In the midst of preparing for one of the most highly-touted seasons in recent memory, USC football had to deal with an off-field issue including its head coach.
Second-year head coach Steve Sarkisian made headlines recently when he took the stage at the annual “Salute to Troy” rally in an intoxicated state and used slurred, inappropriate language in his speech. He had to be taken off stage and athletic director Pat Hayden was seen berating his head coach. Sarkisian later admitted to mixing medication with alcohol, which is never a good idea.
While those actions are inexcusable for anyone, when you’re the head honcho of one of the most prestigious programs in the country, they tend to catch more heat.
Fortunately, Sark is a stand-up guy and immediately admitted his mistake, apologized profusely, and announced that he will enter rehab to try to correct his personal issues. As Ben Kerchevel of Bleacher Report recently wrote, Sarkisian deserves respect for how he has handled the situation.
But, for the Trojans’ sake, hopefully this whole ordeal is behind them. Now they can focus on more important topics, like the incredible talent on this roster that makes USC a legit contender to finish the season as one of the top four teams in the country and crack the College Football Playoff.
It seems like Sarkisian has already moved on.
“I felt like I was back home again, coaching football,” he told Michael Lev of the Orange County-Register after the Trojans’ practice on Wednesday.
Curtis Conway, a former USC football player and current Pac-12 Network analyst, can speak from experience when it comes to off-field issues at Southern Cal. He doesn’t think the Trojans will have any problem overcoming Sarkisian’s recent episode.
“You see things all the time,” Conway told Scott Wolf of the Los Angeles Daily News. “In our locker room, no one was perfect. We hear things and take it with a grain of salt. If it wasn’t happening on the field, don’t worry about it.”
The most exciting part about this year’s USC team is the offense, which has the potential to be among the best in the NCAA. Both of 2014’s biggest playmakers, receiver Nelson Agholor and running back Javorius Allen, chose to enter the NFL Draft after last season, but Cody Kessler returns for his third season as the starting quarterback, and he will have plenty of offensive weapons at his disposal.
Kessler enters the season with plenty of expectations. In the 2015 ESPN Expert Poll, the senior signal-caller was ranked third in the inaugural Heisman Watch. His experience and leadership qualities are a big reason why there is so much hype surrounding Southern Cal this year.
“I like the guys they have coming back and they have much more depth,” Conway said, per Wolf. “They don’t have to worry about who is the starting quarterback. If they had a freshman, they may not listen to him. This is the first time I’ve felt comfortable about USC in a long time.”
While Allen was a terrific runner and made plenty of big plays last year, there are plenty of other athletes to fill his spot.
Justin Davis, last year’s second-leading rusher behind Allen, is back and ready to shoulder the bulk of the carries if that’s what he’s asked to do. But it’s not like he already has the starting job. Senior Tre Madden, who missed all of last year with a toe injury, has looked sharp in preseason practice, and true freshman Ronald Brown II, the fourth-best running back recruit in last year’s recruiting class according to 247Sports, should also get plenty of touches out of the backfield.
The receiving corps is looking very good, too. Agholor was certainly an incredibly dynamic No. 1 receiver last year, but like usual at USC, there are plenty of guys ready to fill his spt.
JuJu Smith-Schuster, who hyphenated his last name to honor his stepfather, is primed to be the next great Southern Cal receiver.
Robert Woods, Marqise Lee, Agholor? Smith-Schuster has his sights set even higher.
“I want to be that guy, but I want to be even better than those guys,” Smith-Schuster told Wolf. “Nelson told me he wanted to be better than Marqise and Woody. For me, the same. I want to be better than Nelson and all those guys.”
The offensive line will also be strong, as all five starters from 2014 return. It was a very young group last year with three freshman, but with a year of experience and an offseason to improve, Kessler should have plenty of time in the pocket and the running backs should have tons of space to operate.
Second-year defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox had to replace four starters from last year’s unit, which ranked 78th in total defense.
All-American defensive lineman Leonard Williams is gone to the NFL, but senior defensive tackles Delvon Simmons and Antwaun Woods figure to fill in nicely.
Arguably the brightest spot on defense is Su-a Cravens. The former safety is now a full-fledged outside linebacker and, while he has all the ability in the world, he is focusing on becoming a better leader this year.
“I’m taking on the leadership by not focusing on just my game, but also on those around me, especially the young ones,” Cravens said at Pac-12 Media Days. “Last year we were a young defense. This year, we are big on finishing, so when we get to the fourth quarter, we have to finish.”
If the Trojans can accomplish the art of finishing games, they will be in great shape. It is something that plagued them last year, maybe more than anything else. Three of their four losses last year were by six points or less, and they lost two of those – Arizona State and Utah – in the final seconds.
And while the plethora of weapons on both sides of the ball have been well-documented, Coach Sarkisian has a wild card in his back pocket, too: the multi-talented Adoree’ Jackson.
Primarily a cornerback, Jackson also thrives in the Trojans’ return game and can be a threat on the offensive side of the ball if the coaching staff chooses to deploy him there. Last year’s Holiday Bowl showed what Jackson is capable of.
In that game, which USC won 45-42, Jackson returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown and also caught a pass from Kessler that resulted in a 71-yard score. The true sophomore does all that while covering the other team’s best receiver on defense.
Let’s not forget that Sarkisian is still growing as a head coach. At 41 years old, he is still young. He is still getting acclimated to being the face of a premier program. He made a major decision yesterday, electing to hand over the play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Clay Helton. It will be the first time in his head coaching career that he won’t be the primary play-caller – and the first time since 2009 that the USC head coach will not call plays – so Sark should be able to focus more thoroughly on the other aspects of the football game like defense, special teams and game management.
Ultimately, it will all come down to how the Trojans perform on the field. They have all the talent in the world to not only make, but win, the College Football Playoff. But if they make the same mistakes that they did last year and once again fail to finish off inferior opponents, it will once again be a disappointment in Troy.
However, if they truly have been focusing on finishing games and they prove that they can do it, the sky is the limit for Sarkisian and Co.