Defensive coordinator Todd Orlando seemed to bristle just a little at the question when asked how veteran defensive tackle Jake Lichtenstein looked in returning to practice Wednesday after leaving early the day before to get his shoulder X-rayed.

"He's good, man. Like it is, it's physical, man. It's physical. Our Tuesday practices we get after it and guys get chipped up a little bit," he said. "But we're smart as a staff. He's going to play and he's going to play a lot."

For the record, Orlando almost always gives some variation of that answer whenever he's asked about a banged-up player, as if to infer that it should already be assumed the guy is going to play through whatever it is.

Meanwhile, defensive line coach Vic So'oto, in his own style, expressed equally full confidence that starting defensive end Nick Figueroa would play Saturday despite sustaining an AC sprain in his shoulder during the opening game that required an injection and has kept him out of practice through the first half of the week.

"I'm expecting him to play -- and play hard. He played through a torn labrum last year, all six games, so I fully expect him to be out there on Saturday," So'oto said.

So that answers the most pressing question about the defense entering the Trojans' Pac-12 opener Saturday night against Stanford in the Coliseum.

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

On Tuesday, USC had worked both sophomore Tuli Tuipulotu -- a starter at the 3-technique defensive tackle -- and five-star freshman Korey Foreman in Figueroa's defensive end spot in case they needed to share the load there, but moving Tuipulotu over only really works if Lichtenstein is available to plug in at that DT spot.

So when he was getting his shoulder looked at Tuesday for an AC sprain -- the X-rays were negative -- and with head coach Clay Helton leaving some question about Figueroa's status, it brought on cause for concern. But all that seems assuaged now.

Orlando also said he expects redshirt senior safety Isaiah Pola-Mao, who remains away from practice due to health and safety protocols, to be back in action Saturday, so the defense should be at full strength.

More on that situation in a minute, but back to the defensive line.

Lichtenstein is an interesting story that we'll go deeper on Thursday, but he didn't play the last two years after sitting out the 2019 season following offseason knee surgery and then initially opting out of the pandemic-marred 2020 season before later changing his mind (but not seeing any action).

He had bulked up to 270 pounds entering camp and made a strong impression on the coaching staff -- so much so that he ended up playing 37 out of 70 defensive snaps Saturday vs. San Jose State.

"He’s gotten so much better from the spring. Like I said before, he’s night and day, night and day," Orlando said. He’s big and strong now. I thought he was a little lean when I first got here. It was kind of like, I wanted to see his body -- [he was] 250 and then he turns into 275, and he’s kind of got a mindset of, hey, I have the opportunity to maybe play at the next level, and I’m gonna change my body and get a little heavier and start doing the stuff that Vic wants him to do. I didn’t think he was heavy enough to do some of the stuff, but now he is. He’s really changed his body and gotten a lot stronger."

That defensive line figures to be very, very involved against a Stanford team that traditionally is very old school and ground-oriented. That said, this particular Cardinal squad may not fully resemble its more celebrated predecessors, after a 24-7 loss to Kansas State last weekend in which it totaled just 39 rushing yards and averaged 1.8 yards per attempt.

Still, stylistically it will be a much different look than the one USC got from San Jose State last week.

"I love it. You don't get that old school stuff anymore. You don't get downhill run, you don't get three tight ends and an offensive lineman, you don't get that anymore. And being able to see it it brings a smile to my face and gets me excited to go and play against them because you don't get that anymore," So'oto said.

"I think when you bring in bigger guys it's almost a challenge to the defensive line, can you stop us when we have X amount of guys who are big. So teaching them and showing them the value of playing in this type of game for a defensive lineman is huge. You get a lot of opportunities to get on the ball and to make plays."

While the Stanford offense is coming off a dud in its opener, that USC defense delivered a gem Saturday in holding the Spartans to just 7 points, forcing two turnovers including a pivotal pick-6 and limiting SJSU to 68 net rushing yards.

When asked what impressed him most Orlando started with the secondary, which held up in man coverage throughout the day to allow him to leverage that and do what he wanted to do against the run and in the pass rush.

Earlier this week, head coach Clay Helton said he really saw the defense taking on the personality of Orlando with a "fierceness and ferociousness."

Maybe it's no coincidence or surprise then that the mindset is, of course Figueroa and Lichtenstein are going to play through their shoulder injuries.

For his part, Orlando redirected that notion to the whole defensive staff having the same message for the players that is being understood and embraced.

"We go out here and we work. That’s probably it. So the personality is kind of all of us together. Good or bad, I’m responsible for the unit, but I think if you talk to every coach, when we put this whole thing together we were fortunate enough to have a whole bunch of people with the same mindset," Orlando said. "I think we started that [in] our very first interview together when we sounded like parrots together, and that’s the way we are.

"So if you’re a kid and you look at it, sometimes you’re looking for maybe somebody you can go to and say, hey, is this the way we’re doing it? And we’re so aligned, and if you're a kid I think you kind of respect that -- hey, this is the way we’re going to do it. It’s not what we demand; it’s what a championship demands. If you want to win a championship, do it this way. If you don’t then we’ll put somebody else on the field instead of you."

Keep reading below the video interview with Orlando for more news and notes from USC's Wednesday practice.