Freshman Palaie Gaoteote flashed his high-upside, 5-star potential earlier this season while filling in for starting middle linebacker Cam Smith for a three-game stretch, but since then he's mostly been a spectator again for the Trojans.

Gaoteote doesn't seem miffed by that relegation, however -- he says he's taken it as both a lesson and a challenge.

"I'm going to be honest with you, the Arizona State game I was kind of doing my own thing and it hurt the team. That sucked for me," he said after practice Wednesday. "But using my instincts and knowing the playbook is going to help me to my benefit, and if I can know the playbook in and out it's going to help me even more. ...

"I wasn't doing my job. I was trying to do my job and more, and sometimes it helped me and sometimes it really, really hurt us. I take it upon myself, it was my fault, but ever since then I just took it as a challenge."

Gaoteote's candid admission perhaps sheds some light on why the coaching staff hasn't tried to shoehorn him into the defense since Smith's return from his three-game hamstring absence in the middle of the season.

Officially, defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast had stated that he wouldn't look to play Gaoteote elsewhere because he wanted him to focus on getting work at middle linebacker, where he is in line to likely replace Smith in the starting lineup next fall.

And whatever other message Pendergast delivered to him, it seems the talented freshman -- who was one of the stars of USC's 2018 recruiting class -- has embraced it.

"I had a little meeting with him just asking him these last couple weeks what I needed to fix for the upcoming season. He basically just told me to just learn my playbook, the ins and outs and everything and where everybody's supposed to be," Gaoteote said. "I just took it upon myself and just started hanging out with [linebackers coach Johnny] Nansen and Coach Clancy, just diving into the playbook and just really dissecting it."

When starting inside linebacker John Houston was forced out of the game last weekend with a hamstring strain, the Trojans went to veteran backup Reuben Peters in his stead. But they've had Gaoteote working in that WILL linebacker spot this week, and it sounds like he would get an opportunity there if Houston ends up not playing.

In the bigger picture, if anyone wondered if Gaoteote's lack of usage after his spotlight three-game stretch has led him to question his future with the program, he was quick to dismiss any such notions.