USC Football Notes: Good injury news, thoughts on DL depth and OL praise

A day after redshirt senior defensive lineman Caleb Tremblay announced he has entered the NCAA transfer portal, USC coach Clay Helton said he has no concerns about the Trojans' defensive line depth moving forward.

Tremblay opened last season as a starter and was a versatile player who could plug in at multiple spots up front, but his role diminished with the emergence of freshman Tuli Tuipulotu last fall, and the arrival of 5-star freshman Korey Foreman this summer along with the remaining cast of contributors gives USC plenty of options up front still.

"I think we’re in a good position not only with the young men that are here and their development but also the new entries that are coming in also. One of the guys we haven’t seen that I’m looking forward to getting out there is Ish," Helton said of Alabama transfer Ishmael Sopsher, who is out this spring following leg surgery. "He’s chomping at the bit to be able to get out there. You end up having the opportunity to get one of the better defensive linemen in the country in Korey Foreman walking in here, plus the guys that are developing now as young kids have been fun to watch, between Jay Toia and Jamar Sekona, Kobe Pepe, who's been able to get healthy and get back. You don’t see Nick Figueroa out there right now.

"It may look a little sparse right now, but as we get to fall training camp, we’re going to be in a good position once everyone gets healthy and everybody gets here."

WATCH: Full video of Clay Helton's Saturday Zoom session with reporters

Figueroa, who is out this spring rehabbing a shoulder injury, led USC with 7 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks last year in a breakout shortened season. Sopsher is a former top 100 national prospect who should compete with Toia, the impressive true freshman, and Sekona, an improving second-year player, at the nose tackle spot. And with Tuipulotu and Foreman, that is indeed a strong top of the depth chart for those three down linemen positions, with Drake Jackson and Hunter Echols next to them in the pass-rushing outside linebacker role.

Helton had more to say, meanwhile, about Toia, who has really flashed this spring as a 6-foot-3, 325-pound newcomer who looks physically ready to step into that void at nose tackle left by Marlon Tuipulotu's departure to the NFL.

"I wish everybody could have seen him Day 1 when he stepped on campus compared to where he is at right now. It is literally night and day," Helton said. "But he is somebody that when he is put in a competitive drill or live drill, you're talking about off the field is the sweetest human being you will ever meet, but I don't know who he becomes when it's a competitive situation -- he is a different person and it has been really neat to see how talented he is but also what an unbelievable sense of urgency that guy has to be great and to help this team next year."

Redshirt freshman Andrew Milek, who has worked as the second-team center most of the spring, left practice Wednesday with an apparent knee injury. Helton gave a positive update on his status Saturday morning.

"Ended up having a knee sprain, not surgical. He’ll rehab it. But just a sprain of his knee, thank goodness," Helton said.

He also noted that redshirt freshman Casey Collier, who has worked as the second-team left tackle, will return to practice Saturday after having to quarantine following an excused trip home to Texas.

While USC played its spring game last weekend, the Trojans still had two weeks left of spring ball, and Helton has emphasized the value of that time to make corrections off of the spring showcase film as well as moving guys into some different positions for the final practices.

Saturday is practice 12 of 15, and the Trojans will continue to try out some new looks the rest of the way -- as they started doing on Wednesday by shuffling the offensive line really for the first time all spring.

"We really focused on a little bit more heavier personnel groupings this week and being able to focus on that with the run game," Helton said. "I thought Graham [Harrell] and Clay [McGuire] and Mike Jinks did a really nice job of instituting a couple packages that we’ll carry over into the fall. Defensively, it’s really been about the progression. Keeping the progression of our young players going. Especially when you look at the 14 newcomers, a lot happen to be in the back-end of that secondary as well as Julien Simon at the linebacker position. [We'll] continue to progress them so they’re ready to contribute come fall."

It was notable that Helton mentioned Simon, who had only limited opportunities in the live team periods through the first three weeks of spring. As a highly-touted 4-star linebacker coming in at a relatively thin position group, it figured he might be one of the more intriguing newcomers this spring, but he was often left working behind walk-ons Danny Lockhart and Spencer Gilbert.

Helton offered more insight into Simon's development Saturday.

"He's really learning the speed of the game and how fast decision-making has to happen, especially at that position," he said. "The one thing that is great for him is he's got TO (Todd Orlando) coaching him, and TO's style is a tough love style of coaching and it has helped Julien progress so much from Practice 1 to where we are right now at Practice 12. It's like night and day. He's gone from deer in the headlights to, man, this guy has got a chance to contribute. So you'll get to see him today. We're going to put him in some situations. He's really in a place now where I think he understands the defense and is really playing some nice ball, so you're going to get the opportunity to watch him in some live situations today and get to watch him play.

"But I like his progression -- very coachable kid, tough kid, shows good athleticism, good size, and when he hits you, mercy, he's a heavy body. It hurts, he runs through you. He's got a bright, bright future and I love how coachable and his sense of urgency to help this football team."

With Collier not available for the spring game and USC mixing and matching its first and second-team offensive linemen to create two equal teams last Saturday, redshirt senior Andrew Vorhees -- normally the first-team left guard -- ended up getting a full showcase at left tackle.

When Helton was asked if any players really stood out to him on film after rewatching the spring game, he said it was Toia and Vorhees.

"I thought Andrew Vorhees getting that opportunity I thought made the most of it. He showed his versatility, he showed just what a veteran he is," Helton said.

Entering spring camp, Vorhees was not one of the candidates mentioned for the left tackle job, but it looks now like he could be a strong consideration if projected starter Courtland Ford misses any time this season.

"He’s been an elite interior player for us, but played a little right tackle his freshman year and played tackle in high school. When Casey got the opportunity to go back home for his sister’s [WNBA] draft day, he had to sit out a week and that allowed us to dual train Andrew and see where he was at. He did a magnificent job," Helton said. "He’s always in consideration because he’s played the position before. He did it well. He did it really well. So I would say, yes, he is a candidate at a tackle position if needed.

"That’s the beauty of what we’re doing this week. You’ll see guys mixing and matching, both interior, outside, swapping sides, for us to be able to garner enough tape and evaluation for not only this training camp, but next, to put the best five out there for the first ball game."

Helton also praised Ford, right guard Liam Jimmons, second-team left guard Justin Dedich and second-team right tackle Jonah Monheim, who he said "is having one of the better camps of anybody."