**This is an excerpt from our extensive end-of-preseason breakdown of the USC offense, which can be found in full here.**
There's every reason to believe that USC quarterback Kedon Slovis is primed for a bounce-back season. There's ample optimism to be had that the Trojans may have their most talented stable of running backs in years, led by Texas transfer Keaontay Ingram. And even with a lot of turnover, there's so much to like about the team's receiving options, led of course by star junior Drake London.
That is, if the offensive line can give USC's collection of playmakers the opportunity to do what they do best ...
As strong and deep as the rest of the units may be, so much hinges on the offensive line and what it's able to become with a new position coach and two redshirt freshmen first-year starters at the bookend tackle spots.
If one listens to the coaches, it was all positive, all encouraging this preseason. Our evaluation was a little different, as the QBs rarely seemed to have much time to operate in the pocket. It's actually easier to buy into the notion that the run game/run blocking will be improved than it is to feel confident about the pass protection.
But is that a product of going against a very talented USC pass rush every day that features a potential first-round draft pick in Drake Jackson, a five-star phenom in Korey Foreman, a steady stalwart in Nick Figueroa and a prime breakout candidate in Tuli Tuipulotu, led by an aggressive defensive coordinator in Todd Orlando who spent a lot of camp working on blitzes? Or will the unit struggle against any above average opponent this season?
That's hard to say until it plays out on Saturdays one way or the other.
But McGuire makes a compelling case for why the optics of the preseason may indeed be somewhat skewed.
"Like I said, we're going against that one unit and it's pass rush drill and they know it's pass, we got to dang near be perfect in all the fundamentals and then we still got to have great effort because it's just that hard to block those guys," he said last week. "So it's great work for us. Like I said, I think if we can go out there and compete against those guys, it's a great opportunity. It's a great kind of ruler, a point for us to gauge where we're at. So I think we've done some good things. I definitely think we've got room to get better, too."
Replacing first-round NFL draft pick Alijah Vera-Tucker at left tackle is a major challenge for a second-year lineman like Ford, and it's hard to imagine he matches AVT's elite performance immediately. But there is a lot to like with Ford, who is both strong at the point of attack and athletically mobile. It surely won't be flawless, but he's shown enough to inspire optimism that he will continue to develop and could be a very reliable left tackle into the future for the Trojans.
Meanwhile, fellow redshirt freshman Jonah Monheim beat out redshirt senior two-year starter Jalen McKenzie for the starting right tackle job, and he could actually provide an immediate upgrade at that spot.
"You kind of got to keep reminding yourself he's just a freshman. But I think he's done a really good job in there. Like I said, he's been extremely consistent. I think you know exactly what you're going to get with him out there. I think he's one of the better guys we have in the run game right now. He's probably, you could argue, maybe the smartest kid we have on that O-line, too," McGuire said. "It's pretty sharp, what he knows, kind of his football IQ. ... I mean, he gets the calls, he knows exactly what he's doing, he's able to see what the defense is doing and get a picture of how his opponent's going to play."
It won't be perfect, but Monheim has every quality needed to be a successful college offensive tackle.
Both young tackles had their challenges against the likes of Jackson and Foreman this month, but that's going to happen to a lot of linemen this season. Expect Ford and Monheim to get better and better as the season goes along.
On the interior, there are no surprises as redshirt seniors Andrew Vorhees at left guard, Brett Neilon at center and Liam Jimmons at right guard return as starters.
The hope in all of this is that the true difference-maker is McGuire, who was hired specifically for his familiarity in Air Raid systems and his shared Texas Tech roots with offensive coordinator Graham Harrell. (They also coached together under Mike Leach at Washington State).
If one buys the narrative that there was previously just a disconnect between the blocking schemes/operation and what Harrell was used to in his offense, as former OL coach Tim Drevno had no prior experience in this kind of offensive system, then that is a source of hope alone for the running game.
"From a protections standpoint, I think [Harrell] is a lot more comfortable coming in doing it the way we've always done it -- the way he did it when he played, the way we did it at Wazzu when we worked together there," McGuire said this week. "So I think that was really comfortable for him, and then just being on the same page with the run game I think we see it the same way. So I think we'll be able to communicate on game day and hopefully get us in better runs. ... Hopefully we make a difference."
But what exactly is the main difference in what McGuire is having the linemen to do this year? It's hard for the untrained eye to detect, so we asked him and his linemen for their insight.
