Class of 2017 four-star wide receiver Nico Collins played with 2017 Michigan quarterback commit Dylan McCaffrey on Team Hypercool during The Opening in Beaverton, Oregon. The two worked well together and developed more of a relationship on and off the field.

“He [Dylan McCaffrey] said he would like to continue to be something great at Michigan together.

Believe it or not, the receiver from Clay-Chalkville in Pinson, Alabama has Michigan as his leader.

“They’ve always been the leader,” Collins said to Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press. “They’ve always been up there from the first two times I went. Everything about Michigan. The coaching staff, it’s a tradition-type school and just the vibe of the coaches, it’s good.”

Collins, at 6-foot-5, 195 pounds, has offers from Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Auburn, Arkansas, Cincinnati, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, Miami (FL), Middle Tennessee State, Mississippi State, Missouri, Ole Miss, Southern Miss, Tennessee, and Virginia Tech. He has been recruited to Michigan by Tyrone Wheatley and Jedd Fisch.

While Collins has Michigan as his leader, he still does not know if he will commit to play for the Maize and Blue.

“Right now, I am just enjoying the process,” Collins mentioned.

Collins could be involved in a Big 3 if the Wolverines, who already have McCaffrey, would bring in both Collins and 2017 five-star wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones.

This is the second and final part wrapping up Nick Saban’s comments to the media and fans at SEC Media Days 2016.

Part one, breaking down the team, discussing chemistry, the QB situation and more, is here.

Our coverage of Coach Saban’s remarks regarding Cam Robinson and Hootie Jones is here.

—

• Saban spoke briefly about the charitable work he, Jimbo Fisher, Rick Trickett, and Tom Pendry are involved in following catastrophic flooding in parts of West Virginia. Per Saban, the NCAA and SEC were gracious in suspending certain rules to permit these four coaches to fundraise for affected high schools and athletic programs. Coach Trickett and Coach Pendry have done most of the leg work, but the donation drive is to provide equipment and other resources so that high schoolers can still participate in sports. (For more on the work these four West Virginia natives are doing, the story is here.)
• Regarding the no-huddle/hurry up offense Alabama has begun to add to its arsenal: Saban emphasizes that he does not think this is the way that football should be played, nor is it how we should wish the game to evolve — taking a particular shot at linemen “seven yards downfield or whatever,” a clear allusion to last year’s game-deciding touchdown pass by Ole Miss, where two linemen had released seven yards from the line. However, as long as those offenses are legal, failing to take advantage of the present rules only put Alabama at a disadvantage. Saban stated that no one on the staff comes from a HUNH/spread background, but another reason the wrinkles were added to the offense is that these were the kinds of systems that had posed problems from a defensive standpoint.
• On OJ Howard: The offseason praise of O.J. Howard continued, as Saban indicates that Howard is a great team player, that he had big games and big receptions outside of the Clemson game. Saban feels that Howard’s contributions to the team largely go unrecognized, including how hard he has worked on his blocking, which is difficult for a longer, thinner, athletic tight end. Howard, according to Coach Saban, has improved his blocking every year he’s been on campus. Saban also emphasized O.J. Howard’s speed and very good receiving skills. “[OJ] should be developed and should be used.” Having said that, he also implicitly recognizes that there is only one football to go around, specifically mentioning ArDarius Stewart and Calvin Ridley as other weapons in the passing game.
• On the three former assistants now coaching SEC East programs: Saban stuck to his script, reiterating what he usually does regarding former assistants. He views his job as one that also prepares those assistants to get where they want to be and have worked for professionally. He wishes them all well during the season and hopes they have success. Coach Saban then expanded upon the question to name-drop the success that other former high profiles assistants have had, particularly Coach Mark Dantonio (Michigan State) and Coach Jimbo Fisher (Florida State.)
• Few specifics were raised with Saban, however, the white elephant did rear its head regarding back-to-back losses to Ole Miss, and whether the staff had noticed any trends in those defeats. Coach Saban first stated the obvious — that OIe Miss has had a talented ball club the past few years. Second, and one that was glaringly obvious last year, Alabama has to play field position and ball control football. Turnovers and short fields have doomed the Tide the past two seasons (Ed. Note: The Tide have turned the ball over 8 times versus Ole Miss the past two seasons.) Another problem he identified home the defensive lapses, particularly “lapses in the secondary,” which yielded too many points and explosive plays to the Rebels’ passing game. (Ed. note: You get the sense that last year’s fluke helmet play still annoys the staff, and that he feels that Ole Miss didn’t so much score on the fluke, rather because Eddie Jackson misplayed it.)

