On Monday, August 6th, the USC Trojans will hold their first official football practice of the 2007 season, marking the start of their month-long fall training camp that leads up to a September 1st contest with Idaho. Attempting to “rebound” from a two-loss 2006 season (most schools only dream of such problems) that culminated in a decisive Rose Bowl victory over Michigan, the Trojans return 18 starters and 52 lettermen, including QB John David Booty, OT Sam Baker, DT Sedrick Ellis, and linebackers Keith Rivers, Brian Cushing and Rey Maualuga.

Just because USC is a lock to begin the season ranked first in the polls doesn’t mean the team doesn’t have a few question marks that will need to be addressed prior to the Idaho game (okay, the Nebraska game). TrojanUpdate has identified the five biggest issues that the Trojans will need to resolve over the next month.

Issue 1. The Tailback Committee
Let’s face it: if the Trojans had just two more scholarship running backs on the roster, they’d have a jury. And in 2006, the team was certainly guilty of an unsuccessful running attack, averaging an anemic 128 yards per game and all but abandoning the run in an otherwise successful Rose Bowl. Not only do they return the exact same group of tailbacks that failed to get going last year, but they also add Hershel Dennis (back for a sixth year after missing two complete seasons with injuries) and three freshmen (including the much-heralded speedster Joe McKnight). So not only does new offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian need to find a way to reinvigorate the running game, he must also deal with the potentially contentious issue of evaluating all ten backs and allocating playing time in a fair manner–or at least a manner that works for the team as a whole.

Their official pre-camp depth chart lists five co-starters, and only one of them (sophomore CJ Gable) is completely healthy. The others (Dennis, Desmond Reed, Chauncey Washington, and Emmanuel Moody) have all been bothered by injuries of various severities. Neither of the two returning backups–sophomores Allen Bradford and Stafon Johnson–seemed to be used properly in 2006, and rarely had a chance to touch the ball, in games or practices. So the challenge facing USC coaches is to settle on two or three main tailbacks as early as possible, and get them as comfortable and experienced in the offense as possible before too many weeks pass by. If they fail to accomplish this, we may see a repeat of 2006, with different running backs being shuttled in and out of the lineup and no one establishing himself as a solid performer. In the meantime, all eyes will be on this position as training camp progresses.

Conventional wisdom: Gable, Washington (if 100%), and Dennis (because of his pass-blocking and receiving skills) will emerge as the three main backs. McKnight will get an increasing amount of playing time as the season progresses, but mainly lined up as a receiver. Freshman Marc Tyler will redshirt due to his ongoing recovery from last year’s injury. Johnson and/or Bradford will transfer to another school.

Issue 2. It’s Better To Give Than To Receive?
Unlike last year, the Trojans will enter the season with a polished, experienced quarterback (although if Booty starts having too many of his passes tipped at the line of scrimmage in the early going, we may have an Issue 1.5 on our hands). Also unlike last season, he will not have any experienced receivers to deliver the football to. Junior Patrick Turner is the experienced veteran of the Trojan wide receiver corps, by default: his 29 career receptions are 26 more than any other receiver on the team. Thus, Issue #2 facing the Trojans is finding someone to catch Booty’s passes. (After all, the guy’s got a Heisman to win.)

Fortunately, what the team lacks in experience they make up for in athleticism, speed, size, and numbers. Joining the 6′5″ Turner in the projected starting lineup is sophomore Vidal Hazelton, who did little last year other than run a few patterns as a decoy but has impressed in early practices. The player who has impressed coaches the most, however, is 6′4″ redshirt freshman David Ausberry, who apparently learned the offense and grew his skills dramatically while playing on the scout team last season. The Trojans also have a pair of speedsters in 5′10″ sophomore Travon Patterson and 6′1″ redshirt freshman Jamere Holland, although the latter–injured last season–is still not close to 100% and has a habit of re-injuring himself. Incoming freshmen Brandon Carswell and Ronald Johnson will provide depth.

Conventional wisdom: Turner finally has a breakout year and shows why he was recruited so highly. Ausberry, Hazelton, and Patterson battle it out for playing time but show their inexperience in the early going. Johnson gets worked into the offense more and more as the season progresses, and, in a best-case scenario, surpasses all but Turner by the end of the year.

Issue 3. Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Although USC has some question marks on offense, there are no doubts on the other side of the ball: not only is the Trojan defense the strength of this year’s team, it might be as strong as any that USC has fielded over the years. Just because the defense has the makings of something special, however, doesn’t mean that there aren’t one or two little issues to work out in the early going. And the issue that first jumps to mind is the play of the defensive line, arguably the weak point in the Trojan defense in 2006.

