Graham Harrell has shared this perspective before, but he told the story again when asked about his continued maturation as an offensive coordinator, now through three seasons at North Texas and the last two at USC.

And it resonated with fresh relevance this time.

"I've told lots of people this, but I think my biggest growth from Year 1 at North Texas to Year 2 at North Texas was Year 1 I called what I liked as a player, and I was like, 'Man, if I were out there I'd be lighting it up -- I don't know why this quarterback is not having much success.' But it doesn't matter what you like -- it matters what whoever is out there executes at a high level," he said. "So that's always what I try to do, figure out -- and not just at the quarterback position but at all positions. ...

"In the running game, like hey, what fits our personnel as far as not only running backs but offensive linemen and what do they do well?"

The latter is most definitely the question of the offseason for Harrell and the Trojans, who ranked a lowly 120th out of 127 FBS teams in rushing this past season at 97.33 yards per game.

They swapped out offensive line coaches, bringing in Clay McGuire from Texas State due in large part to his extensive experience in Air Raid offenses from his time at Texas Tech and Washington State. McGuire has also coached RBs before in addition to his experience with the OL. The thinking is that he should be more in sync with what Harrell wants, with how an effective rushing attack works in this kind of offense and what is needed up front to make that happen.

That's the hope, at least.

"We have to figure out from that standpoint what did we block well, what did we not block well, did we miss things with the running backs, did we do things that we weren't great at up front?" Harrell said.

It's a pivotal year for the program and perhaps for Harrell. Of course, that could be said any year -- it's the nature of college football.

But while USC's offense scored as much in 2020 as it did a year ago, the overall production decreased. The Trojans averaged 33.3 points per game (tied for 31st nationally), which was actually up from 32.5 (35th) in 2019, but they averaged 416.7 yards per game (46th) after putting up 454.0 (20th) the year before.

Meanwhile, the perception within the fan base -- or at least the vocal segments of it -- seemed to shift. A year ago, the fear was Harrell would be hired away by another program or NFL team after his strong debut season in L.A., as he drew considerable interest last winter before ultimately signing a lucrative three-year extension with USC.

A year later, the frustrations over the rushing attack and the offensive line drove the commentary and tinged that perception. Fans groused that USC and its rich tradition of star running backs and stout OLs had sold too much of its identity for Harrell's offense, -- and that the net results weren't worth it. There was supposed to be a jump from Year 1 to Year 2, and instead the ground game regressed and star QB Kedon Slovis looked off at times. For a second straight year the Trojans were no match for their toughest Pac-12 challenge, losing to Oregon while only furthering complaints that the unit isn't physical enough to win the big games.

Regardless, whether the feelings toward Harrell have shifted, his belief in what he's building at USC has not wavered. He received more outside interest again this offseason, reportedly making the short list of candidates for the head coaching position at Boise State, but he is back for a third year with the Trojans -- intent on solving the rushing struggles (he does want more offensive balance, whether fans believe it or not) and also grooming the future successor to Slovis at QB.

Harrell delved deeper into all of that with TrojanSports.com while reflecting on how this offseason for him compared to last winter.

"The month of December through January-February, it's just a crazy, crazy time, and this business is wild and from that standpoint my main thing is I always try to be extremely happy with where I am, Harrell said. "... That's the way I try to approach it is my plan's always to be where I am and just kind of see where things go. Last offseason I had a lot of opportunities, and this offseason I had some calls. But at the same time, kind of like I always say, I'm in a really good spot. I'm at a great university, get to coach really good people, have a good staff here and have players that I love to coach. So it would take a really special deal to try to get me out of here.

"Same thing at North Texas. We were happy there, it's a good place, I thought we could win a lot of football games, I really liked the team we had, I turned down a lot of opportunities to stay there because like I said you can't put a price on happiness and we were really happy there. And same thing here. No matter what, it would be hard to leave here, because one, it's a good place and two we really enjoy it here."

Perhaps more so than ever before, though, all eyes will be on the young coordinator this year to see how well he can follow through on those comments about adjusting and adapting to maximize the results on the field.

When Harrell goes about diagnosing the issues from the fall, he doesn't so much go back and watch the games again, but rather he hones in on specific play calls and why they worked or didn't work over the course of the season.

When he got on the phone with TrojanSports.com recently, the process hadn't been completed yet.

"Sort it by play and watch every play back to back to back and evaluate how can we improve, how can we be better at what we did, what did we do at a really high level? And is there anything we need to tweak, and if we're really bad at something do we just need to throw it out and try something else?" he explained. "So from an evaluating standpoint, that's usually what we do is figure out, hey, what were we good at, what were we bad at, if we weren't good at it how can we be better, or is it something that just doesn't fit us as an offense right now?"

Harrell does have one immediate thought, though, on a factor that he suggests had an adverse effect on the Trojans' run game overall.

"I think a lot of it, to be honest with you, from a just thinking about it standpoint, I think a lot with the crazy circumstances -- we didn't have spring ball, we didn't have [a traditional] fall camp and then kind of as a staff at times we made decisions, because you're low on numbers and you're always at risk with the COVID [situation], we probably didn't bang as much as we should have, you know what I mean?" Harrell said. "To be good at something you've got to practice it. I don't care what it is, it's something I've always believed, if we're going to be really good at anything you got to work on it no matter how talented you are or how good you are at it. And just because of the circumstances and trying to make sure we didn't lose a body, because one body could be the difference between playing that week and not playing that week ...