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USC opted not to have football coach Clay Helton available to the local media on National Signing Day -- a break from traditional protocol -- as the Trojans signed just one more recruit on Wednesday to bring their 2020 class total to 13 signees.
But Helton did join Rivals' live National Signing Day show, calling in to answer a few questions. Watch the full video here and read some of the highlights below:
On 4-star WR Gary Bryant, a top-50 national prospect who made his decision public a couple weeks after USC's early signing day news conference:
Helton: "[Bryant and 3-star WR Joshua Jackson] are electric and win their one-on-one matchups. That's what blew us away when we got to evaluate them in camps, being able to watch their junior and senior years. They just win their one-on-one matchups with their speed. But Gary also does something else -- I think he has great return ability, and that's something that we look forward to acquiring in the future as a punt returner/kicker returner. Brings a great work ethic being at Centennial High School with coach [Matt] Logan -- that group when they come out of there is just trained. He's walked into our place as a midterm graduate and has jumped right in with our other kids and has really been a force down in the weight room and out on the field. So we look forward to watching him next year."
On whether there is room for more additions still to come:
Helton: "We held right at 83 [scholarships overall]. We saw exactly last year if you remember, and it was in the month of May that we were able to aquire Bru McCoy, Chris Steele and our starting right tackle in Drew Richmond, who was a graduate transfer from Tennessee. So to be able to acquire that level of talent in the [transfer] portal, I think it's become another avenue for NCAA football teams to be able to say, 'OK, where are we after spring?' Sometime you get injuries and all of a sudden a position of depth becomes a position of need because of injuries, and the portal is almost like free agency for the NFL. ... We're doing the same with these last two scholarships."
On USC's large Junior Day event from last weekend and the momentum he feels for the 2021 class:
Helton: "There's a great energy that's going around our place right now. It was a great Junior Day. I think this place sells itself. When you have quality people in the building and you have USC and the brand of USC, the quality of education, the tradition of athletic tradition that this place is, this is always going to be a special place for our West Coast kids and to be able to get young men on campus, allow them to see what we are all about as a coaching staff, that's a great thing. We will do that many times during the spring as well as the summer once we're outside of dead periods and just get them around us and feel our football family."
