2021 USC Trojans

Phall

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Since 2006, USC has started 8, 6, 7, 5, 6, 6, 3, 5, 4, 6, 6, 5, 6, 3, and 4 white players. In 2021, they project to start 4.

I really expected this team to have more nuance for some reason as far as white players with potential. Perhaps I was deluded by old memories of Clay Matthews and Brian Cushing. I did notice that there are a whole lot of Polynesian players, and I noticed that many of the black players tend to have very suburban, white-sounding first names (Darwin, Kohl, Korey, Julien, Spencer, Micah, Hunter, etc). This seemed like something Steve Sailer would notice.

Head coach Clay Helton has escaped the hot seat for the time being but really does not have an experienced roster to lean on. His offensive coordinator is 35 yr old Graham Harrell, who audiences may remember from his success at Texas Tech 15 years ago.

Junior QB Kedon Slovis is the star of this act and will be responsible for holding up the Trojan house of cards. He has lost some luster after a breakthrough freshman season but could still potentially declare early for the draft if he puts up enough game film. Behind him are two true freshmen, Jaxson Dart and Miller Moss.

At tight end, redshirt sophomore Jude Wolf will try to cut into senior Erik Krommenhoek's snap count. Ethan Rae and Lake McCree wait in the wings.

USC will probably start just one white offensive lineman in Andrew Voorhees, who has 25 career starts at guard. Jonah Monheim will compete to play at right tackle. Justin Dedich could also win a spot somewhere on the starting line.

Defensive end Nick Figueroa had seven tackles for loss in last year's six-game season. He will look to improve upon last year's all-conference honorable mention. The only other white scholarship player on defense (that I'm aware of) plays the same strongside end position.

Starters:
QB: Kedon Slovis
TE: Erik Krommenhoek
OL: Andrew Voorhees

DL: Nick Figueroa

Backups:
QB: Jaxson Dart, Miller Moss
TE: Jude Wolf, Lake McCree, Ethan Rae
OL: Jonah Monheim, Justin Dedich

DL: Jacob Lichtenstein
 

Leonardfan

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After doing the USC write-ups for the past few years this does not really come as a surprise. Many of the West Coast - Pac 12/MWC teams now are overrepresented by Polys.

To no one's surprise I am a Kedon Slovis fan. I read an article on him the other day - his arm supposedly looks much better than it did last year (he was reportedly struggling with an elbow injury from late 2019). He certainly fits the Mac Jones profile - same type of skillset. I think another big season from him will get his draft stock into round 1.
 

Phall

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Slovis is a little bit "protected" in terms of playing at a sexy program and tossing up stats in an essentially sub-par conference against mediocre defenses. He will surely get his name called and probably play at least a few Sundays, if not many. I really haven't watched him much but am inclined to rate him below Sam Darnold. Absolutely no idea if they're comparable at all past their college colors, btw. Maybe Graham Harrell unlocks some stuff for him.
 

Leonardfan

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Slovis is a little bit "protected" in terms of playing at a sexy program and tossing up stats in an essentially sub-par conference against mediocre defenses. He will surely get his name called and probably play at least a few Sundays, if not many. I really haven't watched him much but am inclined to rate him below Sam Darnold. Absolutely no idea if they're comparable at all past their college colors, btw. Maybe Graham Harrell unlocks some stuff for him.

I would rank Slovis below Darnold for sure. I do feel Slovis has very good accuracy though and a knack for sticking in the pocket and taking a hit. Out of the Power Five conferences I would certainly rank the PAC 12 4th. I do feel that teams like UW, Utah, Cal, Oregon, Stanford field respectable defenses. The only two decent consistent defensive teams are Kansas St and TCU in the Big 12. I guess the point I am trying to make there is that college defenses for the most part are mediocre to bad. As the college landscape changes and the media heavily favors teams like Alabama, Ohio St, Clemson every year the Trojans have become a bit of an after thought when compared to their mid 2000s run as the powerhouse football team.
 

Leonardfan

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WR Jake Smith - the Texas transfer will hopefully get onto the field at some point this year. He was hampered by injuries while with the Longhorns.
 

Red Raider

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Jake Smith out for the season with a broken foot, but true freshman 3 star receiver Joseph Manjack won the starting slot job!
 

Phall

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Helton fired.

Interesting tidbit: USC has fired its last three coaches (Kiffin, Sarkisian, and now Helton) before Week 6. Before 2013, they’d never made a mid season coaching move. Kiffin and Sarkisian seem to have landed on their feet.

The difference in 2021 is that all players get a “free” transfer without sitting out a year. Depending on what Graham Harrell comes up with on offense, Slovis could skeedaddle to play his senior year elsewhere.

