USC football finally has positive momentum to ride into the 2019 season

Positive momentum is a new feeling for USC football in 2019, but the Trojans appear to finally be on the right track.

The 2019 calendar year certainly started out as rough as the 2018 season felt, but with the new campaign coming closer and closer, USC football has achieved the near-miraculous: Momentum is now moving in a positive direction.

The Trojans, who were a transfer portal supplier in the winter and spring, have become the destination for coveted athletes who are now set to strengthen the cardinal and gold.

CHECK OUT: What does Chris Steele mean for USC?

Meanwhile, head coach Clay Helton and company showed enough positive signs during Spring Camp, including more competitive practices and the instillation of the Air Raid offense, to suggest the wheels may not actually fall off in 2019.

A few months ago, we ran down a timeline of the negative news which plagued USC.

Things have certainly take a turn for the better since then.

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Here’s some of the good news that has flooded USC in recent months:

• 1/28 — USC hires Graham Harrell to replace Kliff Kingsbury as offensive coordinator
• 2/6 —USC salvages the 2019 recruiting class with No. 18 rank
• 3/1 — USC hires Aaron Ausmus as strength and conditioning coordinator
• 3/1 — Outside linebacker Hunter Echols opts not to enter transfer portal
• 3/5 — USC institutes broad changes to Spring Camp practice philosophy
• 3/7 — Cornerback Greg Johnson removes his name from transfer portal
• 3/23 — Wide receiver Joshua Jackson commits to USC for 2020
• 4/26 — Tennessee graduate transfer OT Drew Richmond commits to transfer to USC
• 5/29 — TE Jack Yary, the son of Trojan legend Ron Yary, commits to play for USC
• 5/31 —Bru McCoy transfers from Texas, with USC as his likely destination
• 6/3 — Wide receiver Velus Jones Jr. decides not to transfer
• 6/4 —Cornerback Chris Steele flips transfer from Oregon to USC

USC’s problems aren’t all solved, to be certain.

The athletic department still has major questions hanging overhead as new university president Carol Folt is on the verge of taking up her post.

SEE MORE: Five impressive players from Spring Camp

The head coach of USC football still faces serious, and well-earned, skepticism about his ability to lead the program.

And Trojan fans have every reason to remain in wait-and-see mode.

But it’s definitely nice to be able to look to USC’s future with the possibility of seeing a glass half full. For awhile there, it was impossible to see anything but the empty side of things.

The double-whammy of Bru McCoy and Chris Steele transferring back to Los Angeles is the culmination of the trickle of positivity that had flowed through Spring Camp.

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Both were Top 6 recruits in the state of California and should have been shoo-ins to play in cardinal and gold. USC dropped the ball in letting them get away. Now it’s “all’s well that ends well.”

The 2019 season has always been set up to be the ultimate do-over for Helton.

When Lynn Swann opted to bring him back after 2018, he essentially gave him the chance to do-over that debacle of a season.

Recent evens have ensured the potential for it to have a positive ending has never felt more real.

McCoy and Steele have given USC a do-over in the recruiting realm.

Velus Jones Jr., Greg Johnson and Hunter Echols have given USC a do-over in the transfer realm.

Things are looking up. It’s just a matter of keeping them going that way.