Those were the highlights of Saban’s scheduled remarks. Again, the real drama (manufactured though it was by Paul Finebaum) occurred about an hour after the speech and Q&A. As CNS remarked (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) what he was going to “seriously talk about has been written about by everyone in this room. Someone out here has written a story on everything I’m about to say.”

He wasn’t joking. From the Ole Miss breakdowns, to the depth issues along the front seven, to the quarterback drama, to Alabama’s support network for student athletes, there truly was nothing new under the sun.

A complete wrapup of Day Three will go live tomorrow morning, and we will conclude our coverage Friday morning of SEC Media Days 2016.

Roll Tide.

Another day, another Penn State player recognized among the nation’s best.

To the surprise of few, junior wide receiver Chris Godwin has been named to the watch list for the Biletnikoff Award, given annually to the best pass-catcher in college football.

Godwin enjoyed a remarkable breakout season as a true sophomore in 2015, collecting 69 catches for 1,101 receiving yards and five touchdowns. He was only the third player in program history to reach the 1,000- receiving yards milestone, joining Penn State greats Bobby Engram and Allen Robinson. Engram is the only Nittany Lion to receive the Biletnikoff Award during Penn State’s undefeated 1994 squad that featured one of the best offenses in college football history.

Godwin recently joined running back Saquon Barkley on the Maxwell Award watch list, given annually to the best player in college football.

Is it September 3 yet?? Congratulations and best of luck, Chris!

When you start to look at any offensive line, the first issue to address is unit cohesion.  That’s the critical key to any line play regardless of the blocking style, size, or position of any of the players.  The five traditional positions of the offensive line; Center, Left and Right Guards, Left and Right Tackles, absolutely must play as a coordinated unit.  There is a certain amount of raw talent that will help, and size is a quality all of its own; but nothing substitutes for the ability of the players to operate as a unit.

The nature of line play, the trenches will never be glamorous or star quality.  There are the occasional ‘nailed’ blocks; or the glory of leading a sweep or screen down the field and crushing the last attempt at the runner before he clips the flag going into the end zone.  Those plays get noticed by fans.  Mostly, though, the work of the line looks more like a low speed collision at or about the line of scrimmage followed by some scrambling around with the guy touching the ball getting most of the notice.  Few people besides coaches and film reviewers will notice the key block (that lasted all of a half second) by the guard on the crashing linebacker that sprung the fullback into the end zone for the score.

Such is the playing life of the lineman; but the fact remains that without an effective offensive line that can block effectively for your particular offensive scheme, your offense isn’t going to run or pass anywhere.  There is an old saw floating around that the O-line is 85% of the running game.  Okay, maybe you can’t find it in the Google search, and maybe it was my 8^th grade football coach that said it.  I will contend that Coach Gould was exactly correct, and there are few winning teams without fielding a solid offensive line.

So, where does that leave the 2016 Virginia Tech Hokie football team?  We all know that every year for the last four or five seasons, most fans of Hokie Nation have been outright worried about the quality and depth of the O-Line.  It isn’t the players’ fault but the last few seasons the Offensive line has struggled mightily.  The lack of a coherent offensive design didn’t help matters any.

