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USC Practice 10: Freshman TE Michael Trigg seizes spotlight with big plays

Freshman tight end Michael Trigg (No. 8), pictured here in an earlier practice, made the two biggest plays for the Trojans on Tuesday.
Freshman tight end Michael Trigg (No. 8), pictured here in an earlier practice, made the two biggest plays for the Trojans on Tuesday. (Ryan Young/TrojanSports.com)

Freshman tight end Michael Trigg seemed hesitant to step into the spotlight after practice Tuesday, as reporters gathered off to the sideline with cameras and tape recorders.

Teammates Korey Foreman and Malcolm Epps made Trigg aware that the group was indeed waiting for him and prodded him along to take his moment as the story of the day.

Because during practice, well, Trigg was far more assertive in drawing all eyes his way while delivering the two best highlights of the afternoon and having a breakout performance during USC's 10th practice of fall camp.

"I was like a proud father out there," junior wide receiver Drake London joked. "He’s showing his aggressive side. I loved it. I mean, you seen down there, he probably broke about 12 tackles and just kept on pushing. And in the left corner, just manhandling him, went up top for the dunk and flushed it in. I was really happy for him. He’s come into his own in this fall camp.'

London's tally of missed tackles might be a little high, but then again, it was hard to count the pile of defenders it took to ultimately bring Trigg down on that first big play.

It started rather innocuously with a quick pass straight across to the right sideline from Jaxson Dart. The pass was high and Trigg had to reach up and corral it with one hand before bringing it into his body. Given the start to the play, there was no reason to expect what happened next.

Trigg gathered control of the ball and quickly plowed through the first tackler, made a second guy miss and by the end of the 25-ish-yard gain it looked like he had two-thirds of the defense on his back trying to bring him down. It brought practice to a brief halt, but Trigg wasn't done.

Later in team period, Trigg caught a BB from Miller Moss right over the helmet of cornerback Prophet Brown in the back left corner of the end zone. It wasn't even that he had to jump for it. It looked like he just extended his arms above Brown and caught the pass cleanly, showing both his strong hands and concentration.

This time, Trigg immediately raised both arms in the air in celebration as teammates swarmed around him, again pausing practice.

"He's a freak. That's probably the best way to describe him. He's an athletic freak," USC tight ends coach Seth Doege said afterward. "Extremely raw to the game, still trying to figure out how to play the position. Obviously, when it comes from high school to college there's a lot of details and disciplines that you have to obtain to play at a high level and he's starting to figure it out. That's why you're starting to see him have success out here on the practice field is because he's starting to understand what we're trying to do offensively, understand the routes and understand the concepts to where he can play fast and kind of use his natural freak ability to make plays."

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After his teammates all but pushed Trigg over to the interview area, he took a humble, soft-spoken approach to recounting his performance and where he stands overall at this point in camp.

First, he broke down those two highlights from his own recollection.

"I think I had a jig route -- it's like a little screen for the tight end -- caught it with one hand, I made one move and then I was just trying to get to the end zone doing whatever it takes. That's all I remember, for real," he said. "Then the second play, coach Graham [Harrell] was talking to me, he said he wanted me to run a fade on the verts and I was going to run it -- I ain't ever really played outside so I was just going to do what coach told me."

With Epps, the veteran tight end transfer from Texas, questionable for the start of the season and likely to miss most of camp with a turf toe injury, the path is clear for Trigg to force his way onto the field if he can digest the playbook. Coming into camp, Epps and Trigg were the ones expected to settle into the Y receiver position, where London normally plays, allowing the junior star receiver to slide outside more often.

With Epps down, the Trojans could really use Trigg as a ready option by the start of the season. Head coach Clay Helton stated that pretty plainly on Monday, for that matter.

"I saw Michael Trigg make a phenomenal play today, and I walked up to him, I said, 'We need to learn the plays as fast as humanly possible,'" Helton said. "He has an advanced body and an advanced skill set, and he's learning the playbook as fast as he can."

That play from Monday Helton referenced was a long gain in which he got wide open downfield and showed great speed after the catch on a pass from Miller Moss.

The coaches and Trigg both acknowledge his comprehension of and confidence in the playbook is the area he needs to keep progressing in at this point. He wasn't here in the spring, so everything is coming to him fresh this camp.

"I’ll tell you the last couple days have probably been his best days," Harrell said. "Partially because he’s starting to learn it a little better. He’s starting to get more comfortable in it. That’s half the battle. He just has to keep stacking good days. The last two days, there’s no question it’s been his best two days. He didn't get the ball as often yesterday, but he did a lot of good things -- understanding routes, getting open. The ball was going to find him. Then today, he did the same thing. The ball does find him a couple times, and he makes plays."

Doege said the coaches are focused on having Trigg learn only that inside Y receiver position at this point, but eventually they will add in the responsibilities of the H and A spots, allowing him to function as a true flex tight end.

"He's done a good job because I've kind of pressed him and stayed on him about it because I know he can help us early. He's the type of talent that needs to be on the field early, but he's got to put in the work as well to learn the plays, which he's done," Doege said. "I think that's something he kind of concentrated on this camp and through the summer is really trying to hone in on what we do offensively from a scheme standpoint to allow him to play -- at least go out there and play fast and know what he's doing.

"Obviously there's stuff that we're always going to have to constantly fix because he's a freshman. He's still a freshman even though he looks like he's 22 years old and he plays like he's 22 years old, he's still a freshman, and there's still stuff we've got to battle through. But overall I think he's doing a good job, and the last two practices I really thought he's come in and made a statement of, hey, I'm starting to figure this thing out."

Trigg was one of USC's highest-ranked recruits in the 2021 signing class -- a top-100 national prospect out of Tampa, Fla., and the No. 3-ranked TE.

So it's not a surprise that he's making his mark during his first preseason camp, but ask him what his own expectations are for this season and he simply says, "Keep working hard, see where that gets me."

Doege said part of the reason why his two big plays resulted in major reaction and celebration from his teammates is because Trigg has endeared himself quickly within the locker room.

"He's a very likable dude. Trigg, he's got a great personality, big personality," Doege said. "So the guys on the team love him. He's kind of goofy, but when the guys like you they want to see you succeed. And when you succeed they're going to celebrate with you. ... If they see me coaching somebody else, I'll turn around and EK (Erik Krommenhoek) and [Josh] Falo and even Epps are right there on him coaching him, so that's nice to see."

Indeed, Trigg gave a lot of credit to his teammates for helping him out, adding in receivers Drake London, Kyle Ford, K.D. Nixon and Gary Bryant into that mix, as well as defensive players like nickel Greg Johnson, safety Chase Williams and outside linebacker Drake Jackson.

As for Doege, the two have a close bond already.

"I mean, me and Coach Doege, I feel like Coach Doege's like my dad away from home. I could call him, tell him about anything. He [can] critique me in any way -- I won't take it the wrong way. I feel like he can tell me anything at this point," Trigg said.

For now, the message and emphasis is just on getting that playbook down.

"I mean, it's different. I come from a numbers system, so the plays up here are kind of different, but I'm learning day by day. I feel like I'm doing good," Trigg said. "... I was confused a lot so I ask a lot of questions in the meetings and stuff like that and players and coaches, teammates, they're always so fast to help me. ... Everything on the field I feel I can do, but on the playbook I was a little lost -- finding it right now."

So what did a day like Tuesday mean to him, to have the two biggest plays of practice and have his teammates piling around him in celebration?

"You know, it's always good to have some good days like this, but I think I just got to keep working," Trigg said.

Read our full practice report with injury/roster notes, more highlights and video interviews with USC coaches and players over on our premium Trojan Talk board.

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