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USC officially -- finally -- opens preseason camp Friday afternoon, with the delayed season opener looming less than a month away.

Just as there would have been in the spring, had the Trojans gotten more than one practice in back in March, and just as there would have been in August for a traditional fall camp, there is no shortage of compelling storylines for this team.

On Thursday, we highlighted the five biggest questions and five most intriguing position battles ahead.

Today, we rank the 10 most compelling individual player storylines over this next month. To be clear, this is not a ranking of the 10 best players or 10 most important players, necessarily (though many would fit that bill). No, this is the list of those who carry the most intrigue into preseason camp -- for a variety of reasons. (For instance, junior wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown isn't on the list, but is clearly one of the Trojans most talented and important players -- there's just not much mystery about St. Brown this preseason).

Starting at the top ...

As we highlighted Thursday, Palaie "EA" Gaoteote is entering a pivotal third season in the program, having yet to fully deliver on lofty expectations or maximize the seemingly elite potential he has shown in flashes.

He was one of our picks to be the Trojans' breakout player of the year last fall and it never really materialized as he missed some time due to injury, played through injuries and never looked fully at ease in former defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast's system.

He finished with 58 tackles and 3 tackles for loss in eight games.

Enter new defensive coordinator Todd Orlando, who also takes over coaching the linebackers and boasts an impressive track record of making an immediate impact -- especially at that position.

Gaoteote will play the "Rover" linebacker spot in Orlando's defense, which usually offers a lot of blitzing opportunities and seems a logical fit for the talented playmaker. If the combination of that role and Orlando's coaching can unlock Gaoteote's remaining untapped potential, he could be one of the pivotal figures in elevating the defense as a whole.

So we're holding onto our EA stock for another year and betting that comes to fruition.

We stay on the defensive side for another disruptive force who could be a tone-setter for the unit while playing a bit of a new role.

Drake Jackson already had his breakout season last year as a freshman, leading USC with 11.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks while playing a more traditional defensive end role.

According to the official roster, he's dropped 20 pounds to slim down to 255, while moving to the "B-backer" position in Orlando's defense. Based on what we saw in the lone spring practice, it's essentially a stand-up pass-rushing outside linebacker offset a few yards from the linemen.

Jackson has said he doesn't expect any challenge in making that transition, and as great as his debut season was last year, he'd be the first to admit he left a number of additional potential sacks and TFLs in the backfield on plays in which he created havoc behind the line but couldn't quite finish.

Regardless of who was coaching the defense, the expectation would be that Jackson would be even better a year older and with the lessons from his freshman season, but his new role only adds to the intrigue.

USC's most high-profile addition in the 2019 recruiting class looks to be ready to finally show the world what he can do.

Everyone knows the story by now -- the transfers to and from Texas soon after signing with USC, the prolonged illness that then kept out of practice most of his freshman season (though he officially never received an eligibility waiver from the NCAA regardless).

McCoy went in-depth with us on all of that back in May and seems poised to leave it all in the past and compete for a role this fall.

What kind of role that will be is half the intrigue with the 5-star prospect.

Last year, USC leaned almost exclusively on its top four wide receivers in Michael Pittman, Tyler Vaughns, Amon-Ra St. Brown and emerging newcomer Drake London. Well, three of those guys are back and St. Brown figures to move to a primary outside receiver role to fill Pittman's void.

So will McCoy be able to show enough in practice to earn the opportunity to rotate in behind Vaughns or St. Brown -- neither of whom come off the field much?

If he's truly back to being the McCoy of old -- or dare we say the 'real McCoy' -- it would be hard to keep him off the field.