USC defensive line coach Chad Kauha'aha'a says he's always believed in the value of heavy rotation up front and keeping his linemen fresh. While coaching at Boise State last season, the Broncos then-defensive coordinator Andy Avalos (now at Oregon) didn't embrace that philosophy.

But Kauha'aha'a's new boss, Trojans DC Clancy Pendergast most certainly does, and in fact he felt it was a major area in which his unit needed to improve coming off of 2018.

"Here with coach Pendergast he wants our guys fresh, which I'm all on board with that. So any chance we get to get a fresh set of guys in there we will," Kauha'aha'a said.

That much was obvious Saturday night in USC's 31-23 season-opening win over Fresno State.

Defensive end Christian Rector was the only Trojans defensive lineman to play more than 50 of the 80 snaps in the game (logging 71, according to Pro Football Focus). Marlon Tuipulotu played 49, Drake Jackson 44, Jay Tufele 49, Brandon Pili 31, Nick Figueroa 21 and Connor Murphy 16. And then there were the outside linebackers who often replaced one of the down linemen.

More to the point, though, was the frequency with which the Trojans DL rotated. Take their second defensive series of the game, for instance.

USC started with Rector at left end (he's normally on the right side), Tuipulotu and Tufele in the middle and outside linebacker Hunter Echols standing up on the right edge. By the third play, Jackson had come in at left DE as Rector moved back to the right. On the fourth play, OLB Juliano Falaniko was on the left edge, Pili and Figueroa were in the middle and Murphy was at right DE.

It stayed that way for four snaps before the Trojans were shuffling again with Rector, Tufele, Tuipulotu and Echols returning. Tufele promptly broke through the line on the next play, forcing QB Jorge Reyna off his spot and eventually into the arms of Rector for a sack on second-and-long. And on the final play of the drive Jackson checked in at defensive end (with Rector sliding inside as Tufele came out with an apparently hand injury) and flushed Reyna out, though he'd scramble for 21 yards, just short of the first down.