Kyle Ford is as close to Drake London as anybody on the USC football team, and he shared some insight into how the star wide receiver has mentally processed the devastating, season-ending fractured ankle he sustained Saturday.

"Obviously, it was a tough situation, but at the end of the day he played his heart out and obviously he wouldn't take anything back," Ford said after practice Monday.

The question for all USC fans and observers now is who will contribute to filling the substantial void left by London, who had more than twice as many receptions as anybody else on the team with 88 catches for 1,084 yards and 7 touchdowns over just 7.5 games.

Ford said he and London talked about that too.

"I'm just hoping to just fulfill everything that Drake's been doing and just continue that on. I talked to him, obviously. That's like my best friend, so I just told him I'm going to carry it on for him," Ford said.

RELATED: Watch video interviews with USC coaches and players after practice Monday

Ford has just 7 catches for 104 yards and a touchdown in limited opportunities so far this season, but he could well be a more significant part of the offense moving forward, and as a former top-100 national prospect he maintains intriguing untapped potential.

The Trojans shuffled through a number of wide receiver alignments in practice Monday, but Ford got significant run with the first-team offense.

The coaches haven't offered any clues as to who they expect to contribute more over the rest of the season, beyond the obvious receivers who were already a big part of the offense -- Tahj Washington (32 catches for 396 yards and 1 TD) and Gary Bryant Jr. (24-298-5) -- but Ford, tight end Malcolm Epps, emerging freshman tight end Lake McRee, and freshmen receivers Michael Jackson III, Joseph Manjack and Kyron Ware-Hudson seem like the most likely candidates who could potentially see their roles increase.

Asked what he's done to try to boost the team's morale after the Trojans lost their best player for the season, interim head coach Donte Williams highlighted that opportunity that now exists.

"I think the morale is high right now because there's a lot of opportunities. Drake at the moment in the time, I want to say he had already caught 80 footballs -- that's 80 balls right now that will be [spread] amongst other guys, whether that's tight ends or running backs or other receivers," he said.

As for Ford, Trojans fans know his story well. Two separate long rehabs from torn ACLs wiped out the first two years of his USC career, but the talent is still evident.

His powerful 6-foot-2, 225-pound frame makes him a different kind of weapon than the Trojans' other receivers, and his hands have always been among the best on the team.

Per PFF, he has not dropped a pass this season while hauling in 4 of 5 contested targets. For that matter, his 4 contested catches ties for second on the team behind London, even though he's only played 59 offensive snaps all season.

Ford had 2 catches for 20 yards Saturday vs. Arizona, but both of those actually came before London's injury, so there's nothing tangible to indicate he will definitely see an uptick in offensive involvement. But he did play a season-high 25 snaps Saturday and has played 45 of his 59 total offensive snaps in just the last two games.

"Honestly, I feel like I could come in and make an impact and take over that role pretty well, so I'm confident, I'm ready -- I'm ready for it for sure," Ford said.

Most likely Washington (season-high 8 catches for 87 yards Saturday) and Bryant (who also played his best game with 3 catches for 89 yards and 2 TDs) will share a large percentage of the targets.

Both were asked Monday if they felt they could take over the No. 1 WR role.

"I personally do, but it doesn't matter. I know anybody on the field could be No. 1, whether that's Kyle, Tahj, K.D. [Nixon], so I don't really look at the No. 1 -- I just want to go out there and win," Bryant said. "If I'm the 1, 2, 3, whatever my role is I'll perfect it."

Said Washington: "We'll see Saturday. I'm just going to keep putting my hard hat on, keep putting the work in and whatever happens happens."

USC's freshmen receivers haven't seen much opportunity this season so far. Manjack started the opener with Bryant out, but he has just 4 catches for 59 yards this season, while Michael Jackson III has only played 2 offensive snaps and Ware-Hudson has not yet gotten on the field offensively after being slowed by a hamstring injury in the preseason, though his role has increased in practice in recent weeks.

Williams hinted that the young receivers could get more opportunity, but as Washington said, we'll see Saturday.

Meanwhile, offensive coordinator Graham Harrell was asked if the Trojans might just turn into more of a run-oriented team the rest of the way, especially after Keaontay Ingram put up 342 rushing yards and 2 TDs over the last two games.

Harrell said everything is on the table.

"Our goal as coaches when we game plan is how can we put our best playmakers in space with the ball? And that's always going to be the plan, that's always going to be the goal is to try to get our best guys touches with space," he said. "Obviously Keaontay's a huge part of that right now. He's one of the better football players on this team, probably in this league if not in the whole country with the ball in his hand. So whether it be in the run game or the pass game or whatever the case may be, getting him touches is going to be important for us. ...

"But all the guys, we got a lot of good guys, a lot of special players, and so we'll continue to try to put them in space with the football and let them go be them, let them go use their abilities."

Again, we'll find out exactly what the plan is Saturday.