The past lines just could not run block.  Drive blocking is basic vanilla stuff but requires practice, coordination, and most of all physical presence.  There was some success at influence/zone blocking as the seasons wore on and the line gained experience with each other, but that left some serious issues early in the season where wins can make the difference between a good bowl and a booger.  (Look, I’m not discussing championships for a while; let’s just stick to winning the majority of our games.)

Pass blocking was much the same as the zone problem (these are related and overlapping blocking schemes in most modern offenses).  The team got better as the season wore on.  No one needs to be consulted more than Brewer and Motley from last season as to how critical the blocking problem was.  We’ll let the two years of Michael Brewer’s reputation for toughness go on the books as something that needed to be more mental than physical.  That he was constantly on the turf or picking it out of his face guard is not a testament to the quality of the blocking.  Then there was the broken clavicle.  Brenden Motley’s games were similarly challenged and he had to figure out how to pick himself up after getting thumped for the ‘billionth’ time.

As was noted, the season wore on, and the experience level and personnel playing stabilized, so the blocking improved.  The line still couldn’t drive, but it was handling pass and influence blocking enough that Travon McMillian was running for seriously good yardage, and Brewer wasn’t constantly under heavy pressure.

This season really needs to be different.  All of the coaching staff is new on the offensive side of the ball, with the exception of Coach Burden, who was pretty new himself.  There are rumors and hints that things are being done another way.  One solid piece of news that no one needs to rely on the grape vine for clues; there is an actual offense being taught.  It’s what Coach Fuente is known for, and it’s presumably the biggest reason for him being here.

And all of the success that his offense could have hinges greatly on the list of players that sits in the chart below as extracted from the roster at Hokie Sports:

2016 Virginia Tech Offensive Line Roster in class order

What stand out most starkly are the numbers 6 and 4.  Six is the number of linemen who have playing experience.  Four is the number of players with multiple season experience.  Folks, this means a depth chart that is exactly one experienced player deep with a spare.   This isn’t meant to talk down about the guys who presumably will be taking up the number 2 and 3 slots, but a football team needs a solid three deep roster, especially at the critical line positions.

There are going to be lots of new players who are going to be directly challenged, and it will come quickly.  The line is a repeated 35 mile per hour collision, Greco-Roman wrestling match, with a touch of Sumo thrown in interspersed with 20 and 30 yards sprints.  It’s often exhausting work and substitution is a must.  If you add to the mix that Fuente’s offense goes fast; often with less than 15 seconds between plays, the depth positions of the chart are going to be even more critical.

So the numbers stack up like this; two Seniors, five Juniors, four Sophomores, and six redshirt Freshmen.  That’s seventeen immediately eligible players which is one player short of a three deep -€” assuming that all of upperclassmen are starting or near starting quality.   The incoming ‘true Freshman’ class might be contributing more than a sprinkling of players.  The old Beamer practice of redshirting nearly everyone might be going by the wayside to help fill out the three deep.

Let’s get started with the depth chart semi-WAG and see how it holds up over time.  First we look at the players who are sure to occupy the number 1 slot of the depth chart for each of their positions:

Augie Conte -€” redshirt Senior, a team leader, Augie has a nearly total lock on the Right Guard position.  He has played Right Tackle in the past, but really started making serious headway in the interior right side.  The new offensive scheme is likely to be a challenge for the three interior positions.  Conte will be learning a new style of play and new responsibilities.

Jonathan McLaughlin -€” true Senior, McLaughlin is another real leader and will undoubtedly be the starting Left Tackle again this season.  He played all 13 games last year at that position and short of something approaching a phenomenal practice performance for another player Jonathan will be watching the QB’s back again this season.

Wyatt Teller -€” redshirt Junior, Teller was THE LEFT Guard last season and has played consistently since he moved over from the defensive side of the ball in his first season.  Wyatt is a knockdown machine.  If he gets some more control (it got better last season) with his holding penalties, Teller has two full seasons left with the Hokies if someone doesn’t want him at the next level by the end of the season.

