USC football notes and injury news heading into the first spring practice

With USC starting spring practice Tuesday afternoon, head coach Clay Helton spoke with reporters in the morning to provide some injury updates and discuss what he's hoping to get out of these next five weeks.

First, in terms of personnel who will or will not be available, Helton vaguely referred to what sounded like some players who will miss the start of the spring for non-injury health reasons -- perhaps related to mandatory protocols that have become all too familiar this last year.

"We do anticipate starting camp without a few players due to health and safety protocols -- looking forward to getting them back in the near future," Helton said, offering no further details.

He was then asked about players who would be unavailable due to injury. Here's the list he provided:

-DT Ishmael Sopsher is recovering from surgery for compartment syndrome in his leg and is unlikely to return before the end of spring.

-LB Jordan Iosefa is out all spring while recovering from knee surgery.

-LB Solomon Tuliaupupu is out all spring while recovering from knee surgery.

-TE Jude Wolfe is still recovering from foot surgery, but Helton said, "we hope to get him back later in the spring."

-WR Kyle Ford will not be involved in any contact team drills this spring while finishing his recovery from a second ACL tear, but he is running and will be working off to the side. (More on that below)

-WR Bru McCoy is "coming off a little bit of a hamstring but you'll see him out there."

The good news is that junior quarterback Kedon Slovis is full-go after getting a slow start to the offseason following the injury to the AC joint in his shoulder on the final play of the Pac-12 championship game. He will not be limited this spring.

"He should be full-go as far as I know. He’s no longer on the injury report," offensive coordinator Graham Harrell said. "Those guys, in order for them to be limited in practice, they better be not able to walk. They don’t have to take any contact. His shoulder, I think, they’ve been throwing some on their own. I think it’s full-go. There won’t be any contact with quarterbacks in the spring. From a contact standpoint, they should all be good."

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USC gets 15 spring practices spread over the next five weeks, with the spring showcase set for April 17 (in the middle of camp).

Helton said the Trojans will "maximize" the NCAA-allowable 12 full-padded practices and 8 full-contact tackling practices. The first two practices will be helmets-only, as per NCAA rules.

"The format that we'll go through over the next five weeks is we'll practice every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with meetings and installation every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and really take six days per week and slow the process down to be able to get as much teaching as we can for our student-athletes," he said. "... Just a really important time for our football team to be able to advance them further. But also when you think about the 14 newcomers, both transfer as well as freshmen that are on campus as well our second-year players that are really coming off an abbreviated season and not getting a spring camp last year, this is an important time. We have to maximize our most effort in this time period to try to advance our team forward and excited to get started with that."

With that said, Helton laid out some specific areas of focus for the spring.

"Offensively, and I've already met with the staff on this, for us it's the run game. We averaged 3.2 yards per carry last year and [we need] to be able to be more efficient," he said. "Not to say we have to have 300 yards a game rushing, but we have to be more efficient. There's going to be times you're playing a Washington State and you're getting Cover-1 every snap and if we have to throw the ball every down we will. But when we [don't] see those advantage coverage looks and we have an advantage box, to be able to run to with equal numbers, that's where we've got to be more efficient.

"Also, obviously, we want to be more efficient on third-and-short and goal line situations in the running game. So those are two priorities for us going into the spring, as well as protecting the quarterback. We ended up with 15 sacks last year, which is about one in every 17 throws. ... It's going to be so important to keep [Slovis] upright and keep him protected, so those are our two areas we'll be focused on in spring."

USC ranked 120th nationally last season in rushing at 97.3 yards per game and consequently changed offensive line coaches, bringing in Clay McGuire, who not only has a background in coaching the OL in Air Raid offenses under Mike Leach at Washington State, but he's also worked as a running backs coach at Texas Tech and East Carolina. He'll have a role in trying to fix that run game.

On the other side of the ball, meanwhile ...

