DBs coach Greg Burns looking to create more 'glory days' in USC return

Greg Burns just happened to be in Los Angeles when the call came.

He was recruiting for Oregon State at the time and had been granted permission to stay in LA for the weekend, as his family lives here. Little did he know, the process of initiating a more long-term return was about to commence.

"I was on Cloud 9. I know exactly where I was," Burns recalled Thursday. "... I was at my son's little league flag football game and I'm on the sideline and my phone rings. That was where it happened, and I was beyond excited about the potential, and then from there on it was just hoping that it would work out. So I'm glad it did."

Burns, who previously coached the USC secondary from 2002-05 (including the national championship teams in 2003 and 2004), was hired in December to return as DBs coach.

Since leaving the Trojans, he had bounced between the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a half dozen college programs, most recently spending 2014-17 at Cal and last season at Oregon State.

"I'm appreciative of being back. I understand how great USC is, and my experiences from the past have shown me how great it can be," Burns said after the Trojans' second spring practice. "I've been fortunate to be here during those ... we call it glory days. So all I'm trying to do is make sure these guys know it's possible to have them again."

What Burns is able to do with the secondary will be key to that pursuit.

The Trojans ranked 61st last season in allowing 223.3 passing yards per game, but that doesn't quite tell the story. USC got a career-best season from senior cornerback Iman "Biggie" Marshall on one side and a spate of struggles from whoever lined up on the other side (usually senior Isaiah Langley).

More pertinent, though, is that USC returns almost no experience at the corner and nickel spots with Marshall, Langley, Ajene Harris and Jonathan Lockett all gone.

Sophomore Olaijah Griffin and redshirt-freshman Isaac Taylor-Stuart were 5-star recruits in the 2018 class, but both remain unproven. Griffin played sparingly and is out for the spring, and Taylor-Stuart was limited to special teams in the three games he played before being shutdown with an ankle injury last fall.

Redshirt-sophomore Greg Johnson is back, but only after pulling himself out of the transfer portal this week and making his spring debut Thursday. He also struggled in his opportunities last fall. Senior Dominick Davis adds some depth but no real experience at cornerback. Redshirt-freshman Chase Williams is a versatile option who projects as a likely nickel. And freshman Briton Allen, who was recruited as a safety, is now getting work at corner.

But that in turn impacts the Trojans' limited depth at safety where the projected starters -- sophomore Talanoa Hufanga and redshirt-sophomore Isaiah Pola-Mao -- are limited this spring as they return from season-ending injuries, and veteran C.J. Pollard is also out for the spring with a broken foot.

Got all that?

Despite that less than ideal situation, though, Burns doesn't seem fazed by the obstacles.

"Hey, my job is easy -- I work with what I've got," he said. "So whoever is getting the opportunity, just like you saw 44 and 36, who are two walk-ons who just signed in like yesterday and we're excited that they're playing and I'm going to coach the hell out of them. So to me, it doesn't matter who the individual is. But yes, the numbers aren't what we want it to be, but we're working on it."

After USC parted ways with former defensive backs coach Ronnie Bradford as part of a staff shakeup following the 5-7 finish last fall, Burns' name surfaced early as a potential candidate. The buzz then quieted before re-emerging before his ultimate hiring.

Asked Thursday about that process, he smiled while considering his response.

"In short, it was long, but I was glad at the end result. I'm going to leave it at that, but it was a process," Burns said before deciding to continue his response after all. "My history of hiring people is there are a lot of great coaches, so it's not necessarily just about, oh, how much I know. There's a mixture of chemistry and all those things that come into play. Sometimes you've got to take the time to sort that out. That's basically what kind of had to go on before you make a final decision."

USC defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast, who is close with Bradford, said in the end Burns simply stood out in the search to find a new DBs coach.

"I think Greg is a very good teacher. That was one of the things that really jumped out to me in the interview process," Pendergast said. "He's a very good communicator. He's very knowledgeable, has a lot of experience, has coached in the NFL and in college. So things that were important to us from an evaluation standpoint, he checked those boxes."

