USC Football Notes: More on Clay Helton's takeaways from the spring game

Ultimately, the best thing about USC's spring game Saturday was that it was played like an actual, you know, game.

No overthinking it, no focus on simulating specific situational work -- just free-flowing football for four quarters.

"Good for our football team to kind of see after eight practices -- this being our ninth -- just to kind of see where we're at with a lot of young people," coach Clay Helton said afterward. "We played a lot of young people today. I think every experience is a good experience when you're in training camp to be in front of fans, be in the Coliseum and be able to learn. There was some good things that happened and a lot of things that young people can learn from today."

True and true.

Building off our detailed breakdown from Saturday of the top performers and key moments, here's a rundown of the official stats ...

RELATED: The players who impressed the most during USC's spring game | First-and-10: The top 10 takeaways and observations from the spring showcase | Photos from Saturday

Final score: Cardinal 27, Gold 7

CARDINAL TEAM

Passing:

Kedon Slovis: 8/12 for 128 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT

Jaxson Dart: 7/13 for 99 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

Rushing:

Vavae Malepeai: 8 carries for 30 yards and 1 TD (long run of 10 yards)

Stephen Carr: 8 carries for 53 yards and 1 TD (long run of 26 yards)

Matt Colombo: 7 carries for 47 yards (long run of 24 yards)

Team total (including lost sack yardage): 32 attempts for 97 yards, 2 TDs

Receiving:

Drake London: 7 catches for 139 yards (long reception of 45 yards)

Michael Jackson III: 3 catches for 42 yards (long reception of 26 yards)

Gary Bryant Jr.: 1 catch for 13 yards

Stephen Carr: 1 catch for 13 yards

Lake McRee: 2 catches for 7 yards

Ty Shamblin: 1 catch for 13 yards

Interceptions:

Chris Steele

Spencer Gilbert

Sacks:

Briton Allen 1

Jay Toia 1

Bryce Matthews 1

Tackles:

Briton Allen 5

Raymond Scott 5

Isaac Taylor-Stuart 5

Kana'i Mauga 3

Jay Toia 3

Spencer Gilbert 2

Bryce Matthews 2

Hunter Echols 1

Anthony Beavers 1

GOLD TEAM

Passing:

Mo Hasan: 2/2 for 74 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT

Miller Moss: 7/13 for 34 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT

Isaac Ward: 0/1 for 0 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT

Rushing:

Keaontay Ingram: 7 carries for 20 yards

Brandon Campbell: 6 carries for 19 yards

Quincy Jountti: 4 carries for 14 yards

Team total (including lost sack yardage): 22 attempts for 47 yards

Receiving:

Keaontay Ingram: 1 catch for 49 yards

Bru McCoy: 2 catches for 34 yards, 1 TD (long reception of 25 yards)

Zach Wilson: 2 catches for 7 yards

John Jackson III: 2 catches for 10 yards

Brandon Campbell: 1 catch for 3 yards

Kohl Hollinquest: 1 catch for 5 yards

Interceptions:

Dorian Hewett

Joshua Jackson Jr.

Sacks:

Drake Jackson 1

De'jon Benton 1

Isaiah Pola-Mao 1

Jake Lichtenstein 1

Jamar Sekona 1

Tackles:

Tuasivi Nomura 7

Calen Bullock 5

Chase Williams 4

Joshua Jackson 4

Drake Jackson 3

De'jon Benton 3

Dorian Hewett 3

Tuli Tuipulotu 3

Jake Lichtenstein 2

Jamar Sekona 2

Ralen Goforth 2

SCORING

First Quarter

GOLD -- McCoy 25-yard pass from Hasan (Stadthaus kick)

Second Quarter

CARDINAL -- Stadthaus 34-yard field goal

CARDINAL -- Stadthaus 47-yard field goal

CARDINAL -- Carr 1-yard run (Stadthaus kick)

Third Quarter

CARDINAL -- Malepeai 1-yard run (Stadthaus kick)

Fourth Quarter

CARDINAL -- Jackson 3-yard pass from Dart (Stadthaus kick)

Offensive coordinator Graham Harrell was the head coach of the Cardinal team while defensive coordinator Todd Orlando led the Gold team.

Team captains for the Cardinal team were QB Kedon Slovis and LB Kana'i Mauga, and for the Gold team it was RB Keaontay Ingram and S Chase Williams.

"We had a lot of fun with this. We broke up the staff into two staffs -- TO being the head coach of one side and Graham bein the head coach of the other, getting the opportunity for Craig Naivar and Donte Williams to call plays as the coordinators and Mike Jinks and Seth Doege to call plays as the offensive coordinators. It was a development day all around for a lot of people and really enjoyed it," Helton said.

In an attempt to create fair and even squads for both sides, the Trojans didn't simply go with their first and second-team offensive lines. Instead, it was a jumbled mix of both on either side.

For the Cardinal team, the starting offensive line was:

LT Andrew Vorhees (normally the first-team left guard)

LG Justin Dedich (normally the second-team left guard)

C Brett Neilon (first-team center)

RG Gino Quinones (recently working as the second-team right guard after being third-team earlier in camp)

RT Jonah Monheim (second-team right tackle)

For the Gold team:

LT Courtland Ford (first-team left tackle)

LG Jason Rodriguez (has worked at both left and right guard, alternating between second and third team)

C Andrew Milek (second-team center)

RG Liam Jimmons (first-team right guard)

RT Jalen McKenzie (first-team right tackle)

The third-teamers came out for a series on each side, though there was some overlap with the other units to fill out the squads.