"Defensively for us it's third downs. When you look at us last year, we made so many strides moving forward last year defensively and really grew and credit to TO (defensive coordinator Todd Orlando) and the staff to have only basically five weeks and then you're thrust into a season and you've got to install a defense and watch that defense grow -- they did," Helton said. "But third-down-wise we can improve. We were not in the top 50 in third-down efficiency, so we're going to make that a priority. You'll see a lot of situational mastery over spring ball where we put our defense in a lot of third-down situations.

"TO actually did a nice job through our walkthroughs because that was one of his points of emphasis, immediately started installing third-down defense and some of the ideas he wants to get to this season. The other thing defensively is the opportunity to keep on creating turnovers. I thought we were excellent -- it's really the reason you go 5-0 in the regular-season last year. You have 16 turnovers -- 9 interceptions and 7 fumbles. We have to continue that. we made a point of emphasis of it last year -- we have to continue it."

Helton also mentioned that special teams coordinator Sean Snyder didn't have the necessary time to teach fundamentals and technique entering last season, having to prioritize his time on installing schemes, and so that will be the focus with that unit.

Helton was also asked why USC is having its spring game in the middle of camp. He indicated it may have something to do with other things going on inside the Coliseum, also the opportunity for a broadcast slot on Pac-12 Network, but additionally he wanted to refocus the back end of spring for more attention on the young players.

"Obviously we have these 14 newcomers and we've got several second-year players that had an abbreviated season, so one of the things that we wanted to do in the second half of the camp is being able to introduce our systems to all these newcomers, let them get a feel for it and then the second half of the camp really a primary focus on those younger players to grow our team from the bottom up," Helton said. "... We really felt it would be an ideal time to have nine great practices, get a unique spring showcase scrimmage and that would give us enough time on those last six practices to really dive in to our younger players and allow them to garner tape, experience and really be able to teach them off that tape."

Kyle Ford joined USC as a 4-star wide receiver and top-100 national prospect in the 2019 recruiting class, but he missed most of his freshman season while recovering from a torn ACL sustained during his last high school season. And then he sustained another torn ACL last offseason, which cost him the 2020 season and from which he is still recovering.

"I appreciate the toughness that Kyle has mentally," Helton said. "Everyone knows what a physical creature he is, and I can't wait to get him back on the field. I might be misty eyed when he gets back on the field. I know how hard he has worked to be there. To be able to not only get through one injury but now a second injury you see the amount of investment he's put into this. He's in a good place right now. He's actually running full speed, he's introducing change of direction, he'll be modified during practices -- you won't see him in any contact practices -- but we're going to get the most out of what we can do right now in a totally safe environment for him.

"The goal for him is to be able to get to fall 100 percent and to be in a wide receiver shape. He looks great right now. He's a full-grown man, but there is that being able to get in that wide receiver body that he's working towards and he's looking forward to getting back on the field. He brings positive energy every day even though it's an adverse situation he's gone through. His positivity and his mental toughness is what's stood out to me over this time."

Helton made an unexpected change this offseason when USC chose not to renew the contract of head strength coach Aaron Ausmus, who was with the program for less than two years in this latest stint. The Trojans hired Robert Stiner, who was on the staff at Notre Dame, as its new director of football sports performance and had him direct the team through an eight-week offseason program.

Helton shared his takeaways from Stiner's impact so far.

"It wasn't just training sessions -- it's really a system and a system of accountability, a system that produces mental and physical toughness and really makes the guys lean on each other," he said. "And you compete each and every day. It's based on a point system, you're in teams. But every workout he sets up has some sort of competitive factor in it, some sort of mental toughness training that is in it and you'll be able to visit with guys and they'll tell you -- one of the better offseason programs I've ever witnessed. Probably the most mentally tough program that I've seen, and really has taken the competitive level of our team to another level.

"When you look at how important the strength and conditioning program is, you're looking at an eight-week cycle in the spring, another eight weeks over the summer. So that staff is 16 weeks of not only training young men but really developing your culture -- the mental and physical toughness and competitiveness and the unitedness that goes into the game. So credit to Coach Stiner and his staff for what they've done. We've got a team that's ready to go into spring ball both physically and mentally."