Clay Helton has stated on multiple occasions this spring that he implored Clancy Pendergast to simplify his scheme. USC’s defense has been trending downward each season in Pendergast's second stint as the defensive coordinator.
Pendergast, while appearing on the Trojan Talk podcast Thursday, said he re-examined everything he’s been doing since he returned to USC in 2016.
“I really went back to looking and studying the last three years and seeing what fit who we have right now,” he said.
What the Trojans have is perhaps their best D-line in years. I asked Pendergast, whose time in the NFL and college football is almost split down the middle over a three-decade coaching career, whether he’d prefer an elite secondary or defensive front, if forced to choose between the two. He didn’t flinch while picking the latter.
“I think it all starts up front at any level,” he said. “You got to be able to set the line of scrimmage. You got to be able to set edges in the running game, and you got to be able to affect the quarterback. So I think everything starts up front. If you can’t stop the run and you can’t affect the quarterback with the front, then the DBs, none of them can cover forever. So the disruption up front allows the secondary to make plays on the ball.”
Given the lack of experience and depth in the defensive backfield, USC will need everything it can get from its defensive line. Pendergast’s first initiative was to add an extra body to the front, primarily to shore up the run defense. But that wasn’t change for the sake of change. The realignment lines up with USC’s roster strengths.
Pendergast opined on the great potential of his 2019 lineup and reflected on what went wrong in 2018 in our wide-ranging interview.
