LOS ANGELES — Yes, there are three quarterbacks vying for the USC starting quarterback job.
Trojans coach Clay Helton reiterated to reporters that Saturday was only the first scrimmage and eighth practice of training camp.
When asked for his initial impressions of true freshman JT Daniels’ performance, Helton mentioned all three quarterbacks at the start of his answer.
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But it was clear which quarterback was the most impressive of the bunch. Daniels, a five-star prospect from Mater Dei High School, turned in a stellar effort with 10 completions in his 12 pass attempts to go along with four touchdown throws in USC’s 60-plus-play scrimmage at the Coliseum.
The first two drives of the day belonged to Fink and Sears. Those two possessions featured as many sacks as completions (four), and were fairly pedestrian until Sears connected with Josh Imatorbhebhe, who beat true freshman corner Olaijah Griffin, for a 70-yard touchdown pass.
Then Daniels made his first appearance, and it didn’t take long for him to assert himself. Daniels’ high school teammate, true freshman receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, ran a go-route against corner Isaiah Langley and Daniels lofted a deep ball in his direction.
Brown made a great, bobbling catch for nearly 50 yards, and that pretty much set the tone for Daniels’ day. He connected with St. Brown again for a 10-yard touchdown pass on a back-shoulder route three plays later.
Five plays after that, Daniels threw another touchdown pass, to Velus Jones for 30 yards on a post route. The true freshman showed poise in the pocket, displayed his accuracy and made quick decisions, which mostly negated the pass rush that wrecked the first two drives.
On his second possession, Daniels threw a 35-yard touchdown to St. Brown, who made a spectacular diving catch in the end zone. Daniels was the only quarterback to lead both the first and second-team offense to touchdowns in the non-two-minute drill portion of the scrimmage.
“Obviously, he’s a very mature kid physically and mentally,” Helton said. “The investment that he’s made early, you know in the spring of getting the playbook and studying it. The approach he took in the summer of shutting up and working, going through our player-run practices and learning, learning from Matt, learning from Jack. You can see the investment he’s made. Our goal is with all our freshmen is not to learn, but compete when they come into camp and obviously he’s doing a nice job of competing.”
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Fink completed 9 of his 14 passes while Sears connected on 7 of 10. Most of Fink’s passes in his two normal possessions were shorter throws. He and Sears both faced a lot of pressure and both used their legs for decent gains at times.
Sears was nearly picked off by Griffin before he threw his first touchdown pass to Imatorbhebhe, who left immediately after with an ankle sprain.
Both looked better in the two-minute drill when they each went 5-for-6 passing. Fink’s drive ended with a field goal. Sears’ ended with a 25-yard touchdown pass down the seam to tight end Josh Falo.
But even then, Daniels completed all five of his passes in the two-minute drill and capped it off with his third touchdown pass to St. Brown.
USC true freshmen @jtdaniels06 and @amonra_stbrown rose to the occasion of the Trojans first Coliseum scrimmage of Fall Camp.
MIDO Camp Watch Practice Report: https://t.co/7bgqH1FaCl#FightOn pic.twitter.com/QO91DuYHLp
— USC Trojans (@USC_Athletics) August 12, 2018
Helton repeated what he has said several times over the past few weeks: That he doesn’t have a crystal ball and doesn’t have an exact date when he’ll name a starter. He mentioned on Saturday that it would come during the week of the first game, which is Sept. 1 of UNLV.
That would stretch this competition out for at least two more full weeks. What was probably more telling was Helton’s response when asked how this scrimmage was weighed in terms of evaluation compared to other practices.
“This is real life in the Coliseum with live bullets flying,” Helton said. “This is like a preseason game in the NFL. That’s how we approached it. We get three opportunities and this was one of them.”
Even though Saturday was only the first of those three opportunities, Daniels certainly looked like the most comfortable quarterback and the other candidates will have to show something they didn’t during that scrimmage to match him.
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“I think when you go through a training camp, you have to look at the total sum of the camp and do what’s best for your team in the moment,” Helton said. “It’s a long camp. … We’ll put the best guy out there in the moment and the guy that’s performing the best.”
Etc.
The Trojans’ pass rush had a solid scrimmage as well with five sacks. Defensive lineman Jay Tufele provided a lot of that pressure. “Probably the guy that may be having the best camp of anybody is Jay Tufele,” Helton said. “He has really stepped up his game. … His quick-twitch ability is really giving our guards issues.”
True freshman Kana’i Mauga was impressive with his speed off the edge, which led to a sack and other tackle behind the line of scrimmage.
St. Brown’s play was also another key takeaway from the day. “That’s what I think really separates you as a receiver, to be able to make the tough plays, the tough catches,” Helton said. “Obviously, he did that today. For his first time out, I was very impressed with him.”
Defensive lineman Caleb Tremblay suffered a stinger prior to the scrimmage and didn’t participate.
