USC football: 5 Trojans poised for breakout seasons in 2020

5. USC football breakout players: Tyler Vaughns

Someone is going to break out of these wide receivers. Between Drake London, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Tyler Vaughns, expect some serious stats hitting scoreboards this season. A lot of the publicity is going towards St. Brown, and rightfully so as he might be the most talented receiver in the bunch. However, Vaughns is the one pegged as the best all-around once the season is all said and done.

Vaughns route running is some of the best work in the country, and he has a wickedly accurate quarterback in Slovis who is going to get him the ball in the perfect spot. His elite route running is going to lead to him being Slovis’ most trusted playmaker.

Vaughns is going to find ways to beat defenses on a weekly basis. The fact he can go up and get a ball or just sneakily get past the defense means he will get more targets than his teammates. His hands are insane, and the redshirt senior knows this is his chance to prove he’s an NFL talent. He has everything to gain this season, and he has a quarterback that can lift him up on mock drafts.

Vaughns also has the age and maturity well into his favor. He’s 23 years old, one of the older star players in college football. While that might hurt his NFL dreams slightly, it’s going to lead to him playing smarter than his counterparts.

Vaughns is also set up for success playing in the Pac 12. The league is moving to a “conference-only” type schedule, which means he loses tough games against the likes of Alabama and Notre Dame. Instead, he gets to play teams like Stanford, UCLA, and Arizona. All three of those teams are in the bottom ten of passing yards allowed in all of college football. This is going to help Vaughns dominate.