Eric Gallo -€” true Junior, Gallo is the starting Center, and played all 13 games last season.  He has good hands. His shotgun snaps have been decent though a couple of ‘off’ line attempts might have created a few issues… mostly low.  The new offense is going to challenge his accuracy.  If the past seasons are any indication, Gallo is going to have the Quarterback in the shotgun for most of every game.  Drive blocking and A-gap control will continue to be an issue, it’s the toughest thing for a Center to do, which is transition from the audible calls and snap control to execution during and after the ball moves.

That list fills out only the interior three and one outside position.  Coach Vice is going to have to identify the one additional number 1 slot, Right Tackle. Parker Osterloh and Yosuah Nijman both have a solid season of playing experience behind them, but Nijman did most of his work at Left Tackle backing up Jonathan McLaughlin.  Demitri Moore is new, but has JUCO experience playing Tackle.  With the need for someone to back up McLaughlin I don’t seen that Nijman will get another season of backup at Left Tackle.  Vance Vice is the wildcard on this one.  Regardless of what sort of possibilities were there last season, the new coach will have new ideas, and a big hole on the right side of his formation.

Yosuah Nijman -€” true Sophomore, Nijman was switched from Defensive End, to Offensive Tackle at the very beginning of last season.  His body type and balance qualities made him a better fit outside on the offensive line.  He backed up JMac (McLaughlin) for the entire season and got a respectable number of snaps at a critical position for being a true Freshman.  His talent is there, what coaches Vice and Fuente decide to do with those talents will be a challenge.  He could play Right Tackle, though he might be better off starting at Left with JMac moving to right (or so says Joshua).  My tendency is to get him one more year at #2 Left Tackle with a good set of respectable snaps to set him up to complete his eligibility there.  He and Parker Osterloh are checking in at basketball forward sized 6’8″.

Parker Osterloh -€” redshirt Junior, Osterloh is BIG.  He’s tied for our tallest lineman and he is our heaviest.  He played a good number of snaps last season out at Right Tackle and is the natural main contender to take that position as number 1 in the depth chart.  That will heavily depend on what side of the line Nijman and McLaughlin show up.  My guess is that given the speed and style of the coming offense, Osterloh could be splitting time with Demitri Moore, who joined the program in January from JUCO.

Demitri Moore -€” transfer true Junior, Moore was highly recruited and joined the program just at the beginning of the 2^nd semester of the 2015-2016 school year.  He’s got solid junior college field experience at tackle and looks like the right body type and talent to be an immediate impact player.  Right now, with nothing out on the right side with much experience, I see him sharing time with Osterloh, and a challenge for both of them at who goes 1 or 2 for the first cut of the Fall 2016 Depth Chart.

After Nijman, Osterloh, and Moore, we begin to thin out in the experience ratings.  The next few players with, at least some game experience are in order of their listed experience (which number in a few snaps in each of a few games):

Kyle Chung

Braxton Pfaff

Colt Pettit

Billy Ray Mitchell

The remainder of the active roster is listed as either redshirt Freshman or true Freshman.  There could be a couple of true Freshman that make the final squad.  Jarrett Hopple and T.J. Jackson might have a shot at actual roster time, but the true freshman part of the list is pretty small.   They might be better off spending practice time for the next season.

In any event the proposed Gobbler Country 2016 WAG Depth Chart looks like a blender past the first level.  Okay, even the first level looks a bit stirred up at the moment.

There is a fair amount of confidence for the number 1 spot for each position.  After that, all bets are off, and whatever is proposed might be the best possible guess.

* These are the players with some experience who might show up anywhere on a line this season.

Suffice it to say the cheese is Swiss and the slices are pretty thin.  There are two squads that are most concerning when it comes to the 2016 Hokies, the Linebackers and the Offensive Line.  We have solid experienced starters and an unfocused hodgepodge of players in the depth positions.  This will continue to be an issue for the season, and the team’s success is going to depend heavily on the inexperienced underclassmen, especially the redshirt Freshman.

