Liam Jimmons reflects on move from DL to OL and unexpected start last week
A year ago, Liam Jimmons was a defensive lineman seeing limited playing time off the bench for USC. Five weeks ago, he was still waiting to see his first action of any kind this season as a converted offensive lineman.
And then last Friday night he was starting at right guard for the Trojans at Colorado.
Jimmons' quick transition from DL to OL, which began in the spring, took another leap in that game as he played 60 snaps -- more than he had played all season prior.
"They told me I was going to play this year so I expected to play a little bit, but I didn't expect to play a whole game like last time," Jimmons admitted this week. "... I'm grateful for the opportunity they gave me, but if it wasn't for Alijah [Vera-Tucker] and Austin [Jackson] that helped me out a lot, I wouldn't be as good as I was -- not as good as I was, as good as we were on [Friday]."
Not only could Jimmons not have expected to start Friday night, but he didn't know he would until moments before that opening series.
Starting right tackle Drew Richmond was not feeling well and was still in the locker room with the team trainers as USC received the kickoff, so offensive line coach Tim Drevno quickly adjusted by moving Jalen McKenzie from right guard to right tackle and inserting Jimmons at that guard spot.
"What was interesting was [Richmond] was in the locker room with the doctors. When we came out we accepted a kickoff return and I told [left tackle] Austin Jackson, 'Hey Austin, go put Jalen at right tackle, go put Liam Jimmons at right guard,'" Drevno recalled. "Then we go down and score that drive and they come off and go, 'I didn't know I was going to right guard.' 'I didn't know I was going to right tackle.' I said, 'I didn't know either!' It was like a dang mystery."
Jimmons himself was a bit of an unknown to many in regard to what he'd be able to give the Trojans this fall in his first season at a new position. And coming into the fall, USC seemed set with a six-man rotation on the offensive line with McKenzie and veteran Andrew Vorhees rotating at right guard.
But Vorhees only lasted two games before a foot injury knocked him out for the season, and Jimmons found his way onto the field for the first time vs. Washington in Week 5. He played 10 snaps that game, 8 the next game at Notre Dame and then 26 in the lopsided win at Arizona before playing the bulk of the game Friday night.
Richmond returned to play 14 snaps early in that game before shutting it down for the night.
"He was working through some stuff and we felt at the time those other guys could bring something to the table that could help us be successful," Drevno explained.
As for Jimmons, he had a nice pulling block to help on Amon-Ra St. Brown's 37-yard touchdown run to cap that first drive, and he graded out as USC's second-best offensive player, per PFF College, with a 74.8 game grade (strong on their scale). PFF did mark him down for allowing a sack and a QB hurry, but his 81.7 isolated run-blocking grade was by far the best on the team.
"I messed up a couple times, everyone has some mistakes. There's a lot of room for improvement, but it was a good team win," Jimmons said. "... They blitzed a lot, they brought a lot of different looks, but overall I thought the O-line did really good."
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As for the transition, Jimmons signed with USC as a 3-star defensive end from Huntington Beach in the 2016 class. He got a few practice reps at tight end early on, but he always thought his future was on the defensive line.
But over time the coaches started broaching the idea of him flipping to the offensive line, and before last spring head coach Clay Helton was ready to make it official. Jimmons would proceed to bulk up from 285 pounds to 310 pounds as part of that move.
"It was kind of an ongoing process. It was supposed to happen for a long time, and then me and Helton got talking and [before spring] we sat down in Helton's office and said, 'Let's just do it,'" Jimmons said. "I loved the idea. I want to help the team wherever I can really, so me and Helton talked about it for quite a while. It's a big decision because I played D-line my whole life, but coming to the O-line was definitely a good decision."
Said Drevno: "Coach Helton made the decision. We felt like we needed to add to the numbers and we know that he played offense in high school -- he played some H-back, tight end -- and he's a big-body guy. That's one thing you can't coach is big, and he was excited. He thought it was an opportunity to play, which it's turned out to be because he's worked hard for it. I think the transition at first was how do I pass set, where do I put my hands on run blocking, but he's a smart kid, he's aggressive and he's a physical guy. And football is important to him so it was an easy transition."
There were some learning moments early on, Jimmons acknowledged, but as he noted, he's received plenty of help from teammates -- particularly Jackson, the elder statesman and leader of the line, and Vera-Tucker, who has probably been USC's steadiest offensive lineman at left guard.
"Hardest part is just knowing blitzes, knowing formations, knowing defensive fronts. We play different fronts every week, just getting used to that, getting used to the center, just knowing what's going to come, seeing safeties roll over, that's the biggest thing really," Jimmons said.
"One of the first pass plays I was in against Washington, it was against No. 94, he gave me a little juke move, got me off balance. I was like, 'OK ... now I know what to expect.' Every day's a learning curve, everyone's got to learn something every day."
This wasn't the path Jimmons envisioned for his Trojans career -- "I didn't expect to gain 60-plus pounds since high school," he said -- but he seems to have found his place.
For the season now, he's USC's fourth-highest-graded offensive player by PFF (76.1) and top-graded run blocker (81.0), and the Trojans indeed haven't hesitated to run behind him when he's in the game.
"I tell you one thing about Liam, he doesn't panic now. He's even-keeled. Nothing's too big for him," Drevno said.
Jimmons was already carving out a share of the right guard responsibilities. It will be interesting to see what the Trojans do moving forward with McKenzie and Jimmons when Richmond is at full strength.
"We'll see week to week," Drevno said. "We'll go out and roll the balls out and see who competes and things, but they're both doing a nice job."
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