USC Football News: Fall Camp Practice Notes (8/15)

USC football’s 2015 fall camp continued at Howard Jones Field on a scorching hot Saturday. A day after camp’s first set of two-a-days, the Trojans had a somewhat light practice without full pads, though it still resulted in an injury for starting cornerback Kevon Seymour.

Seymour was in a 1-on-1 passing drill against wide receiver Darreus Rogers early in practice, when Rogers juked to the left and Seymour lost his footing without any contact. It appears to be a lower body injury for the senior cornerback, but the severity is unknown.

Trainers were working on his knee immediately after his fall and head coach Steve Sarkisian did not address the media afterwards to provide an update. However, Seymour walked out of practice on his own accord.

Update: With Sarkisian not talking to the media, USC Athletics on Twitter provided an update on Seymour, saying it wasn’t serious.

CB Kevon Seymour banged his knee in today's practice, per the team, it's nothing serious.
— USC Trojans (@USC_Athletics) August 16, 2015

Three Stars of the Day

Darreus Rogers: Today’s three stars come with an asterisk, as there wasn’t much 11vs11. But Rogers gets the nod as the first star based on his place thus far in camp. He’s not as flashy as JuJu Smith or Steven Mitchell, but he’s been as solid and effective as you’d like to see from a third down possession receiver. Saturday, he made a few catches over the middle in which he found room to get open.
Max Browne: Saturday had plenty of passing drills, and that means it’s Max Browne’s time to shine. He looked good, especially on a deep ball down field to Jalen Greene on a seam route, floating it in with touch in a place that safety John Plattenburg couldn’t get to. That diversity in his velocity makes Browne impressive. He’s not the Max Wittek type that is going to throw nothing but fast balls out there and can take off some zip on check downs when needed.
Porter Gustin: It’s still early but Porter Gustin just continues to look the part on defense. Saturday, he broke in free off the edge and forced Sam Darnold out of the pocket. To Darnold’s credit, he scampered to avoid the should-be sack and picked up a yard or two.

Trojan Quotable

“Usually guys get to college and have to develop their strength. He already has the strength, so he’s just developing his mental game.”-Jabari Ruffin on freshman linebacker Porter Gustin

From the Notebook

USC left tackle Chad Wheeler looks to slowly but surely get his job back. He played left tackle with the first team for the bulk of Saturday’s practice, which saw Toa Lobendahn move around. At one point early on, Lobendahn was the second team center, while Khaliel Rodgers moved up to play first team right guard in place of Viane Talamaiavao, who has not practiced since tweaking his hamstring early in the week.
Justin Davis (hamstring) was still not participating, and overall, Saturday was more about the passing game than the run game. Tre Madden had a long run on Brian Kennedy Field during some 11v11 work, but practice was predominantly light. Walk-on James Toland saw a fair amount of reps at tailback as well.
In the kicking competition, Alex Wood appeared to have the better day over Matt Boermeester. The duo tried field goals of 32, 37 and 42 yards, with Wood seemingly hitting all three. Seemingly is important, as there aren’t any referees and the media’s vantage point isn’t ideal for judging field goals. That said, Boermeester shanked his 37-yard attempt well to the right, amid pressure from the defense’s block attempt.
Tight end transfer Taylor McNamara continues to look raw and stiff as a receiver. He juggled a ball in 11v11 drills that was right on the money, couldn’t bring it in and it was ultimately intercepted by safety Matt Lopes.
There’s been NFL scouts at several fall camp practices thus far, including the New York Jets and St. Louis Rams last week. Today, the Jacksonville Jaguars had personnel at practice.

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