USC is through two-plus weeks of fall camp and already transitioning to its mock game week with just two weeks to go to the highly-anticipated season-opener vs. LSU in Las Vegas.
The Trojans held their second scrimmage of camp Saturday in the Coliseum and allowed media to watch the entirety of it, with the caveat that nothing -- absolutely nothing -- could be reported from it.
That said, we've still learned plenty about the Trojans from the entirety of camp, and as we did after Week 1 here are our always IN-DEPTH top takeaways from the second full week of football practices.
1. Buying into the Gavin Meyer buzz
It would have been understandable to take a wait-and-see approach in evaluating the potential impact of Wyoming defensive tackle transfer Gavin Meyer -- which is exactly what we did.
After all, the Trojans were linked to bigger names in the transfer portal after the spring who all ended up elsewhere, before they eventually made a late move to bring in Meyer.
USC absolutely needed to add depth on the interior of the defensive line, and at the minimum Meyer would at least provide that after logging more than 800 snaps the last two seasons for the Cowboys.
But the feedback and praise for Meyer this camp has been significant, and we've seen just enough to believe in it.
"We've been really pleased with Gavin, bringing him in. It's very apparent that he's going to have an opportunity to make a big impact for us," head coach Lincoln Riley said earlier this week. "Not just the way he plays but his attitude. the way that he's joined the team culture-wise and locker room-wise, he fits exactly what we want and is going to be a really good player. So we've been thrilled with that addition."
Defensive line coach Eric Henderson doubled down on that praise Thursday, singling out Meyer first when asked who has impressed him from his unit this month.
"Man, it really has been a good camp thus far. I'm really pleased with all of the guys, to be honest with you. But when you talk about the addition of Gavin Meyer, his explosiveness off the ball, physicality in the run game," Henderson said. "... Gavin has hit the ground running. He came in in the summer and immediately took to the playbook. He is such a phenomenal football player in terms of his ability to play multiple positions up front, his above-the-neck approach to the game has been phenomenal.
"He lines up all over the defensive line, which all of our guys do, so it only helps them. You have to have that mental capacity to be able to play multiple positions as well as have success at those different spots. So, Gavin has hit the ground running, has been doing that for us and we're super excited to have him. I'm telling you, he has been phenomenal."
We came into camp thinking Meyer might be the fourth interior defensive lineman behind Bear Alexander, Nate Clifton and Elijah Hughes, but it sounds and seems more likely now that he's right there near the top of that rotation.
The Trojans are going to rotate a bunch at those two spots so there will be different pairings, but Meyer looks poised for a major role.
"I feel really blessed because it's kind of a similar scheme from what I know," Meyer said of coming in this summer and adjusting quickly. "I wouldn't say I'm behind at all and I'm really happy with the scheme coach [D'Anton] Lynn coaches and how familiar I was with it. I didn't feel like I was behind at all."
While he isn't the biggest of USC's interior defensive lineman, listed at 6-foot-3, 290 pounds, Meyer passes the eye test, for sure.
A couple weeks ago he was asked for a self scouting report on how he plays, and the assessment he gave then has been spot-on.
"What I would say about my game, I like to play with a motor, non-stop effort, get to the ball and play with physicality a lot of other guys don't play with," he said. "I think that comes back to the coaching I've had in the past, the coaching I'm looking for."
And, in turn, the reason the coaches are so high on him.
