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Ah, yes, spring. The annual renewal of hope that USC's tight ends will become more involved in the passing game during the upcoming season.

Every year the topic resurfaces, and for good reason. The Trojans sure seem to have a lot of talent at the position -- athletic mismatches that could provide an added dynamic to an offense that has already proven tough to defend as is. And yet, the stats tell their own story.

USC tight ends Erik Krommenhoek and Josh Falo combined for just 15 catches for 145 yards and 1 touchdown in 2019. All season. Total. (Seriously, we triple-checked the math.)

One might conclude from those stunning numbers that offensive coordinator Graham Harrell doesn't see the tight end as a pass-catching position in his offense, but that is far from the reality, according to new tight ends coach and longtime Harrell confidant and colleague John David Baker.

Actually, Baker said this week, USC would prefer to have a tight end who proves he's capable of playing a significant majority of snaps and doing everything at the position.

"If you followed the offense, especially our last year at North Texas, you got to see our tight end there. He played probably 85 percent of the snaps, and he was heavily involved in our passing game as well," said Baker, who followed Harrell from North Texas and spent last season as an offensive quality control analyst before earning his promotion this offseason.

"We tell our guys -- not only our tight ends [but] our receivers, running backs -- in one of our first meetings we always tell them, 'If you want to play, you have to prove to us that you make the unit better.' That goes for my guys as well. If they want to be more involved in the passing game, they have to show they bring value to that. I think we got to a point last year where we felt we were better off with four true receivers on the field, so that's what we did."

Many have observed how that fourth receiver -- freshman Drake London -- operated kind of like a tight end, lining up inside and primarily operating up the seams or finding space on shorter routes. He caught 39 passes for 567 yards and 5 touchdowns, and there is nothing to say he has to remain as an inside receiver throughout his time at USC. He had never played inside while developing into a 4-star prospect at Moorpark High School, and if a dynamic tight end proves up to the task perhaps that allows London to eventually show other aspects of his skill set.

But that's the 'if'.