Every football fan knows that at some point, the offensive line that started the football season is not going to be the offensive line completely through the season, and who finishes where come New Years is completely up to fate.

Next up, the Backfield including quarterbacks, since they run in Fuente’s offense.

GO HOKIES!!!!

Five-Star Georgia Bulldogs safety commit Richard LeCounte is a big-time recruit out of Liberty County.

He’s been ranked by 247Sports as the No. 1 athlete in the entire 2017 class, and was coveted by every major program in the nation before committing to UGA.

LeCounte showed why yet again at The Opening, a camp for elite recruits:

I’ll wait while you pick your jaw up off the floor. We’ve still got a long way to go before signing day 2017, but assuming Georgia holds onto LeCounte he can become an absolute game-change for the ‘Dawgs.

In preparation for a fall camp tryout to make the Texas Longhorns football team, kicker Chris Naggar was in Austin on Wednesday for orientation.

And he’s already made friends with the unofficial mayor of Austin, sophomore linebacker Malik Jefferson:

Not a bad guy to have on your side as you try to convince head coach Charlie Strong for a shot at the open place-kicker duties vacated by Nick Rose.

Consistency, accuracy, and distance help, too, as Naggar demonstrated in a video from early July that showed him making 10 consecutive field goals from 50 yards.

If Naggar, a former All-State selection at Arlington High, does manage to make the team, he’ll compete with a group that has only attempted one field goal in public at Texas, which former punter Mitchell Becker missed badly in this spring’s Orange and White game.

So there’s a definite opening there that led Strong to plead, “If you find me a kicker, send him to me.”

Well, here’s Mr. Naggar. He’s already cool with Malik.

Michigan Wolverines wide receiver Jehu Chesson has been recognized as one the top receivers in the nation going into the 2016 season.

Chesson has been named to the Biletnikoff Award watch list, which goes annually to college football’s best receiver.

The senior receiver was one of 53 players to make the list and has also been named to the Maxwell Award watch list, which is the award for the nation’s top offensive player. He caught 50 receptions for 764 yards and nine touchdowns in 2015 and was named All-Big Ten.

The Biletnikoff award will be presented Dec. 8 on ESPN by Michigan legend Desmond Howard. Past winners include Calvin Johnson, Randy Moss, Michael Crabtree and Larry Fitzgerald.

I can think of some examples that are comparable.

Michael Jackson … 2005.

Sarah Palin … 2008.

Great Britain … 2016.

The Mariners … pick one.

All of those were bad years for the subject in question. With the exception of the Mariners, at least those examples were limited to just one bad year.

For USC, the rollercoaster ride that has been Trojan football has been and continues to be a cluster of epic proportions, one that has now gone for about 15 years. Consider a brief history of USC football:

2001 – USC hires Pete Carroll, a wildly unpopular choice to succeed Paul Hackett.

2002 – USC recruits RB Reggie Bush, who would go on to win the Heisman in 2005.

2009 – USC named “Team of the Decade” by both CBS Sports and SI.

2010 – USC gets clobbered by the NCAA for recruiting irregularities around Reggie Bush, receiving a two-year bowl ban, a vacating of all wins that Bush participated in, and a 30-scholarship reduction.

2010 – Pete Carroll quits, Lane Kiffin hired.

2011 – USC wins South under Kiffin, but is ineligible for postseason and cedes South title to UCLA.

2013 – Lane Kiffin fired midway through the season while on the tarmac boarding the team plane; assistant Ed Orgeron replaces him.

2013 – UW head coach and former Carroll assistant – and Kiffin’s best friend – Steve Sarkisian hired to replace Ed Orgeron. USC fans rejoice. So do UW’s.

2015 – Sarkisian fired after a series of alcohol-related incidents, including a drunken rant at an alumni event and a dismissal from a practice after showing up intoxicated. Assistant Clay Helton takes over.

