Highlighting the standouts from USC's first preseason scrimmage

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For the first time in a few years, there is no quarterback competition this preseason for USC, but that hasn't changed anything for sophomore starter Kedon Slovis.

He may not have a job to win or anything necessarily to prove this month, but according to coach Clay Helton, Slovis was among the top standouts in the Trojans' first preseason scrimmage Saturday in the Coliseum.

"I really thought Kedon 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," Helton said. "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 [picks] 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."

We dive deeper into Slovis' strong showing Saturday while spotlighting all the top performers from the first of the Trojans' three preseason scrimmages, which are closed to the media.

RELATED: Notes on the OL, DL, backup QBs and injuries | Full transcript of Clay Helton's comments on the Trojans' first scrimmage | Photos from USC's Saturday morning scrimmage | Video from Saturday morning in the Coliseum

Slovis' eye-opening freshman season -- in which he passed for 3,502 yards, 30 TDs and 9 INTs and seemed to just keep getting better and better -- has created the obvious question of whether he can possibly be any better as a sophomore.

Well, Helton highlighted one way in which he sees Slovis more advanced than he was last fall.

"When you put kids in situational mastery phases, I think that's when you know where they're at. And we started the scrimmage off right from the minus-one. I wanted to put him in the hardest situation possible right off the get go and see how they would react to it," Helton said. "And he made a decisive decision when we go and call, we have a five-man out passing progression, it's not there -- he decided, you know what, I'm not gonna take a safety, I'm gonna get rid of this ball, I'm gonna go to second down. And guess what, on second down he throws one for 25 yards.

"So those are the type of decisions that I think are imperative. I talked about the two-minute situation. He was in a situation all of a sudden where a young quarterback's probably gonna take a sack on the play that that happened. Instead, he throws it away and the next play he hits an explosive. Great quarterbacks buy time until it's there, you know? They don't make the critical error that can cost points. Those two decisions, one, probably saves you a safety, saves you points, and the decision in the two-minute drive allowed us to gain points. So his decision-making right now is what stood out to me -- decisive, timely decision making, that's where I think he's advanced."

By all accounts, the offense has been humming this preseason, which is no surprise considering the Trojans return a wealth of talent at all of the skill positions.

In highlighting the standouts from Saturday, Helton rattled off the wide receiver depth chart.

"Amon-Ra [St. Brown], Drake [London], Bru [McCoy] and TV (Tyler Vaughns) all had big plays down the field," Helton said.

The first name he mentioned separately, though, was McCoy, the redshirt freshman and much-ballyhooed 5-star prospect from Mater Dei HS.

"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," Helton said. "It was nice to see him really show his skill level and see what he can do. He looked extremely comfortable out there."

The question remains, though, what opportunity will there be for McCoy once the season starts, with Vaughns and St. Brown starting on the outside (and London inside). There was minimal receiver rotation last year with the established veterans rarely coming off the field, and Helton has been vague when asked about his expectations for that situation.

"We’ve been very fortunate with our young people, and not only with Bru, but when Josh Jackson is healthy and Gary Bryant is healthy, you’ve got some depth there right now that’s going to allow us, if a guy needs air or a guy gets dinged, there’s no lack of production in my mind. Some guys are really stepping up," Helton said. "I definitely see [McCoy] contributing. Now, how much of a contribution will be up to him and how he continues to perform over the next two weeks, but he made a major step forward this past Saturday."

At least from the outside, from fans and media, senior running back Stephen Carr might get the least amount of buzz of any of the Trojans four running backs vying for a role in this crowded backfield.

Redshirt senior Vavae Malepeai was the starter when healthy last season, redshirt sophomore Markese Stepp was a fan favorite for his bruising style and ability to extend plays (team-high 6.4 yards per carry) and sophomore Kenan Christon is the perhaps the fastest player on the team and essentially performed a better version of Carr's third-down back role (albeit as a starter, once the other three were injured).