The interim coach is named Donte.
 

Leonardfan

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Interesting tidbit: USC has fired its last three coaches (Kiffin, Sarkisian, and now Helton) before Week 6. Before 2013, they’d never made a mid season coaching move. Kiffin and Sarkisian seem to have landed on their feet.

The difference in 2021 is that all players get a “free” transfer without sitting out a year. Depending on what Graham Harrell comes up with on offense, Slovis could skeedaddle to play his senior year elsewhere.

The interim coach is named Donte.

Helton also stockpiled White QBs so we may see an exodus at that position.
 

booth

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I saw earlier today that Penn State's James Franklin was being mentioned as a candidate for the Head Coaching job at USC.
 

Leonardfan

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I saw earlier today that Penn State's James Franklin was being mentioned as a candidate for the Head Coaching job at USC.

Penn State head coach James Franklin recently switched agents, hiring Jimmy Sexton, one of the biggest agents in football.
While this might not mean anything, where there's smoke there's fire. It's not often you need to switch agents unless you think a move and a new contract will be needed, and with Penn State's season effectively over after their loss to Illinois, it might be prime time for Franklin to finally jump ship as he's been projected to do for so many years. High profile jobs at LSU and USC are available now, and who knows what else will be there by season's end.

I don't care for Franklin, he pretty much transformed PSU into an SEC team. If he went to USC or LSU he couldn't do much worse in terms of team demographics/White starters. PSU will probably never get back to fielding defenses with 5+ White athletes which is a shame.

As for USC - Slovis has regressed this year and Jaxson Dart seems to be gaining momentum as the favored QB so it will be interesting to see if Slovis declares for the draft or transfers. Same can be said for Dart too - the new head coach will play a role in both of their decisions.
 

Phall

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Graham Harrell (the USC OC) is apparently a candidate for the Texas Tech job. I don't think the Red Raiders are in a hurry to make a hire, but that negotiation would stick a fork in USC's season and could start the exodus from their QB room.

Franklin really seems to have fallen upward in his career. He is very obviously on every "top candidate" list because he is black, but to be fair, he hasn't really messed up at the job apart from last year's covid season. There just aren't a lot of black college football coaches, so the few who come through the ranks always be the darlings of every university administration. Not sure when Penn State last won a game as an underdog. I feel like Franklin still owes a lot of his reputation to the 2017-2018 team with Saquon Barkley and Trace McSorley. Franklin's most impressive work is putting up a winning record at Vanderbilt, although he never got any heat for his players' gang rape scandal in 2013.
 

Bucky

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Rumor Mill has James Franklin tabbed squarely as lead candidate for USC Job. I noticed other posters have shared this but I find it interesting how confident media is that Franklin will jump ship.

Could get real interesting if Penn State upsets Ohio State Saturday.
 

Leonardfan

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Cuck Riley to USC. Have to wonder where Slovis and Dart end up. We all know they don’t fit the key attribute Riley looks for in a QB. USC outside of the QB position has been caste for as long as they have been tracked here so it’s no game changer in that regard.
 

Phall

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Cuck Riley to USC. Have to wonder where Slovis and Dart end up. We all know they don’t fit the key attribute Riley looks for in a QB. USC outside of the QB position has been caste for as long as they have been tracked here so it’s no game changer in that regard.

Yeah, not many whities around for Riley to purge. I wonder what happens to OC Graham Harrell. Not that I know him to be any more or less caste-compliant, but just because he's got a bit of celebrity. Texas Tech would have been a natural spot to land, but they've hired Baylor assistant Joey McGuire, who is "known for his recruiting" which is a polite way to say a huge racial cuckold.
 

El Gringo

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Yeah, not many whities around for Riley to purge. I wonder what happens to OC Graham Harrell. Not that I know him to be any more or less caste-compliant, but just because he's got a bit of celebrity. Texas Tech would have been a natural spot to land, but they've hired Baylor assistant Joey McGuire, who is "known for his recruiting" which is a polite way to say a huge racial cuckold.
I got a good laugh out of that last remark!! I’m sure there is a black quarterback coming in the near future for USC. Have the Trojans ever had a quota?
 

Leonardfan

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I got a good laugh out of that last remark!! I’m sure there is a black quarterback coming in the near future for USC. Have the Trojans ever had a quota?

I think Rodney Peete back in the late 80s.

Hopefully both Slovis and Dart are able to make informed decisions to further their careers. Once Helton was fired the wheels came off for USC.
 

Bucky

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Guaranteed Riley will try and bring Williams with him. I agree, White QBs need to leave town when Riley(and Day) come around.
 
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