Reign of Troy
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USC Football Spring Notes: Offensive Line Working Harder Than Ever

By Alicia de Artola

Nov 28, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Southern California Trojans offensive tackle Zach Banner (73) celebrates during an NCAA football game against the UCLA Bruins at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 28, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Southern California Trojans offensive tackle Zach Banner (73) celebrates during an NCAA football game against the UCLA Bruins at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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USC football was back in action on the practice field Tuesday after a week off for spring break. With Clay Helton talking championships, hard work was the theme of the day.

The second week of USC football’s spring practice kicked off Tuesday with head coach Clay Helton charging head first into the importance of the offseason.

“This is the time you win championships,” Helton said after practice.

If the Trojans want to deliver on that promise they’ll need to get more out of the offensive line, which struggled through inconsistency and injury in 2015.

Though results will have to wait, there’s no denying that new offensive line coach is working that unit hard.

Helton noted that the line is being worked harder than they have ever been before.

Left tackle Zach Banner, who opted to stay at USC for his final season of eligibility rather than jump early to the NFL echoed that sentiment.

“That’s why we are dog tired. We’re working so hard. We don’t have the music on, we’re here to work,” Banner said via Paolo Uggetti of Annenberg Media Sports.

New offensive line coach Neil Callaway, the man responsible for pushing the lineman this spring, said USC’s players have a “want to” attitude. That’s a good place to start on the road to improvement as well.

From the Notebook

  • Recruits in attendance included Jody Lewis, Jalen Hall, Merlin Robertson and Wyatt Davis, per Shotgun Spratling of USCFootball.com.
  • With Pro Day set for tomorrow, a number of former Trojans were on hand for practice including Kevon Seymour, Soma Vainuku, Claude Pelon, Gerald Bowman, Cody Kessler and Marcus Martin, per Spratling.
  • Ajene Harris scored the winning point for the offense with a touchdown in the corner of the endzone, per Uggetti. Max Browne noted that he and the redshirt sophomore have been working a lot together.
  • Browne said the number of weapons USC has on offense this year is “a good problem to have,” via Keely Eure of USCFootball.com.
  • Banner spoke more about the hard work the Trojans are putting in this spring:
  • Returned running backs coach Tommie Robinson complimented the staff Lane Kiffin put together in 2013, which helps explain why so many are back this year. Robinson also said that the coaches felt they did their best coaching job ever after the Las Vegas Bowl yet they all expected to be fired.
  • Helton praised the freshmen receivers Josh Imatorbhebhe and Michael Pittman again saying, “they don’t act like freshman. They actually get lined up right and run the right routes,” via Safon.
  • Sam Darnold has not thrown an interception during spring camp so far, according to Scott Wolf.
  • Iman Marshall and De’Quan Hampton were the last players to leave after getting in extra work, per Eure.