But internally, Carr is generating plenty of praise this preseason.

"He's had his best camp to date, I'll be honest with you," Helton said. "Last week, he really took a step forward. We challenged him and I think competition brings the best out of us all. Kenan Christon had a great week last [week] and it was like those two guys were just feeding off each other. We had a really physical day on Wednesday, which was our full-pad day, and I thought Stephen set the tone for the entire day with his physicality and running."

The most telling comment Helton made was that Carr is embracing a more north-south style rather than the east-west style that has certainly led to big plays at times but is probably the chief criticism about the running back, as it seemed too often he would end up stopped right around the line of scrimmage as a result.

"He's a guy that can make you miss, as we have seen, in open space. On [the first full pads practice Wednesday] it was, I'm gonna pound the ball if it's between the tackles and I'm gonna show you my physicality. And that's what I'm seeing from him right now and applauding him. He did it again Saturday with the exception of one time," Helton said. "I immediately went up to him and I said, 'Don't go back because you're running as good as I've ever seen you running.' I'm hoping that he'll keep that physicality of learning how to take that one cut and get north and then use that crossover move that he makes people miss, as you know a great boxer does -- jab, jab, jab, jab and then knockout. That's what I'm hoping he'll continue to do, but he's had a wonderful camp thus far."

The defensive line unit had looked to established anchors Jay Tufele and Marlon Tuipulotu as tone-setters last year, and with Tufele not opting out of the season to focus on his NFL future, Tuipulotu is even more in the spotlight as the veteran leader of the group.

"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," Helton said. "[Defensive coordinator Todd Orlando] 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 1st-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, 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."

Helton later praised Tuipulotu for his work mentoring freshman defensive tackle Kobe Pepe, who is working behind him, as well as younger brother Tuli Tuipulotu, a freshman defensive end who earned his own praise from Helton.

"Tuli's been awesome. I mean, from Day 1, to be honest with you. I can see him contributing this year," Helton said. "He has been an extremely mature kid and is growing by the day. I remember when he was 240 pounds [early on as a recruit] and now he's 275 and he looks like a monster. He's 275 but runs like he's 240. I mean, great athleticism, has pass-rushing skills. Obviously, his older brother is on him every day making sure that he's doing right on and off the field, so he has a really bright future and somebody that I think has had a great camp -- one of the better camps of anybody on our team. Somebody I could see contributing and helping us this year."

If there was a criticism Helton had about the defense, it was the one-on-one pass coverage and the big beats downfield by those wide receivers.

"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," he said. "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."

That said, along with Marlon Tuipulotu, junior cornerback Olaijah Griffin was the other defensive player Helton singled out as a standout from the scrimmage.

"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," Helton said.

Griffin projects to start at the field corner position -- the corner who covers the wider side of the field based on where the ball is spotted within the hashmarks -- while sophomore Chris Steele and redshirt sophomore Isaac Taylor-Stuart work at the boundary corner position.

Helton has put the onus on that group as a whole to be sharper so that this defense can do what it's designed to do.

"In this system if you have shut-down corners and be able to rush four, it's gonna be a mighty good day for your defense. And that's the challenge for them right now," he said. "And they're going against maybe as good a receiving corps as they face this season so it's a great experience for them. And they're winning some battles and they're losing some battles. We lost a couple battles down the field that I know that between [cornerbacks coach] Donte [Williams] and that crew, they expect perfection from the beginning of practice to the end. And so it's something that I think they're learning.

"I watched them physically get better as technicians as well as leaders. I think Donte's doing an amazing job with that crew, just transforming their personalities, their mindset as well as their technique and fundamentals. They're not a finished product yet by no means, but gosh almighty, they've made advances in the time they've been working with Donte. So we need them to play big, especially in this defense. It calls for shut-down corners, this scheme does, and thank goodness we have those three guys here because that's what I believe they are."