exchange for Vernon Hargreaves.
Of course, if Seymour had been getting the acclaim he is due, Ferguson would understand the insanity of that deal. USC does not need another cornerback, even one of Hargreaves level and certainly not for the best young lineman on the team. That’s because the Trojans may already have the best duo in the conference at that position.
And Ten USC Football Links…
- ESPN: Ted Miller has USC’s offense pegged as the second best in the conference, behind Oregon, with eight returning starters including the “most accurate passer in the Pac-12” and a ridiculously deep offensive line.
- ESPN: Greg Katz urges to the 2015 Trojans to take some lessons from the 2004 national champions by embracing a “Leave No Doubt” philosophy.
- Daily News: Well here’s a shock, Scott Wolf actually has a great idea on the subject of naming rights. How about finding some donors to pitch in towards naming the Student Section in George Tirebiter’s honor?
- Daily News: Of course the agreement ends there. Wolf argues that USC’s scheduling of Rice is below Trojan standards. Comparing USC and UCLA’s marquee non-conference opponents is all well and good but neglecting the fact that the Trojans have a national date with Notre Dame each of those years is kind of a big deal.
- OC Register: Michael Lev got with Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News for a Q&A on Stanford, who thinks Kevin Hogan is good enough to be among the top QBs in the conference but is skeptical about the return of the Cardinal’s power run game.
- USCFootball.com: Cody Kessler says he is happy to see so many of his teammates working so hard to get better before the season and hopes that’s what will earn them comparisons to the 2002 USC team which turned a corner in year two under Pete Carroll.
- Sports Illustrated: Remember David Sills? Well, the former seventh-grade USC commit is about to begin his career at West Virginia. Chris Johnson details how the early commitment came about, partially with the help of that Urban Meyer-Lane Kiffin rivalry.
- LA Times: Marvel Tell is Linsey Thiry’s latest player preview. She projects the safety to earn a spot in the rotation and contribute on special teams.
- Reign Of Troy: Gearing up for fall camp, we looked at the five players with the most to prove, including Damien Mama, Jabari Ruffin, Leon McQuay III, Jalen Cope-Fitzpatrick and Tre Madden.
- Reign Of Troy: Check out the latest episode of Reign of Troy radio wherein we discuss silly watch list snubs, the new depth chart and flipping a UCLA de-commit.
Stat of the Day:
Kevon Seymour was the first Trojan player to have more than 10 deflections in a season since Kevin Thomas in 2009 and his 13 in 2014 were the most since Will Poole’s 19 break ups in 2003.
Tweets of the Day:
More from Reign of Troy
- Markese Stepp enters transfer portal intending to leave USC football
- USC football’s Alijah Vera-Tucker declares for NFL Draft
- USC football adds Xavion Alford as transfer from Texas
- USC Podcast: RoT Radio Ep. 396 on the Football Season’s Fallout
- Talanoa Hufanga named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, USC football with five first-teamers