Just like during the season, we recap USC's spring showcase Saturday with the venerable First-and-10 breakdown.

The top takeaways and observations from the Trojans' four-quarter, free-flowing scrimmage in the Coliseum and what it all means moving forward.

Freshman quarterback Jaxson Dart was far and away my favorite player in this recruiting class. If you haven’t yet watched his high school tape, please do yourself a favor and take the time. After watching him take live reps in the Coliseum for the first time, I can officially announce that the hype train has left the station.

From his first snap through his last, the freshman looked completely unfazed by the moment. On only his fourth play of the game, Dart found Drake London on a one-on-one situation down the sideline and lofted a gorgeous back shoulder throw to the receiver, allowing him to use his massive frame to box out the corner and come down with a gain of 30 yards. It was an early indicator of Dart’s arm talent, soon to be followed by plenty more.

Dart is one of those rare throwers with the ability to launch the ball with perfect velocity even off-platform and from awkward arm angles. On multiple plays, some of which were called sacks, Dart managed to get off passes without having his feet set at all and with his arm at an unusual angle, still managing to throw with excellent velocity and accuracy. When he wants to, he can put the ball on a frozen rope, as he did on an out route on the opposite side of the field on his first snap of the game and on his highlight-reel completion to Michael Jackson III later in the game.

Dart’s mobility also stands out. He has a natural feel for evading pressure in the pocket and is naturally comfortable rolling out while keeping his eyes downfield.

His decision-making still has a ways to go, as he seems to have a tendency to take risks gambling on his arm talent too often. If he feels like he has a chance to make the completion, he’ll chuck it, kind of the way I do when I’m playing quarterback in Madden. He’s talented enough for it to work sometimes, but when it doesn’t it can be ugly. His lone interception was a head-scratching example of this tendency, as he tried to loft a ball to his receiver along the sideline after rolling out all the way to the edge of the field. He clearly decided at the last second that he could fit the ball just over the corner in front of him and into the hands of his receiver, and it led to an ugly pick on third down. He’ll need to cut down on these errors going forward, but Dart’s talent jumps off the screen. He has the tools to be special -- we’ll see what he makes of them.

The remainder of the quarterback group was less impressive on Saturday.

Transfer Mo Hasan looked capable in his limited snaps, showing real mobility and solid decision making. He hit Bru McCoy on a go route down the sideline for a 25-yard score to open up the game’s scoring but hurt his knee a few plays later and missed the remainder of the day.

Freshman QB Miller Moss had his struggles, looking off his game for much of the scrimmage. The offensive line play didn't help. Moss struggled with pressure in his face, missing on a number of open throws including a deep ball for K.D. Nixon that might have gone for 6 if it was near the receiver. He also turned the ball over twice, throwing an interception and dropping the football on a handoff. Nonetheless, he played better as the game went on, showing some of the touch and accuracy that made him such a highly-coveted recruit. He’ll definitely have much better days in the future.

Starting QB Kedon Slovis himself had a rough start to the afternoon as well, throwing a bad interception trying to find Drake London down the sideline in the hole between the corner and safety in a cover-2 look. Throughout the day, especially early on, Slovis continued to seem hesitant as he did through much of the 2020 season, holding onto the ball far too long. His accuracy and decision making got better as the game went on, and after a series or two he seemed back in control of the offense as he normally does. His best play of the game came on a 45-yard deep ball to London on a truly impressive throw (though I think he should have led it much further toward the sideline). Slovis didn’t look his best, but at least the fluttery-ball issue we saw all of last season appears resolved. I have a lot of faith he’ll have a big bounce-back season this year.

The Trojans ran the ball more in this scrimmage than I’ve seen them do in years. Combined, the Cardinal and Gold squads ran it 46 times, while the two teams only threw 41 passes total. The dominance of the defensive lines and the hodgepodge nature of the already-unstable offensive line made for tough sledding in the ground game, but both teams continued to hand the ball off time after time. Texas transfer Keaontay Ingram didn’t manage to make a huge impact carrying the football (7 carries for 20 yards), but he showed good explosiveness and agility, as well as making one of the plays of the game on a 49-yard catch and run that probably would have ended in 25 more yards and a touchdown if Erik Krommenhoek hadn’t bumbled into him at the 30-yard line.

Vavae Malepeai looked like his normal, consistent self, and freshman Brandon Campbell showed some nice vision and burst, but it was Stephen Carr who had by far the best day of the group.

Carr looked the closest to his freshman self we’ve seen in years. I know I’ve said that before, but this was probably the best he’s looked in a long while. His burst seemed as good as ever, and he abandoned his old tendency of jittering behind the line of scrimmage. He looked physical and explosive -- breaking tackles, juking defenders, and even running through them at some points, something I can’t remember seeing him do in the past. Carr also contributed as a receiver in the passing game, as well as holding up in pass protection. If he stays healthy and maintains his form, he could be a serious weapon for the offense going forward, perhaps the one the team has hoped he would be for the past three years.