2015 – Clay Helton hired permanently and turns over most of the coaching staff, including letting go former UW assistants Peter Sirmon, Justin Wilcox, and Marques Tuiasosopo.

Man, that’s a lot of shit.

Obviously, 2015 wasn’t the season that USC fans were hoping for. Despite being loaded with a roster that featured A-List talents such as LB Su’a Cravens, WR JuJu Smith, CB Adoree’ Jackson, and QB Cody Kessler, USC just couldn’t overcome the drama. It went better than you may think – USC did finish 6-3 in the conference overall, good enough to win the South and take a trip to the PAC-12 Championship game. But they would go on to lose both of their last games – to Stanford and to Wisconsin in the Holiday Bowl.

The Trojans enter 2016 in arguably their most stable state since the 2009 season. They are back to a full roster, they have a coach with no real connections to the Carroll era and they still feature a roster of top-grade talent. But is it enough to repeat as South champions and go all the way?

That’s a question for the Gekko.

USC’s Offense:

A preview of things to come? USC’s JuJu Smith-Schuster might well be the top receiver in the nation.

Let’s just get this out of the way right now: USC has a scary offense. It may not look to be obvious at first blush. Injuries – particularly those on the offensive line – and off-field distractions conspired to depress their overall output a year ago. They finished just sixth in the PAC in scoring offense and seventh in total offens,e despite boasting a stable of playmaking talent that had no peers in the conference.

Much of that talent returns in 2016. The offensive line, if it can stay healthy, projects as one of the top two units in the PAC. The headliner is OT Zach Banner, the son of UW great Lincoln Kennedy. The 6’9″, 360-lb behemoth is more athletic than you think and is very likely a first-round NFL pick waiting to happen. He is joined by no fewer than eight fellow linemen who can claim “starting experience” thanks to the injuries from a year ago. Senior LT Chad Wheeler, junior OG Damien Mama, and junior C Toa Lobendahn are all “top of conference” kinds of players and will set a particularly strong wall for the Trojans’ new QB.

Oh yeah, about that QB. Another Washington state product, junior Max Browne, was once the #1 QB recruit in the nation. He’s now the presumptive starter for Clay Helton’s offense. Browne is a tall, lanky QB with decent mobility, plus arm strength and strong fundamentals. He’s not been tested extensively under fire, so it is hard to say exacly how he will perform against live bullets. But he has the tools and the maturity to be an instant impact player. I think that his ceiling is far higher than that of his predecessor and I expect him to perform very well. If for some reason he falters, USC might have some problems. Big RS freshman Sam Darnold is probably next up before they get to true freshman Matt Fink. That, however, is not a situation anybody wants to see unfold.

Fortunately, whichever QB takes the snaps, the conference’s best RB duo is ready to take the pressure off. Ronald Jones III and Justin Davis each topped 900 yards a year ago and both project to top that in 2016. Helton is committed to a pro-style, run-first offense which will feature heavy doses of both backs behind that massive offensive line. Both are similar in style, though Jones probably has more overall explosiveness. There are going to be a lot of yards and TDs scored by both players.

The receiving corps is also loaded. Junior JuJu Smith-Schuster returns for what is certainly his final season and is probably the best receiver in the nation. Junior Steven Mitchell and senior Darreus Rogers would be stars on most other teams and provide experienced depth for the Trojans. There is also plenty of young talent to tap into such as 5-star Tyler Vaughns, playmaker extraordinaire Jack Jones, and big man Michael Pittman Jr. The one glaring gap in the lineup for Helton is at TE. There aren’t many bodies available, which implies that you might be seeing a lot of creative ways to compensate. That could include 6-OL sets as well as instances with both Davis and Jones in the backfield together.

USC’s Defense:

Offense? Defense? Special Teams? Adoree’ Jackson is “Mr. Everything” to USC.

If you are looking for a weak link for the Trojans, you’ll probably find it somewhere on the defensive side of the ball.  I’m just not quite sure how weak that space will be. At least not yet.

