Donte Williams assesses USC's cornerbacks through spring practice
USC has spread out availability with its assistant coaches across the five weeks of spring practice, so Thursday -- the 14th and final practice before the spring game -- was the first chance for reporters to talk to defensive backs coach Donte Williams about his group.
There's been a lot of positive buzz from the coaches all spring about the growth and improvements on the defensive side, and Williams echoed those sentiments as well as it pertains to the Trojans' cornerbacks.
"I'm really happy with playmaking. I think from just the interceptions and plays we've made on the ball from last spring to this spring, it almost like tripled," Williams said. "So just guys making plays on the ball as a whole. And it's a lot of new things that we put in, and those guys have adapted to what we're asking out of them. And the competition's a lot bigger, a lot more now, we've got a lot of guys who played football last year and then you get a transfer like [Christian Roland-Wallace], I mean it's multiple guys that can step on the field and play."
Head coach Lincoln Riley has touted the gains made across the board through the strength and conditioning program, especially with the defensive backs, and Williams reinforced that point as well Thursday.
"A lot. You take somebody like Jacobe [Covington], last year Jacobe played around like 191, 192 -- right now he's 210. And it's like that across the board," Williams said. "Like Domani last year he was like 180 -- he's 194 or 195. You just go down the list, those guys are confident as far as their ability, their body, but you see people that add weight on you all of a sudden lose a little bit of speed -- you don't see that in any of them. Especially the twitch, the confidence and most importantly, our group as a whole you see a family environment so just them being comfortable with each other -- that's a plus."
Williams also talked specifically about Roland-Wallace, the transfer from Arizona, along with Ceyair Wright, Domani Jackson, second-year corner Fabian Ross and more.
Watch the full video of the interview here and scroll down for a complete transcript of Williams' comments:
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