As visitors to USC football practice Tuesday waited for the gates to Howard Jones Field to open, a notable guest drew all the attention of the assembled crowd as he ambled toward the entrance.

John Jackson II, the longtime USC broadcaster who sustained a serious stroke in December and has been progressing in his recovery since, arrived to watch his son John Jackson III compete with the Trojans.

The elder Jackson's cameo created a stir on social media among Trojans fans who have been following his story since the stroke. USC coach Clay Helton spotted Jackson as well and came over to embrace him.

"It meant a lot having my dad out here. It kind of felt like a first day for me," the younger Jackson said after practice. "Every day the coaches are out here pushing you, but your coach in life, having him out here is a lot different. It was definitely meaningful to me."

Jackson expounded back in the spring on dealing with his father's health scare and related setbacks and recovery.

Jackson followed in his father's footsteps -- the elder Jackson was of course a star receiver for the Trojans in the 1980s -- in coming to USC, but he didn't attract a ton of recruiting buzz in the 2018 class while taking a grayshirt and not being able to be part of the program last fall.

With USC's wide receiver depth thinned in the spring -- it's 2019 freshmen additions hadn't yet arrived and redshirt junior Velus Jones was in the NCAA transfer portal -- Jackson III impressed as a sure-handed, smooth route-runner and showed his potential.

But he's the first to admit he didn't know what kind of a role was even in his grasp once USC's deep receiving corps was at full strength. Hearing this preseason as Helton and offensive coordinator Graham Harrell have talked about needing at least eight receivers in the rotation, he feels buoyed by his potential to get on the field this fall.

"It changes the outlook a lot. Coming in actually I had no clue, whether it was talks with coach Helton, I wasn't sure where I was going to fit in," he said Tuesday. "Hearing that he [wants eight receivers], now it's like, now we can try to get into the eight. Now it's how can I separate myself from the other people? Of course, we all want to do great, but at the end of the day there's going to be players that they want to play a lot and there's going to be rotating guys. It's important to try to get not only the coaches' trust, but also the quarterbacks' trust."

To that end, Jackson III has been in his quarterbacks' ears, asking them after routes if he's running it the way they prefer, inviting critiques if there's something he can do better.

He noted he has an especially good connection with presumed starter JT Daniels. Jackson III started at Mater Dei High School before finishing up at Gardena Serra HS, so he and Daniels -- the former Mater Dei star -- already had the foundation of a rapport.

"[We] actually had a pretty good relationship back in high school. We played together. He was the first quarterback that actually threw to me when I was playing receiver when I first started. That was important," Jackson III said. "But just even now JT's an unbelievable talent and he's a true field general and has an idea of where things are and he knows what [to read from] defenses, so it's important that I talk to him a lot. If I run a route, I'm like, 'Is this exactly how you want it?' I tell all the quarterbacks that."

The other QB he's formed a particularly good connection with is freshman Kedon Slovis. Both arrived in the winter, and before they could officially work out with their Trojans teammates, they would go off on their own and work on routes together.

"Kedon, he's a monster," Jackson III said. "… I just didn't know much about him because I was more into my [own situation], off social media, so I didn't know what to expect and honestly he's surprised me as a true freshman just coming in and doing the things that he's done. It's amazing."

Jackson is hoping to surprise some people too. It's a safe assumption that USC's top five receivers will be established veterans Michael Pittman, Tyler Vaughns and Amon-Ra St. Brown followed by Jones and sophomore Devon Williams in some order. Fellow freshmen Munir McClain and Drake London are expected to be in that mix as well. But it's very possible there is a role for Jackson.

That's why every practice is a pivotal showcase for him -- Tuesday with his father in attendance was just a little more special for its own reasons.