USC defensive tackle Brandon Pili has lost about 30 pounds in a little over a year. Linebacker Palaie Gaoteote has dropped 15 in the past six months. Marlon Tuipulotu and Jay Tufele are noticeably trimmer this spring. It's all in the need for speed.

After the Trojans produced a six-year low in rushing defense, Clancy Pendergast's top priority this spring has been stopping the run.

"I feel really good with where we're at right now," he said. "Particularly up front, we're doing a really good job of moving our feet on contact, playing with good gap integrity, and the linebackers with the different defenses we have are doing a nice job of fitting the run and playing with a lot of physicality."

Gaoteote added: "That's definitely the first phase of the football game is running. I take pride in stopping the run. I'm a linebacker. Stopping the run has got to be automatic."

The biggest difference for the Trojans could be seen on the defensive line, where there are now 3-4 players with their hand in the ground on every down, on top of the fact that Pili, Tufele, Tuipulotu and even Christian Rector were all playing their first full season last year. No wonder Pendergast intimated his defensive front was not as fundamentally sound as it needed to be. Its first three weeks of spring practice were almost solely dedicated to run defense (with pass rush taking precedence for the the final two).

"I think the biggest thing is we needed to play together more consistently," Pendergast explained. "And in order to start doing that, you got to be able to play with good technique on all three levels so people will play with good gap integrity."

Spring football is hardly the truest test for run defense, but both Pendergast and defensive line coach Chad Kauha'aha'a see a difference from what they found on film from last year. The latter graded the run defense over the past four weeks as a B/B-minus. He said an A, echoing Pendergast without knowing what he had said moments earlier, comes down to being gap sound -- on every snap.

"You could do that," Kauha'aha'a said. "You can consistently do that."

It's a collective effort, of course. But there is one player central to it all: Tuipulotu. (I had planned to catch up with him following today's practice but he slipped out as I was talking to Pendergast.) He's looked healthier than he did at any point since arriving two springs ago. And by all accounts, he's simply better.