After leaving USC after the 2005 season, Burns spent the next year with the Buccaneers before stops at Kansas State (2007), Arizona State (2008-11), Purdue (2012), UMass (2013), Cal (2014-17) and Oregon State (2018).

As he mentioned his family still living in Los Angeles, along with his ties to those glory days of USC football under Pete Carroll, his return made a lot of sense from a personal standpoint, even if it continued his well-traveled coaching odyssey.

And again, his first go-round here shapes his expectations for this second stint.

"As soon as you get back, you walk in the building and I'm like, 'Oh, God,"" he said, leaning backwards, arms spread to his sides and a smile on his face. "But just because I'm back doesn't mean, OK, all of a sudden, we're great. It's me getting my mindset to saying, OK, I think these guys need a little bit of help, I've got to figure out where they are to then push them."

The process of sorting out the depth chart in the secondary will really take shape more in August, as USC welcomes in six of its eight DB signees while getting Griffin and Pollard back healthy and likely having 4-star cornerback Max Williams (an early enrollee) fully cleared in his return from ACL surgery.

Pendergast downplayed the significance of being so thin back there this spring even as the Trojans rely heavily on walk-ons.

"It's not going to hold us back at all. We've got our menu, we'll go ahead and install that in the spring and we'll let it ride," he said.

It's far from ideal, but then again the coaching staff's focus this spring is a back-to-the-basics approach anyway.

Head coach Clay Helton had noted earlier in the week that he asked Pendergast to simplify the defense, and while Pendergast didn't offer many details of that process Thursday, Burns was pretty candid about the approach to spring practice.

"The biggest thing we're going to do, and I wasn't here last year, but the things we've talked about is simplifying. Make it easier, make it less and get great at what we're doing," he said. "Getting back to fundamentals, down to this is how you tie your shoes and put your socks on to this is how you get in the stance and push off the front foot and so on and so forth. So a lot more details starting from the ground up in regards to technique, and then we start talking about the fundamentals of secondary play and concepts. The concepts are not first right now."

Burns is very hands-on and vocal with his DBs and he indeed seems very much in control of what he wants to accomplish with the group, not hesitating to pull a player aside after a rep to correct a mistake he sees in real time.

"Some guys got it. I have a handful of guys in my room who've got it. And then now I've got to get these other guys to follow their lead, or OK, I'll be the leader until you start figuring it out," he said. "So it's that process, and it's not over -- it's just starting."

Burns mentioned Hufanga, Pola-Mao, Williams and walk-on safety Jordan McMillan as the guys who are ahead in their understanding right now.

He added that the defensive staff is taking a slow approach to installing the playbook, introducing two defenses Tuesday for the opening practice and two more Thursday so that they can thoroughly explain each concept.

"We're talking about all the details in regards to Cover-3 or Man Free or whatever the case is -- it's why are we running it, what's the weakness. So not only are you telling them what to do, you're explaining what the weaknesses are and then why we're asking you to do what you need to do so that you can excel in the particular coverage," Burns said.

"It's just breaking it down even more because nowadays, millennials, they want to know why. Back in the day it was just tell them what to do and [leave it at that]. Now we explain why and they're like, 'Oh.'"

Again, Burns has a tough task ahead of him.

The hope is that Hufanga (collarbone) and Pola-Mao (shoulder) can remain healthy at the safety spots and cash in on the promise they showed when active last season, and that some combination of the young cornerbacks on the roster can form a reliable enough rotation by September.

"I'm just going to try to instill in them from the discipline we had in the past, try to let them know that, hey, that discipline will carry over into wins," Burns said.

"For the group I have, I want to get them to believe that they can be great. And the biggest thing I learned before I left the last time was that you have to get them to the point that they don't worry about winning and losing -- all they worry about is playing. And that's it. No emotion, no up and down, I'm going to win the play."