Tuesday practice report: DE Christian Rector 'excited to play' after injury

Veteran defensive end Christian Rector doesn't want to speculate what if anything might have gone differently had he been able to play Saturday at BYU.

Rector made the trip with the Trojans and was a game-time decision, but it was ultimately decided his injured ankle wasn't ready. USC went on to lose 30-27 in overtime to the Cougars, struggling to contain the edge.

"It's definitely tough watching. ... I love the way that they fought and battled to the end. At the end of the day, I don't speak in hypotheticals of what would have happened," Rector said after practice Tuesday.

Head coach Clay Helton had indicated Monday that he was encouraged by Rector's potential to play Friday night against No. 10/11 Utah in the Coliseum, and the redshirt-senior affirmed that is indeed his intent.

"I'm excited for this week, I'm excited to play on Friday and help my team," he said.

Asked if that meant his ankle was 100 percent, he said, "More or less, yeah."

Meanwhile, defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast -- who is always extra cautious not to reveal anything regarding injured players and thus did speak in hypotheticals -- weighed in on what difference it makes having Rector on the field.

"He's obviously a veteran presence, played a lot of football for us and we'll be excited whenever it is that we do have him back. He's sorely missed when we don't have him out there," he said.

Rector had played the most snaps on the defensive line through the first two games and was the least impacted by USC's aggressive rotating up front. In his absence, freshman starting DE Drake Jackson played 52 of 75 defensive snaps and redshirt junior DEs Connor Murphy (40 snaps) and Caleb Tremblay (23) saw more playing time than they had all season. The Trojans also used outside linebacker Hunter Echols (36 snaps) off the edge a lot.

Jackson, Tremblay and Echols all received low tackling grades from Pro Football Focus with 4 missed tackles counted among them.

That wasn't just a problem on the edges for the Trojans, though.

"I think some of it is we've got to tackle better on the perimeter, some of it is we've got to recognize it a little bit better," Pendergast said. "When you're a team that's going to take away runs between the tackles, you're going to get more perimeter runs and we've kind of expected that in the first three games. We've just got to continue to keep working on it," Pendergast said.

He added that in general, "We've got to do a better job of tackling."

Said Rector: "It's a fundamental issue. We've got to work on that, tackling in space, gang tackling, pursuing to the ball."

Although USC sacked BYU quarterback Zach Wilson three times in that loss, Pendergast again felt there were more plays to be made in the backfield. He had the same criticism in the season opener vs. Fresno State, suggesting the defense left as many as 5 more sacks on the field in that one.

USC will have a tough challenge and slim margin for error this week against Utah. The Utes are the only team in the country that has played three games and not allowed a sack so far this season.

They're also averaging 226 rushing yards per game (32nd nationally), led by standout Zack Moss (373 rushing yards, 4 TDs, 6.5 yards per carry) and mobile quarterback Tyler Huntley (99 rushing yards, 1 TD, 5.8 YPC). USC has struggled mightily with mobile QBs both in the opener vs. Fresno State's Jorge Reyna and last week against Wilson, who rushed for a key 16-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter and extended other plays with his legs.

"We know what we're capable of and we know we can finish -- it's just a matter of doing it, watching the film and learning from it, learning from the mistakes," Rector said.