Redshirt senior defensive lineman Nick Figueroa was USC's team leader last year in sacks and tackles for loss and is the true veteran of the group now, and yet he's probably been the least talked about starter in the unit this preseason.
Freshman defensive end Korey Foreman, who is rotating in behind him, is the five-star phenom. Sophomore Tuli Tuipulotu is the budding star who bulked up further over the offseason and looks primed for a true breakout. And the nose tackle position has gotten as much attention as any because of the abject lack of depth or experience there.
All the while, Figueroa has simply continued to go about his business a year after turning in perhaps the most surprising season of any Trojan, as a former JUCO transfer with limited D1 playing time before breaking out with 7 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks in six games.
"I know what I'm going to get out of 50 every time he goes out there and it's whatever he's got," defensive line coach Vic So'oto said Wednesday. "He's going to be where he's supposed to be and he's going to go as hard as he can."
While Figueroa's 2020 breakout may have come as a surprise to many observers, after he totaled 9 tackles and 1 sack the year before as a transfer from Riverside City College, neither he nor So'oto choose to look at it that way.
"No, because I didn't know him before I got here. I knew him when I got here and all I knew was what he did, and what he did was just show up to work every day and just work his butt off," So'oto said.
Said Figueroa: "No, I really just give props to my defensive coaches and my coordinator because you look at a lot of those plays and it's dialed up and I'm coming through and getting to make a play. Or other guys in the secondary doing their job to let us get home. So I don't even think about that stuff. I'm just glad that we won a few games last year, hope we can improve on it this year."
Figueroa has had a dual role this preseason, meanwhile. He's not just the Trojans' returning sacks leader and starting strongside defensive end -- So'oto has also asked him to be a mentor to Foreman, the high-profile newcomer who has worked mostly with the second-team defense this camp while also starting to rotate in with the first-team on third downs.
"He's valuable in a bunch of different ways. One, he's got everything together off the field. He's graduated, he's in a master's program and he understands the playbook and understands our coaching in and out, so my No. 1 thing with Korey was get with Nick when you get here and go out to lunch with him, just pick his brain because he'll tell you everything that's going to happen," So'oto said.
Figueroa didn't get into the specifics of what he's tried to impart to Foreman, but he said that process started with just getting to know the freshman beyond the hype that preceded his arrival at USC.
"I'm just doing my best to help him in whichever way because if Korey's better our team is better," Figueroa said. "If anyone in our D-line room is a better player then our team is better. So whatever I can do, whatever anyone can do, that's how it's going to be in this room. ...
"It was kind of just a point during camp we were sitting down trying to get to know each other one on one. I think with anyone that's that high of a recruit, a lot of times people just kind of think of you as the football guy, so trying to figure out what does Korey like to do in his free time? Because he is more than just a football player even though he's damn good at it."
There are enough snaps on the defense for both to make a major impact this season -- and that's the coaches' hope.
Defensive coordinator Todd Orlando talked about the value of depth on the defensive line in general because it's not as if a Tuipulotu or a Figueroa can't handle the majority of snaps at their spots -- it's about managing their workload so they're still delivering at peak potential late in the season after the games have piled up.
It sounds like Foreman will be eased along. Expect to see him come in on clear pass-rush downs, while perhaps growing his overall workload week to week.
As for Figueroa, he's had his own trajectory of growth and development, from a lightly-recruited prospect out of Cajon High School in San Bernardino who would redshirt at FCS-level Cal Poly in 2017 before garnering attention at Riverside City College and on to his breakout at USC a couple of years later.
He was asked if he could reflect Wednesday on how much he's changed as a player, even just in his time with the Trojans.
"Man, that's a crazy question. Sometimes I have to put on the film to actually look and see, but I think just figuring out the balance between playing fast and playing your cues and techniques. I put on the film from like a long time ago and I'm just trying to read, playing super slow," he said. "So I think just trying to play faster and that's something that's been picked up through reps and through coaches and everything, just playing faster, playing more confident."
Just as he said he doesn't look at last season as a surprise, or even focus on the numbers, he also downplayed whether that breakout season changed his future football outlook in any way.
"Not really. I mean, I'm always trying to be a guy that's giving his effort to everything he's doing, so if I'm going hard in the classroom that's not going to change if I'm having success on the field and vice versa. I definitely want to play the game as long as I can and do the best I can in the other stuff I've got going on," he said.
Keep reading below for our detailed notes column from Wednesday's practice, as Orlando and So'oto discussed the development of the situation at nose tackle, expectations for Foreman and fellow highly-rated freshman Raesjon Davis and more.
Notes ...
With USC now in game-week mode, reporters are limited on Wednesdays to watching the first 50 minutes of practice, which is largely inconsequential individual drills.
The defense did go through some light walkthroughs against the scout team during that time. There were no surprises on the defensive two-deep with the most notable observation being redshirt sophomore Stanley Ta'ufo'ou as the first-team nose tackle ahead of redshirt freshman Jamar Sekona.
Sekona missed more than a week due to "health and safety protocols" and just recently returned to full action, so it's unclear if that was any indication of how the depth chart will look on Sept. 4 against San Jose State.
Ultimately, it's probably mostly irrelevant who starts as the Trojans are so thin on depth at that position that both Ta'ufo'ou and Sekona will rotate and play the majority of snaps.
