Opening Day Practice Report

Brian Matthews WeAreSC.com

The months of anticipation and restlessness have come to an end with the kickoff of spring practices Saturday. Brian Kennedy-Howard Jones Field was packed to capacity as the Trojans begin their title aspirations in 2009 with an impressive group of onlookers in attendance.

Guests to Saturday’s practice included Marquis Simmons, Darrell Rideaux, Chilo Rachal, Marquis Jackson, Dominique Blackman, Yogi Roth, Justin Wyatt, Chris Claiborne, Malaefou MacKenzie, Kevin Ellison, Brian Cushing, Rey Maualuga, Keary Colbert, Deuce Latui, James Boyd, Hebron “Loni” Fangupo and John Robinson.

Corp Talks First Day

With the quarterback competition wide open at this point in time, the majority of first string reps have fallen on the lap of redshirt sophomore Aaron Corp.

The former Orange Lutheran (CA) star took to Brian Kennedy-Howard Jones Field Saturday with an agenda in mind.

“The first day was good,” said Corp of his performance. “I thought the offense did really well and we’ll just go from here.”

The competition, which is clearly still in it’s inception stage, will continue to go on throughout the remainder of spring.

Corp, well aware of this, understands the key to him holding down the top spot on the depth chart.

“It’s only going to get harder,” said Corp of the competition to obtain the starting spot. “We’ll start to widdle down the reps in the next couple weeks, but right now it looks pretty good.”

New offensive coach Jeremy Bates has made a few changes to the terminology portion of the offensive play calls, and Corp enjoys what he’s seen thus far from the former Denver Broncos offensive coordinator.

“It’s very similar,” said Corp of the subtle changes in verbiage new offensive coach Jeremy Bates has made. “If anything, he’s made it easier, there’s nothing more to that.”

Following weeks of work with the coaches without footballs, Corp was glad to have the pigskin back in his grasp, a far cry from the cones used while the coaches were in attendance.

“We got a ball out here for the first time,” said Corp of the difference in the first day. “It was real good, and I’m really looking forward to working with him (Bates).

“I think I had a good day, but I just need to keep improving.”

The repetitions favored Corp Saturday, although this rotation should change on a daily basis as the coaches look to see how individuals respond to each of the positions on the depth chart.

“No, I knew a couple days ago how it was going to be,” he said of how the repetitions were distributed. “We’ll know the day before from here until next week.

“They told us especially not to look into the reps. We’re going to try out and its an open competition, so he’s going to try guys out at all of the spots on the depth chart.”

The competition has received plenty of press, although Corp claims that blocking out the pressure is what will keep him successful.

“No, I’m totally focused on me and how I can help the offense,” he said. “The only thing I can do is improve.”

Before parting ways, Corp was asked to give a grade on Saturday’s performance.

“I would say a ’B’,” said Corp when asked to grade his first day’s performance. “I did some good things, but I can get better and keep improving when I come back.”

Quoting Pete Carroll

- On the first day of spring practice:

“It was a good first day, typical all in all. We got some good solid work, everybody was humming around and running around, and this is really our longest practice that we hold just to get a lot of stuff on film for the first day and get a couple days to look at it.

“We’ll start up with a real serious week Tuesday, and it was a good start and everything work out fine.”

- On which, if any of the quarterbacks stood out opening day:

“I didn’t think so, I didn’t see much of that. Just mixing and matching with the groups, Jeremy (Bates) got Matt (Barkley) in there with the first group in the team period. He got his reps right off the bat, and hit a seem route on the first play. The guys were getting excited about it, then he couldn’t find a guy on the next one.

“He’s got a big smile on his face about it and you can see him really competing trying to get all of the calls right. I think it’s really interesting to watch him (Barkley), because it’s a unique opportunity for us to look at a freshman playing ball like this. Aaron (Corp) and Mitch (Mustain) were both very comfortable, which is good, and Garrett (Green) likewise.”

- On how the evaluation of the quarterbacks will work out:

“We’re just going to work them in with each of the groups and over time we’ll really have good evaluations in live situations. We’ll watch and monitor what we’re doing and the plays and opportunities they get, and in time we’ll try and do the same with the other guys to get a direct comparison.

“It’s a subjective, long process to solve this and we’ll just wait it out.”

- On which of the two safety positions Taylor Mays will play:

“He’ll play both sides, and we do want to get him some work on the other side more so than he’s had a couple years ago. He’s been pretty solidly entrenched in the free safety spot, it’s for a lot of reasons, but we want to make sure he can do everything.

“It’s not just for Taylor though, it’s for the other guys like Will (Harris) and Josh (Pinkard). We always look for the guys who fit best on one side or the other, and we’re just trying to figure out what we’ve got.”

- On the practice position of Garrett Green:

“He’s doing everything. He’s running up here for punt team and he’s holding for the kicks, he’s playing quarterback and he’s going to play receiver before spring is over.”

- Both Everson Griffen and Anthony McCoy missed Saturday’s workout due to academic reasons:

“He and Anthony McCoy were handling school stuff today.”

- With walk-on tryouts immediately following practice, Carroll was asked if he had found another walk-on capable of contributing:

“Well not yet, but the level of competition in practice really stepped up compared to this group. There were a couple of guys here, maybe there will be another Ben Malcolmson here.”

- On the status of tailback Joe McKnight:

“They’re just making sure he’s okay. He can run full speed and all of that, we just don’t want him to push it yet so we can get a good spring out of him. I would say by next week he will do almost everything barring any setbacks.”

- On the competition at the kicker spot minus Jake Harfman for the spring:

“The way I’ve decided to do it is g about it like we don’t have anyone else coming in. If Jake (Harfman) has problems or issues we’ll know where we stand after spring.”

Practice Notes

- Tailbacks Allen Bradford and Joe McKnight both dressed for Saturday’s practice, although neither fully participated in practice.

- The starting offensive line from left to right was comprised of Charles Brown, Zack Heberer, Jeff Byers, Alex Parsons and Butch Lewis.

- The starting defensive line, minus Everson Griffen Saturday, included Armond Armstead, Christian Tupou, Averell Spicer and Nick Perry.

- Will Harris and Taylor Mays occupied both starting safety positions, with Shareece Wright and Kevin Thomas the starting cornerbacks.

- The run of the day came for Stafon Johnson, who took a handoff left before making something out of nothing and taking if for a touchdown.

- Linebacker Chris Galippo and defensive end Wes Horton both recorded sacks on the day. Galippo followed that up by nearly intercepting the first pass during team drills.

- Tight end Blake Ayles sat out as expected, and his return date remains a mystery.