For the Cardinal, it was LT Caadyn Stephen, LG Mark Zuvich, C Milek, RG Jimmons, RT McKenzie.

For the Gold, it was LT AJ Mageo, LG Andres Dewerk, C Dedich, RG Damian Lopez, RT Joe Bryson

"To be able to play with other guys is important. It could happen in games with injuries, and that was part of the fun for the team and our staff -- the staff drafting to try to make the teams as equal as we could. So we actually sat in the draft room and drafted each team with our coaches. It was a lot of fun to do that. It made for a little more even than going with the 1s vs. 2s and the other way around," Helton said. "And it happens like that. Sometimes all of a sudden you've been playing with a front five and then all of a sudden you get two or three injuries and there's some new guys in there. So it's always a good experience to have and good format to have from time to time."

Considering there were 8 sacks allowed on the day, it left many fans grousing about the continued struggles up front. And it's a fair criticism as the offensive line remains a source of concern, but this wasn't exactly a conducive representation as the linemen hadn't worked in those arrangements at all in practice.

Not to make excuses -- just adding perspective. But yes, the offensive line play was lackluster Saturday. Helton was pressed for his own analysis of the unit and

"I'll say this, over an entire camp I have been pleased with the offensive line," he said. "Obviously today we'll see from the tape. You get in some live game experience and you probably have some mistakes and some things you're going to correct, but there also was some positive aspects of it. I thought they allowed the runners to do some nice things today. I think some young players got beat a couple times by a Drake Jackson or a Tuli, but that's happened to a lot of kids across the country -- 99 is pretty hard to block, especially when you're a young person.

"Like I said before, every experience is a great experience and you learn from your successes as well as your failures. I'm glad it was both ways -- it's something to coach off of. Most spring games you're done -- we've got two weeks to continue to go now and be able to even get better off of this. I really enjoyed today and I think we're going to learn from it and still get six more practices to build on some really youthful players on the offensive line."

Quarterback Mo Hasan, who started for the Gold team, completed his first two passes for big gains and then was forced out with a knee injury -- the severity of which was pending an MRI.

"Mo suffered a knee injury -- I don't know how severe it is. We're going to MRI it later tonight," Helton said.

Wide receiver Gary Bryant then came up favoring his hamstring after trying to go up for a reception that ended up incomplete.

"Gary had just a hamstring. I don't expect him back for a little bit," Helton said.

Meanwhile, junior cornerback Jayden Williams -- who has gotten a lot of work this spring across the first and second units -- was inactive due to a hamstring tweak.

That left the Trojans with only four cornerbacks initially -- Chris Steele, Isaac Taylor-Stuart, Joshua Jackson Jr. and Dorian Hewett. Hewett then later exited after making an early interception. Helton was not asked about his situation so it's unclear what happened there, but freshman safety Calen Bullock moved over to cornerback for the rest of the game.

Finally, kicker Parker Lewis and second-team left tackle Casey Collier were both absent due to returning home for family events. Collier was back in Texas to watch his sister Charli Collier become the No. 1 overall selection in the WNBA draft earlier this week.

"Parker had a family event that was very important to his family, and we've always been Faith, Family and Football here. It's very similar to Casey -- you didn't see Casey Collier here today because of the experience that he had with his family, his sister going No. 1 in the WNBA draft. How cool is that? He had a personal family experience he just couldn't pass up, and I'm glad he got the opportunity to go," Helton said. "Anytime we travel out of state there's a seven-day quarantine once you come back in. You'll get to see him in the very near future."

There was a lot of intrigue surrounding the arrival of USC's three 4-star safety signees this spring in Bullock, Xamarion Gordon and Anthony Beavers.

So far, Bullock has shined the brightest of the group. He had two interceptions in a practice last week and has shown strong ball skills all camp.

So it wasn't a surprise that he was the one picked to slide over to corner on Saturday. In fact, he had worked a few reps there during a practice earlier this spring.

"Calen has been a kid during camp we've moved back and forth. He's shown, as you all got to see the other day coming up with two interceptions in the back end at safety, but has great range and speed and playmaking ability and his length is evident," Helton said. "So we got a little bit short at cornerback with Jayden being out, so having the availability and the versatility of a Calen Bullock to be a safety, possibly a corner when needed, that just ups his stock and it was good to see today."

Helton was asked generally if there was one unit that best showcased the "relentlessness" the defensive staff is preaching.

"I'm going to watch the tape and I think our linebacker position really played well today, especially in-between the tackles and how they ran the lanes. You didn't see a ton of explosive runs in between the tackles, and I thought they played physical," he said. "I thought they played with that relentless effort and they chased the ball. Obviously TO, whose mindset and his demeanor has really rubbed off on that crew, it's been nice to really watch that crew grow -- both inside linebacker and outside linebacker-wise. But not having watched the tape yet, it just felt like the linebacker crew today did a phenomenal job."

Helton also had high praise for the secondary in general, which seems appropriate on a day that featured four interceptions (three by cornerbacks).

"I thought the secondary played lights out. I see the development that Donte Williams and Craig Naivar have done within TO's system, and you watch guys all over the field make plays today," Helton said. "Chris Steele, who we expect that from, makes a big play in the game, but it was really nice to see Josh Jackson come up with a nice play in the game too. We've invested a lot and really think he's got a bright future at that position. So I really like the development all the way around, and it was good to see just four newcomer safeties be out there today with Xamarion and Anthony, Xavion [Alford, the Texas transfer] and Anthony. For them to be able to get that work and be here just stepping foot on campus, it's invaluable.

"I like where we are really a lot. Our secondary, I was a little bit worried coming into camp. It may end up being one of the strengths of our team by the end of it."