RB Keaontay Ingram proving he deserves workhorse role for USC
If one can get past the final result -- the latest double-digit loss to a quality opponent, the sting of a rivalry defeat and all the various frustrating struggles that contributed to that aggregate outcome -- there was one major positive for USC on Saturday night in South Bend, Ind.
One that could even carry over into the rest of this season, potentially.
Running back Keaontay Ingram carried the ball 24 times for 138 yards and a touchdown, averaging 5.8 yards per carry in that 31-16 loss at Notre Dame while looking every bit like the dynamic playmaker who shined in the spring game and other potential-teasing moments since his arrival as a veteran offseason transfer from Texas.
For perspective, it was the most rushing yards by any USC running back since Aca'Cedric Ware rumbled for 205 against Oregon State in 2018. Seriously.
It was also the second-most rushing yards of Ingram's career, just behind a 139-yard performance vs. Kansas State while with the Longhorns in 2019.
More to the point, though, it was also the first time the Trojans have truly unleashed Ingram as a true workhorse back. He hadn't received more than 15 carries in a game this season before getting those 24 totes Saturday, and he only got better as he went along, gaining 85 yards and his TD over 14 second-half attempts.
"I mean, just the rhythm. Just getting back in that flow, getting that feel, being the high carry type of guy, I feel like I could be that type of guy," he said Tuesday after practice. "I've always been a bigger back since I've been in college and I just feel like I just got in a rhythm."
Will the coaching staff allow Ingram to continue to settle into that rhythm?
It sounds like the answer might finally be yes.
"Getting to that run game and getting to play with some tempo kind of mellowed [Notre Dame's defense] out and kind of mellowed a lot of their blitz packages out, and you know, I’m biased, but we’ve got some guys that I feel can be a problem if you start to get 15-20 touches per game on them," running backs coach Mike Jinks said. "Last game, probably about the 7th or 8th touch is where you really saw the kid start to come into another groove, and that’s part of it too.
"From Day 1, I've told those guys that the guy that goes out there and when he’s out there it looks a little different, is the guy that’s going to play. I think Keaontay has shown that ability. That does not mean I don’t have confidence in Darwin Barlow. That does not mean I don’t have confidence in Vae [Malepeai]. I think they know that. But I just think it’s important for a running back to get in a rhythm."
Jinks suggested that Ingram could handle 24-25 carries a game but he'd be hesitant to give him much beyond that if USC were to truly increase its overall rushing volume.
But even keeping Ingram at that 24-25-carry level would be a significant change of operation -- and one that indeed seems warranted at this point.
Just take a look at Ingram's last four games:
-14 carries for 79 yards, 2 TDs, 5.6 yards per carry (plus 4 catches for 37 yards) vs. Oregon State
-14 carries for 124 yards, 8.9 YPC vs. Colorado
-14 carries for 70 yards, 5.0 YPC vs. Utah
-24 carries for 138 yards, 1 TD, 5.8 YPC vs. Notre Dame
Jinks said he thinks Ingram is "finally 100 percent" after the ankle injury that sidelined him for much of fall camp, which could be another indication he's confident in continuing to stretch out his role moving forward.
"We saw a little bit of that burst again that we saw kind of in spring training, really for the first time that he really showed that initial get-out for the first 5 to 10 yards. Trending in the right direction. Hopefully the next five games, six games, we’ll continue to see that," Jinks said. "It definitely was [missing]. Definitely was. I think he was pressing a little bit, trying to make up for that. The thing that I find that’s unique about his running style and watching him prior to becoming a Trojan was his patience and his ability to have that initial burst and get to the second level.
"I think he got his confidence back in his ankle a little bit. He showed that aspect of his running game, which is unique. It kind of reminds me a little bit of Bell, Le’Veon Bell. I’m not saying [they're the same], but I think you can see it, he was patient and he really set his blocks up well."
Ingram figured to be one of the most impactful offseason transfer additions for USC, with a major emphasis being placed on jumpstarting the run game after a down year across the board, and with his significant experience in the college game (1,811 rushing yards, 515 receiving yards, 17 combined TDs over three seasons with Texas).
He only furthered those expectations when he delivered the most electric play of the spring game with a 49-yard catch-and-run in which me showcased his vision, speed and elusiveness all packed into his imposing 6-foot, 215-pound frame.
But USC came out determined to employ an even split in the backfield between Ingram and Malepeai, the trusted redshirt senior and team leader in rushing the last two years. To his credit, Ingram never expressed any frustration with his role or the USC rushing attack in general, even when he got just 7 carries as the run game grounded to a halt in a lopsided win at Washington State. Ingram said a few days later that he'd played a lot of football and understood that sometimes it's simply more of a passing game.
