USC fans haven't seen much of wide receiver Gary Bryant Jr. to this point. For that matter, neither have the reporters who actually have access to practice.

Bryant got a late start last season due to an ankle injury, limiting his involvement in the offense as a freshman, was again sidelined the second half of spring practice due to a hamstring injury and then missed most of the preseason with another hamstring injury (followed by a "health and safety protocols" situation last week).

But on Tuesday, Bryant looked very much like the former top-50 national prospect and the guy many believed would figure prominently into USC's passing attack this season.

"I know you guys haven't seen a ton of him, but he's been [at USC] for a decent amount of time now so it's good to get him back. He's been really good," quarterback Kedon Slovis said. "The one-on-one period today he's looked as good as ever. Again, it's great to have him back and he looked really confident today."

Indeed, he did. Bryant stood out during that WR/DB one-on-ones period, using his speed to create quick separation downfield and his hands and footwork to make nice catches in the corners of the end zone.

Bryant seems fully on track to play in USC's game against Stanford this Saturday in the Coliseum, and his return couldn't come at a better time.

While junior Drake London played a starring role last weekend vs. San Jose State with 12 catches for 137 yards, the rest of the team's wide receivers combined for just one target in the second half (the tight ends got three and one went to a RB.)

"It was nice having him back out here. It just adds another weapon to the unit and anytime you can add a player of his caliber I think it makes you better," offensive coordinator Graham Harrell said. "So we're excited about having him back out here today and hopefully him continuing to feel well."

Coach Clay Helton said that Bryant, who cleared health and safety protocols on Friday, went through some extra conditioning work Saturday and came in on his own Sunday for more.

"Monday [he] looked really good and today was full speed. So he's gotten four days of work in now. We'll see how he goes through the week. He felt really good today, looked like nothing wrong conditioning-wise," Helton said. "Didn't pull him into the full practice, he did about 75 percent of it and we wanted to gauge it but looked really good. We'll continue tomorrow and I know he's fired up to have a chance to play in this game and that's his mindset, and usually that means as long as we don't have a setback he'll be ready."

Helton was asked if that meant ready to be eased back in or ready for a significant role, if Bryant does remain on track ...

"It's just how we go through the week, to be honest with you. I hope that he's completely healthy and we can use him for a lot of reps. He's a weapon and he provides extra speed on the field. So if we have the chance to use him, yes, we're going to use him," he said.

Tahj Washington was the only other true wide receiver aside from London to record a catch Saturday, piling up 4 receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown all in the first quarter, while the tight ends and running backs accounted for the rest of the passing game production.

Bryant could add in the field-stretching element the Trojans need to open up the passing attack. While Washington is also fast, his strength seems to be more in turning short and intermediate routes into longer gains. Bryant is a prototypical downfield threat when healthy, and he can play both inside and outside.

For his part, Bryant said he doesn't know what his role will be and that his mindset is he has to earn it in practice this week.

"Everybody in the receiver room knows that Coach Graham, Coach KC (Keary Colbert), Coach Helton is going to put the best man out there to make plays, so [I] really don't try to question them too much about what's going on," Bryant said. "We just want to come out here and compete and show ourself at practice because practice is where it starts. All the coaches preach that -- you want to earn a job, come out here and practice well."

Bryant seems to be trending in that direction, and he's not looking back or dwelling on the injury setbacks that have slowed his emergence to this point (he had just 7 catches for 51 yards in a limited role last year while also returning kickoffs).

"It's very frustrating, but everything is divine timing so I can't get caught up into injuries. Just coming back and knowing when I do come back it's going to be for a greater good, whether that is on the field or off the field. I just want to be here with my team," he said.

Bryant has also gotten work as a return specialist again and said he'd welcome any and all roles the Trojans want to give him, whether it's a full workload at receiver, punt return duties or the kickoff return job he held down the stretch of last season.

"I want to make plays. I love to make plays. I just want the ball in my hands, and anything I can do -- we're back in the Coliseum, just get that crowd going and get the fans going, get my teammates going," he said.

Meanwhile, scroll down for the rest of the news and notes from USC's Tuesday practice.

DE Nick Figueroa is going to be an end-of-week decision. He didn't practice Tuesday after getting an injection in his injured shoulder (AC sprain) earlier in the week. USC worked both freshman Korey Foreman and sophomore Tuli Tuipulotu at defensive end in his place, so ideally they'd like a timeshare there with Jake Lichtenstein playing the interior 3-technique DT role.

"They rolled today, they had Tuli and Korey out there on the edge splitting time and so we'll see where Nick is at the end of the week. He's progressed nicely over the first two days. We're hoping to get him some work later in the week and see where it's at, but obviously if he can't go Korey and Tuli are going to have to hold that position down," Helton said.

But Lichtenstein left practice early with what Helton said is an AC sprain, and if he were unable to play this week, that would greatly compromise the Trojans' ability to move Tuipulotu from that interior DT spot to the outside. Which would in turn put a lot of pressure on Foreman, who played just 13 snaps in the season opener as he continues to learn the defense.

So now both Figueroa and Lichtenstein bear monitoring over the rest of the week.

"He got a little bit of a shoulder, AC sprain, just being proactive and got an X-ray. It was negative, so just a little bit of an AC sprain, we'll see how it is tomorrow," Helton said.