USC’s Deontay Burnett, Ronald Jones II, Chuma Edoga among best in PFF rankings

USC Football’s Deontay Burnett, Ronald Jones II and Chuma Edoga rank highly in Pro Football Focus’ positional rankings after seven weeks of action.

It hasn’t exactly been a banner year for USC Football’s offensive attack, but individuals for the Trojans have risen up to be listed among Pro Football Focus’ best at their respective positions.

Wide receiver Deontay Burnett scores third-highest among wide receivers so far this season, per PFF’s positional rankings.

Even though he has battled injuries, including shoulder and toe problems which have limited his practice time, Burnett leads the Trojans with 49 receptions for 626 yards and six touchdowns. He is four yards away from passing his season total from last year.

Burnett isn’t the only Trojan getting love from PFF.

Ronald Jones II ranks fourth nationally among running backs, trailing only Stanford’s Bryce Love, Penn State’s Saquon Barkley and Iowa State’s David Montgomery in PFF’s ratings system.

The junior running back is averaging 6.27 yards per carry this season, with 640 yards and eight touchdowns to his name. He has also added 112 receiving yards and a touchdown via the air to his tally this year.

The Trojans also have a representative among the top offensive tackles in the country for 2017. Right tackle Chuma Edoga grades out as the 15th best tackle so far.

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USC has been playing without him for two and a half games, after he suffered an ankle sprain early during the Trojans’ loss to Washington State. He sat out against Oregon State and Utah because of the injury but is slated to return this week, a welcome boost as USC prepares to face Notre Dame.

Considering the performance of those three key Trojans on offense, it is even more perplexing to note that USC is only averaging 34.4 points per game in 2017.

That might be because of one notable absence from PFF’s positional rankings.

Before the season, it would have been reasonable to expect Sam Darnold to make PFF’s top list at quarterback, but that’s not how this year has played out. Four Pac-12 quarterbacks ranked among PFF’s Top 25, but Darnold is not among them.

Since the Trojan quarterback has thrown nine interceptions and dropped six fumbles on the season, that’s not much of a surprise.

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Of course, Darnold has the next five weeks of regular season action to put his name back in that conversation.