From all accounts, Ingram has been a steady presence within the team despite the ups and downs that have come this fall, even with the weight of his NFL future largely riding on this season.
"He’s a pleaser. More so than worrying about the next level or what have you, it was just ... he didn’t want to disappoint me, he didn’t want to disappoint the rest of our coaching staff, he didn’t want to disappoint his teammates. He felt like at times maybe it was on him that the production wasn’t there," Jinks said. "That’s an attribute that honestly I hope never leaves him because it’s humbling and it drives you to be the best you possibly can be."
Said Ingram: "I mean, any guy who put that much time in the game, of course you know, your mind state, you want to go out there and you want to do this, do that, but you've got a certain role you've got to go by that. You've got to go by the rules, you got to go by the team first -- that's the most important thing. ... Me being an older guy from a mental aspect, I know how to control my emotions, and that's what it really is. Players just got to know how to be mature about certain situations and look past it instead of digging into our emotions and stuff like that. And of course younger guys have a problem with that -- that's what our older guys [are] here for to help with that."
Ingram's level-headed mindset has been one of the few constants in this tumultuous season, and maybe his patience is starting to pay off.
This surely isn't what he signed up for -- the head coach being fired two games in, the offense struggling, his role limited at times, etc. -- but as he said again when asked about all of that, "I mean, it's football."
He also came to a program that has been more of a passing team in general under offensive coordinator Graham Harrell, and Ingram understood that too when he chose to transfer to the Trojans this season, having been usurped in the Texas backfield by young star Bijan Robinson last year.
Talk to him just a couple times, though, and there's a palpable confidence to Ingram that helps understand why he didn't balk at joining a program that had ranked as one of the worst in the country in rushing last season. (Or why he didn't get bogged down by the lack of early output).
"I mean, yeah, I did kind of brush off, like, this is the Air Raid, I do want to be in more like an I-[formation] because I am a downhill type of guy, that is my game, and you look at any back across the country who are mainly getting the ball they're coming downhill half the time too, so I feel that's one thing that I needed," Ingram said Tuesday, reflecting back on his thought process. "But I feel the opportunity was the main point for me. And I believed in my game tremendously and I feel like me coming to an Air Raid offense I can be just as effective. That's why I'm here."
Perhaps it now truly resonated for the USC coaching staff on Saturday why Ingram is here, as they turned the ground attack almost entirely over to him for the first time with Barlow getting the only other 4 RB carries.
Interim head coach Donte Williams wasn't asked about Ingram specifically but he was asked whether the Trojans need to lean more on the rushing attack, after it helped them briefly get back in the game Saturday night, and he didn't mince his words.
"That's what I would like to do," Williams said plainly. "Especially because I feel like we're at our best when we do that because it tells safeties that they've got to play the run instead of the pass and get a little more one-on-one matchups in the pass game. At the same time, I still believe football games are won in the trenches. All these skill guys is great, but you have to win in the trenches, and the best way to show dominance is by how you run the football and stop the run. So definitely it's something I would like to do a lot more of."
Ingram, of course, would also endorse more of what he got Saturday night.
"Actually coming into the game I knew they had a really good front seven, so the run game was kind of questionable as far as how many times we were going to run the ball, and I feel like we kind of got going, we established like, OK, we've got to run the ball now, we've got to play complementary football," he said. "That's what we did in the second half, which kind of [got us] back into the game."
It's been so hard to project anything from one game to the next with this USC team, but the Trojans have a prime opportunity ahead if they want to build on Ingram's big performance. Their opponent this weekend, Arizona, ranks 99th nationally in run defense, giving up 181.14 yards per game on the ground.
And if one wants to really go down the road of projections, take Ingram's average output over those last four games -- 102.75 rushing yards per game -- and apply it to the five regular-season games that remain and that would put him at 1,070 yards, which would make him the first USC 1,000-yard rusher since Ronald Jones in 2016-17.
No, this season surely didn't start out like Ingram expected when he made the move to Los Angeles, but it could finish out just fine for him after all.
"Some things you just have no control of and you've just got to go with the road and just make the best out of it," Ingram said. "We've still got five more games left to go out there, play fun, execute, put up numbers and do what we want to do. So it's nothing like we're too late or nothing like that. We're still at mid-season and we just keep going. ...
"I feel like that's no problem for me to get 1,000 yards. I feel like I'm that type of back, and I put that pressure on me even though I am in the Air Raid offense vs. other running backs in the country that's getting half [their] carries coming down in the pistol, a lot of counter gap schemes, stuff like that. I'm in the Air Raid, which I have no problem with it. I'm a bigger back and I can make plays, so I'm ready to go."