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Nearly all the talk about new USC cornerbacks coach Donte Williams has been about the impact he can make as a recruiter for the Trojans.

But it's worth reiterating too that Williams helped Oregon rank second nationally last season with 20 interceptions. USC had just 9 picks last year (tied for 76th), and that was actually a substantial improvement from the previous season when the Trojans tallied just 4 interceptions -- the second-fewest in the FBS.

Oregon's INTs came from all over the defense, but cornerbacks Verone McKinley III and Thomas Graham Jr. combined for 6 of them.

Williams was asked how he plans to get USC's corners more involved in the turnover margin.

“Our biggest thing is what our offense has to do, which I know they’re going to do, which is score points and you get teams behind and they take more chances with the ball," he said. "And when they take chances, we have to make sure we capitalize on them, which we will be.”

The Trojans return significant talent and depth at cornerback in a reversal of narrative from 2019, when they had just about no experience at the position. Williams' predecessor Greg Burns deserves credit for developing the unit last year.

Olaijah Griffin, who is now a junior, redshirt sophomore Isaac Taylor-Stuart and sophomore Chris Steele essentially split the cornerback duties last season as first-time contributors at the college level. All three were 5-star prospects coming out of high school and had their moments (but they had just 1 pick between them).

Griffin finished with a team-high 9 pass break-ups, Steele had 5 and Taylor-Stuart had 4 PBUs and 1 INT.

At the nickel spot, Greg Johnson -- now a redshirt junior -- had 2 INTs and 4 PBUs.

Those are the incumbents, but that doesn't mean there won't be some competition this spring and summer.

The three-way split at corner is already asking each of those guys to take a cut in playing time -- Steele and Taylor-Stuart were the more likely to yield snaps when all three were healthy -- and each is surely intent on proving to their new position coach that they belong on the field even more.

Then there's sophomore Dorian Hewett, who also made a start last year at corner as injuries struck. One of the fastest players on the team, he was earning more and more trust from Burns and will now try to make a similar impression on Williams to see if he can expand his role.