USC football practice notes: Light day focuses on situational mastery (8/7)

The seventh day of USC Football fall camp put the focus on situational mastery with a two-minute drill and other simulations during a light day on Howard Jones Field.

USC Football started off Week 2 of fall camp with a short, no-pads practice on Howard Jones Field.

As the Trojans took a break from the hard-hitting ways of Friday and Saturday’s full-pads practices, head coach Clay Helton said his team is right where they need to be.

“Coming out of last week, I really felt good about where we are at right now,” Helton said after practice on Monday.

Concepts took center stage, with USC emphasizing importance of knowing what to do in high-pressure moments.

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“The two-minute game has been so valuable for us over the last year,” Helton said. “It’s a situational mastery that you have to have in your tool box and I thought the kids functioned very well with it today.”

News and Notes

• Monday was by far the shortest practice of fall camp so far but that’s the plan for the Trojans during the season. A typical Monday practice will involve light work for a little over an hour, with the opportunity to work with younger players.
• The defense won the two-minute before-halftime situational portion of practice, forcing punts against the first team twice and the second team once.
  • After Jalen Greene dropped the first pass of the drive, Sam Darnold went to Deontay Burnett for a medium-range pass over the middle to move the chains. Then the quarterback found Tyler Vaughns on the sidelines and Aca’Cedric Ware on a swing pass to keep the offense moving. However, a declared coverage sack put the offense in a hole. A pass to Burnett and an incompletion later, Helton congratulated the defense for forcing a punt.
  • The second team offense went three-and-out against the second team defense. Matt Fink completed a pass to Joseph Lewis to start the drive, but Jamel Cook broke up a second-down pass intended for Michael Pittman. On third down, Fink put the ball just beyond the reach of tight end Austin Applebee.
  • On the final drive of the period, Ajene Harris deflected a pass sent Greene’s way as the offense once again capitulated.

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• With Helton setting specific situations to end practice, Fink stepped up to the plate and managed the offense well.
  • The head coach put seven seconds on the clock, challenging to the offense to get five yards in order to get into field goal range. Fink hit tight end Erik Krommenhoek to complete the challenge.
  • Next, 12 seconds went on the clock with no timeouts. Fink found receiver Randal Grimes over the middle and the offense moved to clock the ball.
  • Capping off practice, Michael Brown attempted a long field goal, but the kick fell short and the kick block team attempted a return.