Saturday essentially marked the end of fall camp for USC, and the Trojans' second scrimmage in the Coliseum helped reinforce some of the developments and takeaways from the preseason overall.
There are still some questions for the coaching staff to settle on -- how to manage the right tackle spot, what the wide receiver rotation will be, how much did running back Kenan Christon's strong finish to camp help his case for having a role in the backfield? Etc.
But we've learned a lot these last two-plus weeks with the second scrimmage helping to crystallize some of those points.
Here were our main takeaways from Saturday:
Offensive line mostly settled
The first-team offensive line seems to have more or less settled with redshirt freshmen Courtland Ford and Jonah Monheim at left and right tackle, respectively. The duo bookended the line for a majority of first-team reps, with veteran Jalen McKenzie taking some reps with the unit at RT later on. Both Ford and Monheim were beaten a few times in pass protection, but it was a generally solid showing for the two. While coach Clay Helton didn't formally announce his starting right tackle, the writing seems to be on the wall and a lot of USC's offensive hopes for this season now depend on the young tackles' ability to settle in quickly and productively as first-time starters.
Kenan Christon makes his case
Junior Kenan Christon has somewhat been the forgotten man in the running back mix this training camp, but during the second scrimmage the speedster got plenty of opportunities with the ball in his hands and made them count.
He needed to after fumbling twice the week before, including in the first scrimmage, and seeming to lose practice reps to walk-on Matt Colombo as a result.
Christon looked decisive at the line of scrimmage, making quick reads to find holes and turned in the best rushing day of any of the backs. He gashed the defense on a 42-yard run up the middle early on, also adding a 28-yard touchdown on a catch-and-run checkdown. His moves in open space are really impressive, and his home run speed makes him a constant threat to take every touch to the house.
We have repeatedly stated our belief that Christon deserves at least a handful of touches a game, and he made a really good case for that today.
