USC Practice Report: Young receivers continue to make case for playing time

The star of USC's one-on-ones period Tuesday was freshman receiver Joseph Manjack, who hauled in pretty much every ball thrown to him, showcasing his hands, route-running, spatial awareness and on and on.

The biggest play of the day in the later periods was a deep scoring strike from Miller Moss to another freshman receiver, Michael Jackson III, as he beat his defender down the seam and hauled in the highlight of Trojans practice.

And if there was a best hands award to be given out Tuesday -- or maybe for the preseason, period -- it would go to freshman tight end Michael Trigg, who continues to secure everything thrown at him no matter how much chaos is going on around him or the ball.

The point of all that being, USC's influx of new pass-catchers -- including Memphis transfer Tahj Washington -- has been quite impressive over the last three and a half weeks in each making their case for playing time this fall.

Immediate playing time, that is.

A major part of the intrigue during USC's season opener Saturday will be to see how the coaching staff chooses to utilize its bevy of young, new or unproven receivers and tight ends in divvying up snaps and targets.

"I think we'll roll more than probably in the past just because I think that's kind of where we are with our guys -- that fits us more," offensive coordinator Graham Harrell said Tuesday. "When I played at [Texas] Tech it was more kind of like this, where we did roll out more guys. In the past couple years, we've had an upper echelon that was really special. Now I think we've got a lot of guys playing at a high level at a really similar level, so because of that I think we'll be able to keep them fresh and roll guys and have confidence in those guys to make plays."

USC lost a combined 74 receptions for 484 yards and 10 touchdowns (in six games last season) with Amon-Ra St. Brown and Tyler Vaughns moving on to the NFL. That's a lot of production to replace, and as Harrell reiterated, it's unlikely to come from just a couple of receivers this time.

The Trojans continued to rotate receivers throughout practice Tuesday,, so it's hard to have any gauge for what to expect in terms of the playing time breakdown.

In addition to the aforementioned names, redshirt sophomore Kyle Ford has had some flash moments this camp, junior John Jackson III has looked the best he has in his time with the program and veteran K.D. Nixon is having a better preseason showing than he did in the spring.

Everything starts with established star Drake London, of course, but from there it's anyone's guess -- even for the players.

"I'm not sure, I don't know where I am on the depth chart -- Coach Helton, he holds that information -- but I just know that when I do go in, all my opportunities I'm going to make sure I execute," Jackson said. "That's all I can really do, help the team out the best way I can."

Manjack, who is often a man of concise and to-the-point responses, effectively said the same when asked if he felt he'd get an opportunity to contribute Saturday.

"If I do, I'll give it 100 percent and hopefully we'll get the [win]," he said. "Whenever I get in, do the best I can."

USC's wide receiver picture has certainly changed a lot since the start of the summer. Projected starter Bru McCoy remains away from team activities and his future uncertain despite the news last week that he won't face any charges stemming from his late July arrest.

Meanwhile, sophomore Gary Bryant Jr. -- also expected to have a major opportunity this season -- has missed most of the preseason with a hamstring injury and is now away from the team for "health and safety" reasons, Helton said.

Nonetheless, there will be a lot of passes to go around, and even the great London can't catch them all. (Well, it's probably perilous to put any limitations on what London can do, but the larger point is that the Trojans will need other targets to emerge and establish themselves this year.)

Washington, who proved himself last year with a big season at Memphis (43 receptions for 743 yards and 6 TDs), figures to settle in as one of the primary targets. He has been impressive throughout the preseason, excelling in his route-routing, footwork and quick-cut ability to create space in the short and intermediate passing game.

"He just runs hard every snap. No matter what he's running, if it's a slant, if it's a hitch, if it's a go, it all looks the same coming off the ball. He has one speed and it's fast," Harrell said Tuesday. "Because of that he gives himself a chance to get open every single route, because he just plays fast. That's something we harp to those receivers a lot -- just dig off the ball, play fast and he's a great example of that. If you want to see what it looks like, watch Tahj's routes most of the time."

As for the freshmen, the media guidelines for being able to watch Tuesday practices is that no specific details can be reported after the stretching and individual drills periods, so we can't get any deeper into their highlights on this day.

But in general, Jackson started making his strong impression back in the spring, while Manjack has been perhaps the surprise of the preseason, immediately playing above his 3-star recruiting ranking and working his way into his share of first-team reps with the Trojans while showing enough command of the offense that the coaches are already comfortable moving him around.

"[He's] picking up the offense so fast. You always love this system because freshmen can play in it so fast. But he’s picked it up really fast, both outside and now inside, and can be a threat either one," Helton said. "Currently right now, we’re using him a little more inside, but he’s that big target. When I think of Epps, when I think of Trigg, when I think of Manjack, you think about those 6-3 to 6-5 targets going down the middle of the field that are hard matchups on linebackers and safeties if they do decide to say, you know what, we’re going to double the outside receivers. It’s good to have those bodies and that skillset. He’s made a lot of plays out here in camp. He’s worthy of contributing."

With regard to Trigg, Helton has said previously that he wants to get him involved as soon as he is comfortable enough in the playbook to be out on the field. It seems likely he gets some opportunity Saturday, but it could be in a limited dose early on this season -- especially with aforementioned veteran tight end Malcolm Epps on track to play Saturday after missing most of the preseason with turf toe.

The other factor with having so many new targets, is it's that many more receivers for quarterback Kedon Slovis to build a connection with from scratch -- in the case of Washington, Manjack, Trigg and Epps, really just since June.

Slovis said he feels that's come along well, though.

"Pretty good, I think. I think that's kind of evident on the playing field, hopefully it'll be evident on Saturday," he said. "But that really started in the summer. Just spent all that time with those guys and got out here and going through the nuances of the game. But out here it's just after practice, on a certain play we didn't connect or a certain play where I kind of want to give him an idea of what I'm thinking, that's all we're doing. So it's not a whole lot but I think those little things go a long way."

Keep reading for our detailed practice report with all the news and notes of the day.