USC defensive coordinator Todd Orlando talked with reporters Wednesday morning for the final time before the Trojans' season opener Saturday vs. Arizona State, sharing his perspective on the unit's readiness and other matters.

He was asked overall what part of the defense he feels is most ready after what he's observed through the preseason.

"Well, I hope they all are, to be honest with you. But to me, the group since I've gotten here that has been exceptional in terms of doing everything whether it's on the field, off the field, has been the safety unit," Orlando said. "I've been really impressed with that. But you know, everybody has collectively gotten a little bit better throughout camp. You don't have spring football so you lose a little bit in terms of figuring out who can play and who can't play so you kind of reserve judgement and you go through. My biggest thing was, I know when I first talked to you guys, was give me a couple weeks to figure out who's gonna tap out when we do really hard stuff. And that's all I was looking for to see when it got really hard because to me that measures a person, not the easy stuff. ...

"And there's not a group that we're concerned about. I love our approach and I think since the day I've gotten here, it was like, okay, let's do this. Let's see what you're talking about. And then we you got out on the back end of those two weeks of us taking live reps almost every other day, scrimmaging multiple times, I don't sit here and say to myself I'm concerned about [any] group. Everybody has collectively gotten better."