Franklin's return delights D-line

Erik McKinney WeAreSC.com

Defensive line coach Jethro Franklin is back at USC and has his position group playing at an extremely high level.

Heading into spring practices, the Trojans were preparing for the most highly anticipated quarterback battle in six years. Finally, Trojan fans would get a clear look at Aaron Corp, Mitch Mustain, Matt Barkley and Garrett Green as the quarterbacking quartet attempted to grab the reigns of the Trojan offense.

Apparently, however, the Trojan defense wasn’t as eager as the rest of us to get a good look at the quarterbacks. Or, perhaps, they were even more excited, as they’ve spent the better part of spring ball examining each signal caller up close, although usually from behind, as the yellow jersey scampers away from danger and another sack.

Under new/old defensive line coach Jethro Franklin, the Trojan front four, or front eight, depending on rotations, has been tremendous thus far. Needing to replace four NFL draft picks in two seasons (Sedrick Ellis and Lawrence Jackson in 2008, Fili Moala and Kyle Moore in 2009), and doing so with just one available senior sounded like a difficult task heading into the 2009 season. But it seems as if Franklin has lit a fire under this young group as they’ve looked very good over the first handful of practices, even showing signs of being downright dominant.

It’s not as if positive results under Franklin’s tutelage are uncommon. In 2005, during Franklin’s previous stint at USC, the Trojans boasted a defensive line of Frostee Rucker, Sedrick Ellis, LaJuan Ramsey and Lawrence Jackson. Those four players totaled 22 sacks in 2005 (led by Jackson’s ten) and all four of them wound up selected in the NFL draft.

Only Averell Spicer remains from Franklin’s 2005 defensive line (he was a true freshman that year), but Franklin said he’s easily settled back into the routine at USC.

“The faces change, but that’s about it,” he said. “Everything else is going as smoothly as ever. The way coach Carroll runs things is actually better for me. The expectation level here is still great. It’s all good.”

Outside of the tremendous amount of special teams work this spring, perhaps no position group’s daily workouts have been more noticeably altered from last season than the defensive line. Nobody is going to knock what former Trojan coach Nick Holt did with the defensive line, but the teaching going on through spring’s first seven practices with the big boys up front is undeniable and, for the younger players at the position, mostly unprecedented.

With only three upperclassmen along the line (senior Spicer, along with juniors Christian Tupou and Everson Griffen), the Trojans must find production from some of their younger players, such as Armond Armstead, Jurrell Casey, Malik Jackson and Nick Perry.

But make no mistake, Griffen is the one guy who needs a breakout year if the defensive line is going to carry its weight this season. No player in the Trojans’ front seven brings as much athleticism and potential as Griffen. But even with 4.5 sacks last season, it feels as if the true junior has never lived up to his tremendous hype coming into USC. And with so many young defensive ends making their way up the depth chart now, Griffen could be facing a make-or-break season in 2009. Luckily for the Trojans, it seems as if Franklin’s arrival has helped Griffen position himself squarely in the “make” column.

“Everson and Jethro are hitting it off,” USC head coach Pete Carroll said recently after a Trojan practice where Griffen recorded several sacks. “Everson saw his level of play from last year and wants to improve on it. He wasn’t happy about it at all and we were very frank about making sure he understood why Clay (Matthews) played so much last season. Obviously Clay was a very good player, but Everson opened the door for him. So he’s very determined to grow up and play like a really big-time player.”

Franklin seems excited about getting to work with a player of Griffen’s caliber as well.

“He’s still a college football player,” Franklin said. “Regardless of what people thought, he still has a chance to do a lot of great things. It’s a process, and he still has two years to improve and get better. He’s right on course.”

But with Griffen, getting him to buy into his potential has always seemed a struggle. At least, until Franklin showed up.

“Jethro is a relief,” Griffen said. “He helps out so much. We’re so thankful for him right now.”

Not only did Griffen praise his position coach for making sure the unit was consistently firing on all cylinders at 100 percent, he added that there was a different approach to practices this season.

“We’re working stuff we’ve never worked on before this year,” Griffen said. “He’s helping us with our footwork, technique, hand positioning, pass-rush moves, everything. It’s looking good. It’s looking real good.”

With Griffen leading the way from his weakside defensive end position, the defensive line has been dominant at times this spring. The offensive line has shuffled players in and out of their regular positions a bit, but it’s not as if their counterparts have arrived intact either.

Armstead moved from defensive tackle to strongside defensive end (a move that looks like it will stick), and Spicer has moved to the vacated defensive tackle spot. But even with that movement, the defensive line (a starting unit that features, Armstead, Spicer, Casey and Griffen) has looked tremendous this spring, posting multiple-sack outings during virtually every team session. Additionally, guys like Perry as well as Da’John Harris, Derek Simmons and Wes Horton have shown flashes already this season.

“The defensive line is playing very quick,” Carroll said. “There’s quickness across the board and it’s showing up. They’re finding their cracks and Jethro has these guys going.”

Franklin is downplaying the production thus far, saying it’s too early to get a true read on the group.

“There’s a lot of youth and a lot of athletic ability,” he said. “We have to continue to grow and learn and develop. We have a lot to accomplish, no doubt, but we have the right people to get it done.

