Countdown to USC training camp: Safeties

Welcome to our training camp preview series in which we’re breaking down the depth chart, key competitions, best and worst-case scenarios and newcomers to watch. We conclude with safeties.

Strong safety

21-Isaiah Pola-Mao (6-4, 205, R-So)

28-C.J. Pollard (6-1, 195, R-Jr) OR

23-Kaulana Makaula (6-3, 190, Fr)

Free safety

15-Talanoa Hufanga (6-1, 220, So)

30-Jordan McMillan (5-11, 195, RS-Fr) OR

25-Briton Allen (6-0, 185, Fr)

22-Dorian Hewett (6-0, 180, Fr)

Safe to say the safety position was compromised last year. To recap, Ykili Ross, once projected to start, quit the team just after training camp. Bubba Bolden, who’d practiced with the first team throughout the preseason, was suspended indefinitely the week of the season opener and never played for USC again. Isaiah Pola-Mao started Game 1, making his college debut in the process, and excelled. But then he went down in the first defensive series of Game 2 and didn’t return for the remainder of the season. Talanoa Hufanga, a true freshman himself, emerged as the eventual starter and asserted himself as one of the best defensive players on the team until he too suffered a season-ending injury. Marvell Tell was also briefly sidelined and by the end of the year, nickel backs Ajene Harris and Chase Williams, and walk-on Jordan McMillan, had logged significant time in the back end. Not exactly what Clancy Pendergast had in mind heading into 2018.

Amidst all that bending, the results show that the safeties didn’t break. They rather surprisingly survived a revolving door around their senior captain. The hope moving forward is that there will be less volatility in the lineup, with Pola-Mao and Hufanga leading the charge for a new era in the USC secondary.

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