USC practiced on campus Monday morning before leaving for San Diego in advance of its Holiday Bowl matchup with Iowa on Friday.

Coach Clay Helton met with reporters after the morning practice to update injuries and talk about the Hawkeyes.

Contrary to the theme of their season, the Trojans are relatively healthy now a month removed from their last game.

The exception was right tackle Drew Richmond, who got his foot caught in the turf last week and is still dealing with a foot sprain. He has rested it the last few days and is no longer needing a protective walking boot, he did not practice again Monday and his status for the game is in doubt.

"Moved around a little bit, but still tender. We'll just take it day to day and see how it goes," Helton said.

Fortunately, the Trojans got one of their previously injured offensive linemen back as Liam Jimmons is practicing again wearing a big brace on his injured elbow. He had started to earn a steady rotation role at right guard before missing the final stretch of the regular season, and if Richmond is out Friday then he'd start at that guard spot with Jalen McKenzie sliding out to right tackle.

"[Jimmons] has been really effective for us over the year, and Jalen's played that right tackle position. So we'll see how it goes through the week, but that's how we practiced today," Helton said.

Meanwhile, running back Markese Stepp, who missed the last five games of the season following a minor ankle surgery, is still day-to-day. He is practicing, but Helton said neither he nor Stepp are confident enough in his ankle yet.

"He's running better. At that position it's a confidence thing and he's building confidence every day. Will it be right by [Friday]? I don't know. It's not right today, so we'll go through the week and see where it's at. But it's day to day right now," Helton said, reiterating that both he and Stepp will have to feel better about it by Friday for him to play.

" ... Right now his confidence level is not high and my gut doesn't feel very good, so that's where we are right now."

Backup safety Chase Williams was the only other injury note as he's dealing with the flu and did not practice Monday.

On a positive note, linebacker Palaie Gaoteote is full-go after missing the last three games with ankle and knee injuries.

"EA's fully back. He had a great week of practice last week, looked really good in a full-pad physical practice -- looked really good. So I'm anticipating him being ready for this game," Helton said.

Helton said he and Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz spent 10-15 minutes chatting in San Diego last Wednesday at a Holiday Bowl function, and Helton talked Monday about his appreciation for Ferentz' longevity and stability.

Ferentz is the longest-tenured active coach in college football, taking over Iowa in 1999.

"He's one of the models that all coaches aspire to be," Helton said.

As for Ferentz's Hawkeyes, they too are consistent -- year in and year out Iowa is noted for its physicality and strong defense, and that is indeed a hallmark of the team this year.

Iowa ranks fifth nationally in holding opponents to 13.2 points per game and 12th in total defense (304.3 yards per game).

It's a contrast of styles, to say the least, to this USC team, which relies on its offense -- primarily its aerial attack -- to offset its defensive shortcomings.

"They're only giving up 13.2 points per game. That jumps off the paper at you, and you look at what they do, the offense is set up for their defense -- defensively they're only giving up 64 plays a game, so you have to make the most of each opportunity and points are critical," Helton said. "The highest point total against them is 24 points. They're limiting possessions by getting off the field on third down, they're limiting opportunities becaues of the way they play offense as a huddle team and really a pro-style take every second off the play clock, slow the game down. ...

"It reminds me of the old Stanford teams, to be honest with you. You try to hopefully get up a couple scores and put a team in an uncomfortable position, because when they have the lead and have that tempo that they like it's right in their wheelhouse."

Helton said he talked to kicker Chase McGrath specifically about how important the field goal unit will be in this game and maximizing those opportunities.

It will be an adjustment for both sides, of course. Helton suggested that the only teams Iowa has played that have any similar concepts to USC offensively are Minnesota with their passing attack and Nebraska with their spread.

"But this is a different style of ball than Iowa has faced. We'll have to adapt too. They may have a little bit of a change of game plan just like everybody else does against us," Helton said.

He also relayed part of his conversation with Ferentz last week, as the Iowa coach praised Trojans freshman QB Kedon Slovis.

"He made the comment of 'Man, he gets the ball out extremely quickly for a young person,' and that's what you want from a quarterback. Great decision making and great timing to be able to get it in the playmakers' hands," Helton said.

Helton explained that the Trojans didn't work with a scout team so much during bowl prep but rather focused on competing against themselves.

"We did a lot of competitive drills against each other, just good on good -- 1s vs. 1s, 2s vs. 2s rather than service teams in these weeks. And the kids liked it. They really enjoyed those opportunities," he said.

He noted the benefit to USC's younger players, who got extra development time, highlights wide receivers Bru McCoy and Kyle Ford as well as freshman center Gino Quinones.

"I thought really took a jumpstart," Helton said of Quinones.

"It's really important for our guys. To be able to have those extra three weeks it's like having another spring ball," he added.