OC Graham Harrell: 'Every year probably the offense will look different'

Since hiring Graham Harrell as offensive coordinator, USC coach Clay Helton has talked a lot about how much Harrell's North Texas offenses ran the ball. He's brought up the Mean Green's 2,000 rushing yards last season (actually 1,999) countless times, seemingly as a way to counteract any sentiment that the Trojans were going to be one-dimensional.

Helton even suggested during Pac-12 Media Day last month that he wouldn't call this offense the Air Raid.

And yet, from everything the Trojans have shown this preseason the only conclusion to draw is that this team is going to need to lean heavily on the pass.

More to the point, Harrell's comments Monday during an appearance on Trojans Live further indicated that his past may not portend his future.

"I think always, every year probably, the offense will look different," Harrell said. "If you look at our North Texas teams, probably from year one to year two to year three we looked different based on our talent level. I think in year three we probably threw it more than we did in year one and year two because in year one and year two we had a really, really special running back and he needed to get touches and we had to find a way to get him touches. In year three we had a really gifted crew of receivers and we figured, hey, we've got to figure a way to get all these guys touches.

"So I think from year to year the offense will always look different. The nice thing here is you have a lot of weapons. The hard part is keeping all those weapons happy."

While the run game has struggled all preseason -- at least in the eyes of outside observers -- USC's wide receiver depth has been its shining strength. Established starters Michael Pittman, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Tyler Vaughns have been complemented by emerging sophomore Devon Williams, a redshirt junior with something to prove in Velus Jones and impressive freshmen Munir McClain, Drake London and John Jackson III.

Again, reading between the lines, it would seem that the earliest expectations of this being a pass-happy offense -- QB JT Daniels called it the Air Raid on Monday -- will come to fruition when the Trojans finally take the field Saturday night for their season opener against Fresno State.

"You've got to figure out a way to get all those guys touches, but that's our job as coaches and I think we can do it and we have a very unselfish crew as well," Harrell said. "That's probably the most impressive thing, especially that receiving corps, there's so many talented guys in there and there's days where the ball just doesn't find them in practice, and I'm sure there will be games where the ball doesn't find a certain guy.

"They want the ball, don't get me wrong, and they'll tell you they want the ball, but during the practice or I anticipate during the game if the ball's not finding them they're still playing just as hard because that's the type of competitors they are."

Running backs coach Mike Jinks indicated last week that the Trojans won't feel compelled to force the run and would hope that big plays from the wide receivers will eventually open things up for the ground game.

"We'll run it when we're supposed to run it. We're not going to force anything," he said.

Harrell reiterated that the Trojans "don't have secrets" offensively and are "an execution-based offense." Well, there's no debate as to what facet of that offense has been executing the best.

Even with those 1,999 rushing yards last season, Harrell's North Texas offense ranked tied for 17th nationally in passing attempts per game (37.9) and tied for 15th in passing yards per game (294.5). It stands to reason those totals might be even higher with the Trojans this fall.

For what it's worth, in USC's second scrimmage the offense had 68 passing attempts, 18 rushes by running backs and four QB scrambles/sacks. That's surely not a reflective ratio of what to expect as scrimmages are still controlled settings, and the coaches likely wanted to get as much evaluation on their competing QBs as possible.

But it's telling all the same. As were Harrell's latest comments.

"We just line up and try to do what we're going to do better than the other team's going to do what they do. That's kind of our philosophy behind it," Harrell said. "But what we're trying to do is just spread a defense out and attack where they're not and put our playmakers in space with the ball. More than anything we've got to find space and get the ball to our playmakers."

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