Obviously production during spring ball means little to nothing as far as the season goes, but even in this short amount of time, it’s impossible not to notice the impact that Franklin has had on an immensely important position though just seven spring ball practices.

Tuesday Practice Insider

Brian Matthews WeAreSC.com

The Trojans have become infamous during the Pete Carroll era at USC for their dominance on the field, however special teams has been absent from that argument without the presence of a full time special teams coach.

The addition of Brian Schneider has brought with it a drastically different view on special teams, one that seems to embrace the “Beamer Ball” philosophy by gaining an advantage through the widely unpopular aspect of the game.

In fact, the first 45 minutes of Tuesday’s practice were spent honing in on special teams, with everybody aside from the offensive linemen taking part.

Quarterback Mitch Mustain

- Assessing his performance during Sunday’s scrimmage:

“It was better than I thought, but it was still kind of sputter and go, hit and miss. We really entered today emphasizing how turnovers are going to kill us. We have to cut that, we had two turnovers on back-to-back drives. Those are just momentum killers, but on my part it didn’t look bad.

“I had opportunities but we just didn’t execute. I didn’t make any glaring errors, so what I took away from it is that you have to keep pushing. You have turnovers and you have to keep going.”

- On head coach Pete Carroll’s comments regarding Aaron Corp as the leader early on:

“I don’t know what he sees it as. It’s motivation for me, I’m going to come out and keep slinging it and just get better at it. Hopefully they’ll give us the whole four weeks and I’ve just got to keep pushing. He didn’t specify what he meant by it so I’m taking it as nothing and keep working.

- On what steps he’s taking toward becoming a leader:

“It’s kind of a natural progression, you get that opportunity to be out in front and it takes its own.”

- On the now infamous mustache that is now a thing of the past:

“It went through that awkward stage in the middle so I hacked it off. It was even on both sides from my teammates, again I had that one moment when you look in the mirror and it’s not what you want.”

Quoting Pete Carroll

- On the review of Sunday’s scrimmage:

“We had really good, solid work offensively with the exceptions of the turnovers that are going to wreck any day. We had three turnovers on the day that wrecked it. The line of scrimmage was good, we ran hard, a couple of drops that were in the way of some third down conversions.

“Other than that the quarterbacks did fine, I thought “moody” (Curtis McNeal) had a good scrimmage, David Ausberry too and the offensive line in general did a pretty nice job.

“On the other side of the ball Malcolm Smith just jumped out. He had a great day, he made a bunch of plays, some big one-on-one tackles and a big touchdown play that he had. He forced a fumble in another drill, and he’s really doing some exciting things for us. On defense we were after them about pursuit and developing our personality about that. We’re getting after the football really well.”

- On the quarterbacks and the leadership qualities they have displayed:

“I think that was a contrast to John David (Booty) who was real quiet, Mark (Sanchez) was really outgoing. These guys mix it up really well, and it’s really hard for these guys to really assert themselves until they’re the guy, they can try, but it’s not going to happen. Nobody has gone out of their way to make an impression with their personality. They’re just trying to do things right, and that’s what they should be doing.”

- On the progress at the defensive tackle position and the possibility of Armond Armstead moving back inside:

“Averell (Spicer) did pretty well. He played good solid ball for us. He didn’t make a lot of tackles and stuff, but he played good solid football for us and that’s still a job that’s up for grabs. He’s the most experienced and knows his way around the best, understands what we’re asking so he’s still ahead.

“Armond (Armstead) is too good at what he is doing, he’s just learning. I think he’s a real factor, this is a real special body type there. You haven’t seen us have a guy that weighs 290lbs, he’s 30-40 pounds heavier than Lawrence Jackson and Kyle Moore. I really like the way he’s doing the his stuff because he’s really physical, can rush the passer and chases the ball well. This is great move for him, we didn’t know it at the time but it didn’t take but a few days to see.”

- On the extended emphasis on special teams under Brian Schneider:

“Brian (Schneider) is obviously a fantastic coach. He really commands the field, he’s got guys running around everywhere and we really wanted to make this a fundamental spring. The drilling will help us as a team and its really great stuff.”

- On the return of tailback Joe McKnight:

“Thursday we’re going to try him out unless something changes. The plan is to get him out here Thursday and get him ready for Saturday. He feels real good, didn’t have any setbacks coming out of the weekend, but we’ll take it on day at a time.”

Practice Tidbits

- Special guests in attendance included men’s basketball coach Tim Floyd, Patrick Turner, Kenechi Udeze, Gerald Washington, Dominique Byrd, Oscar Lua, Frankie Telfort and Valhalla quarterback Pete Thomas.

- Players sitting out included Anthony McCoy, Michael Reardon, Luther Brown (icepack on his shoulder), Adam Goodman, Drew McAllister, Kris O’Dowd, Curtis McNeal (academic day), Blake Ayles and Nick Howell.

- During 7-on-7, Mitch Mustain connected with longtime running mate Damian Williams for a touchdown while Aaron Corp did the same a few minutes later.

- Stafon Johnson had the run of the day with his back to the goal line, giving a hop-step juke to a defender before breaking into the open field.