There wasn't much news to be had from USC's turn at Pac-12 Media Day on Tuesday -- aside from our exclusive one-on-one with coach Clay Helton prior to the group session -- but conference media days are always entertaining nonetheless as coaches face a wide range of questions during their time on the dais.

We break down his most notable comments below.

You can also watch the full video of Helton's Pac-12 Media Day session here -- fast forward to 2:13 on the video.

"One, I'm immensely grateful and thankful to USC through this last year and a half as we went through the pandemic. One because they provided unbelievable knowledge to our players. Two, they answered questions not only to the players but parents with different webinars. It's not every once in a while discussions, it's everyday discussions, weekly discussions amongst administrators, coaching staffs, our medical professionals at USC. What that garnered I think was a high level of trust as we went through this process. As we've gone through now the vaccination process, I think it's produced tremendous results for our team. You look at a team that's over 90% vaccinated, all of its position coaches vaccinated, all of its operation staff vaccinated, basically 110 men that are ready to go to camp. USC has garnered opportunities, waivers out there, religious and medical waivers that we're still waiting on. But I think that trust and respect and time that USC and resources at USC has given has really put our university and our team in a great position moving to the '21 season."

"I've been a college football coach for 26 years. Teams going to other conferences, I remember the old Southwest Conference, being at the University of Houston. Changes are always made and teams are coming into other conferences. Obviously it's an exciting topic. You realize once you get the education that it's a little bit further down the line. But I think for college coaches as well as college players, I give this recommendation, whether it's teams going to another conference, whether it's College Football Playoff expansion, our job as coaches and players is you better focus on this season, better focus on your job, doing your job. The best way you can help your football team is being productive and being successful. You help your team, you help your conference. The reality whether it is what is our conference doing, what is their conference doing, are we four teams [in the College Football Playoff], 12 teams? The reality is right now we're four teams and we're fighting like heck to be one of those four teams to win that conference championship, be in that playoff. So focus on what we are.

"What I'm proud of is to be in this conference. Today hit home for me. I look at the coaches that are leading these programs, and I look at the quality of talent of men as the players that I've seen today. You go, Wow, these are special people. To see the competitiveness of our league, now to see George [Kliavkoff] come in, that leadership, that excitement, to hear other teams going, wow, we want to be a part of this. We own the Mountain and West time zones with this conference. To see where this conference is trending to, what it can be is exciting. What we have to do as coaches and as players is live in the now and do our job and produce championships now."

"Yeah, I think that's one of the advantages. It really wasn't if this was going to happen, it was when. The proactiveness of our administration to be able to put these pieces in place, to educate our players when it was coming about I think was really important. I do take solace. By doing this, now they have marketing teams that can go out and do that work so they can focus on their jobs and their responsibilities, see the big picture. Big picture wealth is about getting your degree and being able so when you do win the game, you do win the game, and you're 26, 27, 28 years old, that NFL pension doesn't kick in till you're 65, what am I going to do in that time period? Let's go get the 15th ranked academic degree in the country, private school education, see what that does for us. That's pretty special. Let's go be a master of our craft. Only, what, 0.4% go onto the NFL from college football players. It takes a lot to be able to get there. Focus on that. Brands want great people to represent their products. So be a great person. Focus on those three things, get your academics, get your degree, be the best player you can be, go be a great person and great opportunities are going to come about."

"I thought Kedon [Slovis] had a tremendous sense of urgency to be great. I see that from Miller and Jaxson in this time period. How they treated the process in spring training. In the summer how they've led our groups when Kedon has had obligations. They've run a couple of the player-run practices, which has been a great experience for them. But it takes 25 practices to evaluate. That evaluation isn't over as you go through the season. Those guys will be battling for a while. It's important that you not necessarily focus on, what did I do today? Where am I standing? Just progress as a player. Whoever's the best in the moment in that first game will be labeled two and the other one will be labeled three. I want each and every one, just like Kedon did, you better prepare yourself as a starter because you never know when that time is coming."

"We have a responsibility as one of the upper level teams, elite teams, tradition of excellence that USC has, I've always felt if we're successful, our conference is successful. Yes, we have a responsibility at our program to be able to put ourselves at those championship expectations, live up to those standards. That's one thing I took away from George. I loved he said we're here to win championships, our conference as a football program is here to win championships. The conference is going to support us and those teams that put themselves in those positions to help them get there. To be able to hear that enthusiasm was exciting as a coach. To hear some of his vision of where he sees us progressing to as a conference is exciting. But we also know that being at USC, this league, how ultra competitive it is, not only do you have to manage that nine-game conference schedule, you have to be successful outside of conference. What a great schedule we have. How about at Notre Dame, get to play BYU and San Jose State, three top-25 teams from last year. Be successful within our conference, have a great non-conference success story, that's going to open up some great opportunities and provide some great success for our program also."

"I know defensively it's just having the opportunity and time to be able to grow, really to develop kind of the attitude of what Coach Orlando is. I remember leaving the building March 15th of last year and not reentering until July 6. Coach Orlando and Coach Snyder, our special teams coaches, having to go and basically shrink a playbook down, say this is what we're going to do, we're going to get really good at something. Really seeing those two phases advance. In this off-season being able to see the personality of what coach Orlando brings and that defensive staff brings to the table has really rubbed off on our players. There's an edginess, toughness, discipline, accountability, really a bond between that defensive unit and what Coach Orlando has been able to create."

"Oh, goodness. I really appreciate Mike Bohn and Brandon Sosna, our administration, because when we had the opportunity, they said, Coach, go get anybody you want, any school, get the best of the best. In doing and talking to several people, interviewing several people, I walked away and said, you know what, there's great trainers that are out there, but there's also great trainers that provide great culture. As a head coach, you realize that your training staff is with your players as much, if not more, than your position coaches and you as a head coach. An eight-week spring cycle, eight-week summer cycle. It's not just about being a great trainer, it's about providing a great culture and a great culture system. That's what Bobby, Coach Stiner, provided for us, him and his staff. The staff he put together are comprised with former head strength coaches themselves, being able to bring in a return to play specialist in Ian Bures, a former strength training coach in Chad Smith. We're strong in that area. Under Bobby's leadership we've made tremendous strides as a team and culture under his leadership."