LOS ANGELES — The entire USC football team has been doing tackling drills this week. Not just the defense. It’s everybody.
“We’re doing a couple things on the field as a whole team,” defensive end Braylan Shelby told reporters after practice on Wednesday.
“We’re just doing it on the bags and things like that, but it’s just getting back to being in those positions because you never know when you’re going to end up on offense doing something like that. It’s good to have everybody do that and just be better collectively as a team.”
USC (5-2 overall, 3-1 Big Ten) had a season-high 10 missed tackles in its 34-23 loss to Notre Dame, which once again brings a football fundamental back into focus.
“Still tackling,” defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn said of the work for this bye week. “It’s block destruction, getting off blocks and tackling and communication. Those are three things that, no matter what defense we call, no matter what scheme you’re in, you have to be able to do those things at a high level.”
Extra time for individual drills is built into bye week practices, since there’s no weekend opponent to prepare for. Certain days can be dedicated to one skill, like tackling, so that examples of good and bad moments can be shown and drills can be intentionally chosen.
Shelby has been one of the most efficient tacklers on the team with 17 total tackles and zero missed tackles in addition to five tackles for loss and 3½ sacks. He told reporters on Wednesday that he felt locked in ahead of the Notre Dame game.
“When I’m in that mode, I’m kind of just mentally in it,” Shelby said. “Everything else is just quiet. And you’re trying to just focus on the game, and you’re just running through plays, imagining having success, which is a big factor in actually having success on the field. That’s a big thing for me.”
Still, the fact remains that the Trojans gave up 442 yards of total offense – and 306 of those yards were on the ground.
Head coach Lincoln Riley told reporters on Tuesday that he felt the team’s physicality was similar to that of the Michigan game, which was a breakthrough night for the defense. The problems, he said, were more so regarding gap control and assignments.
“The first run of the game, and we got two guys completely out of position,” Riley said. “It’s a perfect call – it should be a dead play or a 4-yard gain, maybe. But against a good team with two phenomenal running backs – you give them a couple of gimmes, it’s going to be a real challenge and battle the entire game.”
POTENTIAL DEPTH CHART CHANGES
Lynn didn’t rule out making changes to the depth chart and said that there are multiple players who are on the verge of breaking into the lineup.
“Any guys who earn our trust are going to get a chance to play,” Lynn told reporters. “Playing time can adjust all throughout the year. There’s a handful of other guys that are on that fringe, where if they just can be a little bit more consistent, you’ll see them out there more.”
He used Jayden Walker as an example. Walker has started the last two games at Will linebacker after seeing time at both Will and Mike in the first five games of the season.
The coaching staff is also searching for a player who can take over at nickel so that safety Kamari Ramsey can once again be moved around the field.
“The more reps these young guys get – because we have a lot of guys who are getting reps, but they might be getting 10 reps a game or 15 reps a game,” Lynn said. “Weeks like this, you could really pour into them.”