The Trojans will be switching back to their standard 4-3 defensive formation this season after a one-year experiment with the 3-4, meaning they will need to find four linemen to provide solid play–and hopefully, a noticeable pass rush–in front of the deep and talented linebacking corps and secondary. Nose tackle Ellis is on multiple award watchlists and should be a solid performer in the middle. The questions that we’d like to see answered by the end of camp: will junior Fili Moala step up his game at the other tackle position? Which Lawrence Jackson will show up: the one who disappeared at times in the first half of 2006, or the one who is capable of getting three sacks a game? Will junior Kyle Moore seize the moment now that he finally has the chance to start, or will he lose his spot to super-recruit Everson Griffen? And the most important question of all: will the Trojans find solid backups at any of the D-line positions to provide depth in case of injury?

Conventional wisdom: LoJack steps up his game in his senior season. Griffen is starting by the end of September, and makes the all-Pac-10 freshman team. He replaces either Moala or Moore, whichever one doesn’t impress (if Moore excels and Moala doesn’t, look for LoJack to slide over to tackle to make room for Griffen). The Trojans switch back to a 3-4 if more than one starting lineman is injured.

Issue 4. Isn’t That Special? (Let’s Hope So)
One area of the Trojans’ game that has room for a great deal of improvement is special teams, which certainly were far from special for USC in 2006 (and in fact have not been a Trojan strength in quite some time). Junior Greg Woidneck will need to improve on his 38.3 yards-per-kick average from his first season at USC, and the punt-coverage team will need to give up fewer than the 8.6 yards per return surrendered last season (or else we’ll really find out just how stellar the USC defense is). With Troy Van Blarcom no longer on the team, David Buehler will have to prove that the one field goal he made last year (in one attempt) was no fluke, as he is the only placekicker on scholarship (help may arrive in 2008 with Nebraska transfer Jordan Congdon). Buehler will also be the full-time kickoff specialist for the first time, although he performed well at that job during the Rose Bowl.

Not only will USC’s coaches need to find players to cover the kicks and prevent big returns, but they will also need to find some to handle returns on the other end. CJ Gable actually finished 15th in the nation in kickoff return average last season, surprising considering there was a seeming lack of big (or at least flashy) returns. Much more disappointing was USC’s performance on punt returns–or rather, the lack thereof, as nominal “returner” Desmond Reed never met a fair catch he didn’t signal for (except for one memorable return against Notre Dame). Expect many of the Trojan freshmen and sophomore speedsters to get long looks at one or both return positions in camp.

Conventional wisdom: Buehler does fine on kickoffs and extra points, and Carroll has his team kick even fewer field goals than normal. Fans start rooting for shorter and shorter punts so that the defense is actually challenged. Joe McKnight is returning kickoffs and punts by the end of the season.

Issue 5. The Adewale Follies
When Jody Adewale decided to rejoin the team this summer, the fifth-year senior instantly became the Trojans’ most experienced fullback. That’s not a good thing.

USC’s troubles at fullback in 2006 are almost legendary, as the team seemed to lose a starter at that position to a season-ending injury each week in the early going. The lack of talent and experience left at the fullback position late last season did expose how important the position is to the team’s offense, even if FBs don’t actually carry the football on Pete Carroll-led teams. Fortunately, before he himself went down with a season-ending injury and redshirted, Stanley Havili did get some game experience at fullback in 2006, and the talented freshman will start for the Trojans this season. How quickly he masters pass- and run-blocking schemes will be a key determining factor in the success of the relatively inexperienced Trojan offense in the first weeks of the season, and Havili will definitely be a player to watch during camp. It will also be crucial for the team to develop some depth behind Havili (and Adewale), with freshman Jordan Campbell hopefully filling that role.

Conventional wisdom: Carroll and Sarkisian run a larger number of plays out of one- and no-back sets in the early season, and also run plays with the tight end lining up in the fullback slot, to ease the stress on Havili. When all three scholarship fullbacks are injured, Carroll phones Petros Papadakis to see if he has any eligibility remaining.

What, we made it through all five issues already? We didn’t even get a chance to mention the mythical shotgun formation, which is threatening to make its first appearance in a Trojan uniform in many, many years. Perhaps we’ll save that for another practice update. Note that next week, the Trojans will practice once daily each weekday, with two practice sessions scheduled for next Saturday. TrojanUpdate will round up and summarize the practice coverage each day, so you won’t miss a single development.

2007 Fall Football Practice Schedule (Conquest Chronicles)
2007 USC Preview (Scout)
2007 USC Trojan Media Guide (Official USC site)