It might well be the defensive line. New (old?) DC Clancy Pendergast inherits a whole new unit to staff his 5-2 front seven thanks to the moving on of stars Delvon Simmons, Antuwan Woods and Greg Townsend. Taking their places are a bunch of parts you might not have heard of before. Sophomores Rashaun Green and 330-lb man-child Noah Jefferson are the main pieces that will plug the middle of the line. JUCO transfer Josh Fatu, sophomore Malik Dorton, and pass-rush specialist Porter Gustin are key players who will have the names called many times. The youth and inexperience of this unit opens the door for a true freshman that I’m particularly intrigued by, 5-star Oluwole Betiku, to have a breakout.

If defensive line depth is a problem, it isn’t so with the USC linebacking corps. The challenge there is recovering from the loss of star Su’a Cravens and his 15.5 TFLs, 5.5 sacks and 2 INTs. MLB Cameron Smith is certain to be a starter, though he will face competition from the man who replaced him after an injury in Olajuwon Tucker. Both are good sized, athletic MIKEs who excel in coverage. I mentioned Gustin as a pass-rush specialist already. Keep your eye on sophomore OLB Osa Masina. He’s a Travis Feeney clone at 6’4″ 230 with freak athleticism. He struggled last year, but might really blow up in a new scheme that seems to better fit his game.

The secondary is in good shape overall.  Adoree’ Jackson – who was competing in Olympic qualifiers as I wrote this – is one of the most explosive players in the nation whether he is playing WR or CB. He is the star of this defense and the rock of the secondary. Sophomore CB Iman Marshall returns after a breakout true freshman campaign. Depth at safety is ridiculous with guys like junior John Plattenburg (remember him?), junior Chris Hawkins, and senior Leon McQuay all in the mix. This unit will compete with UW and UCLA as the best secondary in the conference, if not the nation.

One Breakout Star

QB Max Browne

I almost went with freshman Betiku here, but the selection of Browne is almost too obvious. As I noted, Browne has all of tools you look for in a QB – he can see over the line, he’s got great mechanics, and he delivers a well-spun ball, even if he doesn’t have a bazooka arm. He’s waited patiently in the wings for three years and his time has finally come.

He walks into a situation that is almost too good to be true. His OL projects as a dominating unit that specializes in pass protection. He’s got two fantastic RBs who will shoulder more than 50% of the offensive snaps. When he does drop back to pass, he’s got a mix of proven stars (JuJu, Adoree’, Rogers, Mitchell) and absurd young talent (Jones, Vaughns, and Pittman) to leverage.

If Browne doesn’t break out, it might qualify as the biggest flop in Los Angeles history (at least since Ishtar).

Predicting 2016

There is no doubt that the South is shaping up to be a three-man race between the “Southern U’s” – Utah, UCLA, and USC. I haven’t done my game-by-game forecasts yet, so I don’t have a good sense of exactly where things are going to fall. However, I’d be shocked if USC wasn’t in it until the very end.

The schedule bothers me. Not only does USC have to contend with the most difficult schedule in the nation (thanks to a road trip to Alabama in Week 1 and a finale versus Notre Dame), but they have to endure a PAC-12 schedule that is back-loaded. Their last three are vs Oregon, @ UW, and @ UCLA. They also have to endure road trips to Stanford and Utah during the regular season. That, my friends, is an absolute bitch of a schedule.

I’m inclined not to go in favor of USC to win the South. Despite all of the sparkling pieces and my confidence that the offensive and defensive schemes now match the personnel on the roster, the combination of a brutal schedule and youth in the defensive front seven are just enough to tip the scales away from the Trojans. It still isn’t clear to me exactly how all of the players are going to mesh with an overhauled coaching staff and, honestly, it remains to be seen whether or not Clay Helton is in over his head. For all of those reasons, I’m thinking that 5 or 6 conference wins will keep them in the race, but not enough to pull it out in the end.