Everything Clay Helton said about USC's first preseason scrimmage

Opening comments ...

Helton: "A very important Saturday for us, having the chance to go to the Coliseum and get a chance to have over a 60-play live scrimmage with our football team, as well as not only being able to look at offense and defense, but also looking at each phase of our special teams. It was something that I think was really needed. It was a great experience for our team. We tried to create as close to what it’s going to feel like on gameday, to get a feel for the empty stadium. It was immaculate. Credit to the grounds crew and what they’re doing. It was unbelievable how nice the field was. But try to create what it will be like on gameday, the empty stadium, the ambient noise that’s continuously going, refs officiating every play. It was a good learning experience for us. There were good things that happened and definitely some things we’re going to have to learn from. We’re fortunate we’re going to get two more opportunities to get back in there the next two Saturdays. We need them, to be honest with you. This was a learning experience for us. I’m glad it got done for our kids.

"The positives that came out of it, I really thought Kedon [Slovis] had his best day of camp so far. I thought he had a day where he walked in there, looked extremely sharp, was decisive with his decisions, protected the ball, gave his kids opportunities to make plays down the field. We really put him in some situational mastery phases, whether it was backed up on the goal line, making a great decision when something wasn’t there and getting rid of the ball. A two-minute drive where a younger, maybe less experienced quarterback might’ve taken a sack, he gets rid of the ball and goes to third down. He takes up a big third down and drives us into the red zone for a score before halftime. He did some things where you smile as a head coach. I thought he had his best day of camp thus far.

"There were guys we hadn’t gotten to see in live situations yet. Bru McCoy was one of those guys. I thought he had a good day. It was nice to see him really show his skill level and see what he can do. He looked extremely comfortable out there.

"I thought our defensive front -- anytime you’re putting in a new system, and literally you’ve had about a week and a half of being able to implement it -- I thought our defensive front did a great job. TO did, I thought, a really smart job of keeping things simple, letting the guys play, communicate together. You didn’t see a lot of busts on the defensive front. Even to the point where the last phase, we put the ball down on the 10-yard-line, had first-and-goal, four downs to get it in, end of game situation, and the defense held true. It was the defensive front that got it done.

"The guy that’s really stood out defensively, a couple guys, I thought Marlon [Tuipulotu], he gave you what you expect from an older leader. He walked into the Coliseum with the right attitude and he really had a good day. Olaijah Griffin was the energizer bunny all day, whether it was special teams, defense, his energy level from A to B, the beginning of practice to the end of practice, I thought was off the charts.

"It was good to get a feeling for what this is going to feel like. The biggest thing, the biggest positive, is any time you have 60 plays and say, alright boys, we’re tackling, let’s roll, to come out with no injuries on the day was a blessing.

"The areas for improvement, we did have refs out there. It really was our first live engagement with those refs. We came away with some holding penalties offensively, which are good to see and teach off of, where we got a little handsy inside and created some second-and-longs for us and ended drives. It’s going to be great to teach off of that.

"Amon-Ra [St. Brown], Drake [London], Bru, and TV [Tyler Vaughns] all had big plays down the field. As one side of the ball, you’re applauding that side, but you’ve got to be able to say, hey, we’ve got to limit those big plays. The one good lesson, i think, for our guys, is that in this situation, especially in the first game where we have a great feel for waking up, testing at 6 am, grabbing a breakfast, a quick meeting, and go, you have to bring your own energy to the park. You’re not going to get that from the crowd. It was an awesome learning experience. Was it perfect? No, far from it. But to get that experience and have two more opportunities at this, I thought it was a positive on the day."

Now that you've seen it in action, what area of the defense needs the most work or polish?

Helton: "I was really pleased with the schematics of the day and the communication of the day. You didn’t see guys running wide open. You didn’t see huge gaps. Like I said, TO did a masterful job saying, we’re going to go in there, simple assignment, do a couple things, and we’re going to be really good at them. Give our kids a chance to just play for the first time. It helped our defense. Where we have to grow is winning the 1-on-1 battles, in my opinion. We had some big plays down the field. It’s good for us. You’ve got Chris Steele going against Amon-Ra St. Brown. You’ve got Olaijah Griffin against TV. You’ve got great players going against each other, and iron sharpens iron. I think the challenge defensively right now is to win those 1-on-1 situations, especially down the field. That would be the biggest thing going into this week, which will be basically their toughest week of camp, the next six days. Hopefully we see that improvement from this first full week to next week, going into Saturday."