COLUMN: Attn. Biletnikoff Award committee, more for the Drake London file

BOULDER, Colo. -- For someone who keeps saying he's not thinking about the Biletnikoff Award or any other national honors, Drake London sure keeps providing more fodder for the rest of us to talk about it.

In fact, let's not even dance around it -- London should be the early favorite for the prestigious award that honors the top pass-catcher in college football.

Plain and simple -- kind of like how he makes highlight reel plays feel these days.

"If the ball's in the air and if he's around with 10 other people we expect him to come down with the ball," USC interim coach Donte Williams said Saturday after London's latest starring performance.

The dynamic junior only needed one quarter Saturday against Colorado to effectively reiterate his weekly unspoken statement to the Biletnikoff committee and the college football world at large.

He had 5 catches for 96 yards and a one-handed touchdown in that opening quarter of USC's 37-14 win over the Buffaloes, on his way to finishing with 9 catches for 130 yards.

"They came out and tried to double him today and [he] still found a way to hurt them, so that's just the kind of guy he is, the kind of player he is, " Trojans offensive coordinator Graham Harrell said. "... That first quarter, he wasn't necessarily open and made some unbelievable catches. That's just Drake. That's the thing -- we almost expect that now.

"I think the expectation is so high for him it's probably unfair, but when he makes plays like that and you see it every single week it's like, well, if it's close he's going to make it so let's just keep throwing it to him."

Quarterback Kedon Slovis said much of the same.

"I try not to throw the ball too perfect because I don't want to miss him," he said. "I just want to give him a chance and throw it up there for him because if I overthrow him I'm making a bad play. It makes it really nice to know that I just need to give him a chance and he'll come down with it for me."

Crazy as it sounds, London's season averages will actually come down a bit after Saturday as he had entered the day leading all of college football with 9.8 catches and 135 receiving yards per game.

And yet, he's never looked better than he did on USC's third offensive possession vs. Colorado that included 3 catches for 58 yards and one of the best one-handed grabs anyone will see all season.

As Slovis would say later, the plan wasn't necessarily to feed London so much on that particular drive, but then again the plan is always to feed London as much as possible.

"They didn't cloud him, they played man and that was [our plan] going in -- if they overplay Drake go take it somewhere else, but if they don't he's our best receiver so let's attack him," Slovis said.

So attack they did.

The first came as Slovis lofted the ball downfield for London, who didn't have much separation from the defensive back but also rarely needs any. He freed himself as the ball arrived and hauled in a 29-yard reception down the right side to the Colorado 35-yard line.

Three snaps later, following a 10-yard holding penalty, Slovis tried the left side with a jump ball for his favorite target. This time, London simply went up and over the defender to haul in a 28-yard catch down to the 1.

And then two plays later, London made his shortest reception the most impressive of all.

He was tightly covered, but again that didn't play any factor as Slovis fired a back-shoulder pass to the front left corner of the end zone and London needed only one hand to pull it in despite being screened by the defensive back.

That one deserves two looks ...

"It's just one of those plays where your body kind of takes over and it's that natural ability that comes out. That's pretty much it," London said with as much ease and nonchalance as he used on the catch itself.

"Genetics," Williams chimed in, eliciting laughs from the room.

Again, for Slovis, it was just another example of throwing the ball in the vicinity of London and knowing there was a good chance it would end up in his grasp.

Though even he had doubts on this one.

"I've seen him make it in practice a lot. It was tight. It was just a fade, the DB played it pretty well so I kind of just wanted to put it back shoulder and thought Drake or nobody," Slovis said. "And Drake made it. I was thinking it was going to be nobody, but again, Drake's just so long and [has] great ball skills, so he came down with it."

London was later asked outside of the locker room if he thinks at all about the Biletnikoff Award (or the Heisman Trophy, which seems a stretch for any player on a 3-2 team) and his answer was as predictable as his weekly stat line.

"No. I mean, if God willing, I'm going to let that fall into place, but with that said I'm just trying to get Ws. I'm not really getting into the hype," he said.

Oh, there's going to be a lot of hype -- all deserved.

London is now on pace for 115 receptions and 1,608 receiving yards over 12 games (not counting the potential for an extra game), while the USC single-season records are 118 catches for 1,721 yards set by Marqise Lee in 13 games in 2012.

That year, Lee became the only USC receiver to ever win the Biletnikoff Award since its inception in 1994.

Just saying ...

"Drake's pretty good," Harrell said smiling and shaking his head. "I don't think there's enough good things I could say about Drake, to be honest with you. Not only as a player but as a person. That's what I think separates Drake from a lot of people. Obviously he's a special talent, but he takes care of his business off the field, in the classroom. He takes care of his body. He sleeps right, he eats right, he's never getting in trouble. When he's away from the facility you're never wondering, like, what's Drake doing, is he going to get in trouble, am I going to get a call about Drake?

"When you have a kid that's as talented as he is and takes care of business the right way, the way he does with everything, you've got a really special individual and that's the result."

Week after week after week.