The storyline of the week for this USC football team has been its abnormal rash of mounting injuries, and another key player has joined the list.
Freshman cornerback Chris Steele "tweaked a little bit of a knee" in practice Tuesday and did not practice Wednesday, coach Clay Helton said.
"We'll see how that goes, we'll make a determination. Nothing huge, but just tweaked it. We'll see where that's at," Helton said. "He didn't practice today. He tweaked it in a one-on-one competition drill yesterday and just a little bit of a sprain, was uncomfortable with it today. We'll see how it is tomorrow and then make a determination."
Helton addressed reporters after practice Wednesday for the final time this week, as the Trojans are traveling Thursday to Colorado in advance of the teams' Friday night game.
Steele's situation is another potentially unfortunate setback for the Trojans as he has been the team's rock at corner this season with Olaijah Griffin and Isaac Taylor-Stuart bouncing in and out of the lineup with their own injuries. USC has always seemed to have at least two of the three healthy, though, and Griffin practiced all week after missing the last game due to the bulging disc in his back while Taylor-Stuart's ankle is no issue at this point.
Nickel Greg Johnson, who missed the last game due to a shoulder subluxation, is also good to go.
"I think OG's in a great spot. He's practiced all week and really looks good. ITS still looks great," Helton said. "Greg looks really good. I would think those guys would [play]."
Helton was asked if Johnson would be expected to play the full game or if freshman Max Williams might get some more opportunity at that nickel spot. It sounds like the intent is to play Johnson unless he needs to come out for any reason.
"Just depends on how his shoulder's feeling. I think Greg is confident in it. He needed that week to get confidence, he had a great week of practice," Helton said. "Max is ready to go in. I can see Max getting some reps in this game, but Greg has had a lot of confidence and had a good week of work so he'll start and I expect big things from him."
Lastly, defensive end Christian Rector is "probably 50-50 at best," Helton said.
"He is going to travel, but he's probably looking more towards next week than this week. He's really progressing, but it will be game time and 50-50 at best," he said.
The USC coaches made the decision to sit Rector and give his ankle -- an injury that dates back to Week 2 -- time to fully heal rather than having him continue to play through it. He sat out the Arizona game and did not practice through at least the first part of the week.
The plan is to have redshirt junior Caleb Tremblay, who has actually graded out as USC's top defensive player albeit in limited snaps (79.9 grade from PFF College in 128 snaps), the start and primarily roll with just one defensive end and an outside linebacker (mostly Hunter Echols) up on the other side of the line.
To round out the injury report, USC will also be without safety Talanoa Hufanga (dislocated shoulder), linebacker Palaie Gaoteote (high-ankle sprain), defensive end Drake Jackson (high-ankle sprain) and running backs Markese Stepp (torn ligaments in ankle requiring surgery) and Stephen Carr (hamstring strain).
Road woes
USC is just 2-7 on the road since the start of last season with the lone wins coming against Arizona and Oregon State last year. The Trojans have lost all of their road games this fall, at BYU, at Washington and at Notre Dame.
It's a common talking point around the program -- and a common criticism of Helton -- and he was asked again Wednesday why he thinks his team struggles away from the Coliseum.
"We've been on the road three times, and to me, in the first two losses I thought it was the turnovers. Anytime you have six interceptions in two road games you're not going to win those games. We were fortunate enough just to get one of them to overtime and then there's a two-score difference at Washington with it," he said. "We come back and we made huge strides, I thought, at Notre Dame, protecting the ball, playing clean football -- two penalties, zero picks -- and now all of a sudden you're in a 30-27 game with one of the top 10 teams in the country and one score away from pulling out a huge victory. I thought we made strides last game."
Penalty problems persist
Helton made a major emphasis in the spring, offseason and preseason that his primary focus was on enforcing "the discipline of the game" as he took a more hands-off role with the offense.
Well, though seven games USC ranks 110th in penalty yardage with 48 penalties for 489 yards -- an average of 6.9 for 69.9 yards per game.
Fans won't be satisfied with the answer Helton gave when asked why he thinks the emphasis on reducing penalties hasn't sustained through the season, but it was the final question of his media session Wednesday so there wasn't a natural opportunity for a follow up.
"I think sometimes you look up and you have two penalties at Notre Dame, and I think we've had a three-penalty game, a five-penalty game, a two-penalty game and then all of a sudden you get a crew that wants to throw 12 out there," he said. "Now last week there was some decision-making penalties that really frustrated me, and it was by young people getting their first opportunity. It's Kenan [Christon] all of a sudden scoring a touchdown and running to the back of the end zone, there's somebody [putting their hand up], he's a respectful kid and he slaps hands and it's 15 yards. That's an education that he's got to learn.
"Kana'i [Mauga], you know, he makes a big [interception] and gets over emotional. And when emotion goes up, intelligence goes down. It's not deliberate, but I helped him this week. I said if we make one of those decision penalties that cost our football team you'll come stand behind me for a series and I bet you won't do it again. So we'll help some young people remember the importance of controlling your emotions in celebrating."
USC had 10 penalties for 100 yards with those two -- Christon's TD high-five to a fan and Mauga hurling the football high into the air after his interception -- accounting for 30 of those yards.
So there's more to it than just heat-of-the-moment emotions.
Game plan and RB management
Helton was asked how the offensive staff is adjusting the game plan with their top three running backs out with injury. Freshman Kenan Christon, who was fifth on the depth chart entering last week, will be the starter with former walk-on Quincy Jountti (who fumbled on his first carry last week) and veteran Dominic Davis (who has been moved to defense and wide receiver before his return to RB this week) behind him.
"Not to give away game plan, but I really like the game plan Graham is putting together. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. I think the kids have gotten into it also," Helton said. "We've got some wrinkles that we'll see how it goes, but we're also very trusting. What we saw from Kenan, we put him out there in a critical situation last week and he goes out and scores two touchdowns.
"To have Double-D back in the fold where he's played that position, it's not like it's somebody that hasn't played that -- he played it in high school, he played it here for two years and has looked good all week at it. It's fired us up as an offensive staff. And Quincy's kind of that old soul that will go in there, that's great in pass protection, great out of the backfield and be a great in-between the tackles runner. So we've got a complement of backs. Each one's got their own strengths and will be in for certain situations, but I like where we're at right now."
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