USC football hasn’t lived up to the program’s expectations and still has questions in 2020.
Clay Helton‘s seat has been growing increasingly hot throughout the past few years with USC football. Over the past two seasons, the Trojans have managed a combined 13 wins and, now entering the 2020 season, it feels safe to say that anything short of turning the program much closer to double-digit wins could result in the head coach losing that title.
The good news for Helton’s job security is that the Trojans made some progress last year and may have found some viable long-term solutions to issues that have plagued them. Those are things they look to hang their hat on this season but that doesn’t leave them without a number of questions that they’ll be faced with this year.
For USC football to compete atop the Pac-12 and far exceed the effort they’ve put forth in recent years, the Trojans must answer these five questions in the 2020 season.
USC football questions: 5. How good can the defensive front be?
The arrival of offensive coordinator and former Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell last offseason was the talk of the west coast in college football and it worked well. Unfortunately, the defense had its issues that ultimately caused the team a number of issues. However, this is a unit that’s extremely talent-laden with 4-and-5-star recruits. And that’s never more true than on the defensive front.
Perhaps the best player on the defensive is tackle Jay Tufele, a big-bodied force on the interior who could be a first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Meanwhile, Drake Jackson will compliment him on the edge after leading the team in sacks a year ago with 5.5. But for the USC defense to take a big step forward, it should start with this group doing exactly that.
The simple truth is that the Trojans struggled to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks last season. Only four players on the defense had 3.0 or more sacks and only Jackson had more than 3.5 quarterback takedowns. That’s a problem for a defense, especially one that wants to air it out on offense.
For the both the offense and the defense to reach the potential that their individual talent suggests they have, the defensive line needs to hit the ground running in the 2020 season. That’s where it all starts for them.