What We Learned: How close was USC's QB competition?

For all intents and purposes, JT Daniels has been USC's starting quarterback from the moment he pledged to Coach Clay Helton in the fall of 2017 that he would reclassify and begin his college career at USC a year early.

Two years ago, Sam Darnold was a sure bet to declare early for the NFL draft, which would leave Daniels to compete with the inexperienced and lesser recruited Matt Fink and Jack Sears. To that end, Helton even said no to Shea Patterson's offer to transfer from Ole Miss. Daniels was already his guy.

But a lot has changed at USC since the Mater Dei phenom arrived last summer. After dominating the competition in his first training camp -- a JTKO, if you will -- Daniels struggled throughout his freshman season, the team fell from consecutive New Year's Six appearances to 5-7, Helton nearly lost his job, and a new offensive coordinator was hired to install a new offense.

Even then, it seemed inevitable that Daniels would win the starting job again, the open competition instituted in spring and continuing into August appearing to be a mere formality with Daniels coming out on top. Thus, the big reveal Tuesday was not that Daniels was No. 1 but that true freshman Kedon Slovis was No. 2.

On Wednesday, Graham Harrell provided clarity to the bold decision, and in the process he nuked the narrative that Daniels was the obvious choice all along. In fact, he bluntly stated that Slovis has the highest ceiling of all the USC QBs.

"Kedon's a special talent. Talent-wise, he's as good as I've ever seen," Harrell said. "Kedon can make some throws that other people can't make, and so that's why he's a special talent. He did a really good job. I think more than anything with Kedon, he just made some freshman mistakes and if he wouldn't have, I don't know if he would have won the job or not, but it would be a different story, possibly. I think he knows that too. I think he can be special, and I think he can be special where he is. He's a very talented guy and we're fortunate to have him.

"JT was just a little more consistent than he was every single day, and that's what puts this offense in the best position to win, especially with the talent we have around him."

It was telling how when Harrell was asked twice about Daniels' growth and what excites him about the sophomore as it pertains to the upcoming season, Harrell brought it back to the offense as a whole and how the system should manifest. In other words, Daniels didn't win the job so much as he didn't lose it. Whether the latter could happen during the season remains to be seen.

"I expect to play well, so the leash is pretty long, as long as you're playing well," Harrell said. "I think if I put any of those four in they'll play pretty well. We expect them to go execute and execute at a high level and that's what we're going to ask them to do. Hopefully that's what we'll see. ...

Harrell's confidence in Daniels is really an extension of his confidence in himself and his system. He was asked directly how comfortable he would be, if Daniels were to go down, putting in Slovis ahead of two older QBs with experience. Harrell chuckled, almost indignant as he responded.

"If we think Kedon's the backup, I feel very confident that he can go in and play," Harrell said. "I have confidence that if he gets throw into a game, the moment won't be too big and he'll go out and execute that's what we expect out of him and that's what he's shown. So, I have no reason to think that he wouldn't do it otherwise."

That the newest kid on the QB block finished second -- ahead of two veterans -- and almost won, tells us two things: This entire process was ultimately governed by Harrell, not Helton, and the winning quarterback really hasn't changed much since he first got the job.

QUICK HITS

The first-team offense was mostly unchanged in Wednesday's practice, with receivers Michael Pittman and Amon-Ra St. Brown lining up both inside and out. Vavae Malepeai continued to be the lead tailback.

On defense, cornerbacks Olaijah Griffin, Isaac Taylor-Stuart and Chris Steele all worked with the first team. DBs coach Greg Burns told me Greg Johnson, who’ spent a lot of time recently practicing at nickel, is also among what is currently a four-man rotation heading into the season.

INJURIES

WR Devon Williams (quad) returned. LBs Eli’jah Winston and Abdul-Malik McClain remained out. S Dorian Hewett also didn’t practice.