USC football: PFF gives Trojans worst special teams grade among FBS teams
There are 131 teams that compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and out of those 131 teams, Pro Football Focus graded USC's 2022 play on special teams as the worst.
Not the worst in the Pac-12 or the worst in the Power Five. The worst in the entire country.
The Trojans didn't have a special teams coordinator in 2022 and Lincoln Riley told reporters in a press conference on Tuesday that "he does not expect any changes to USC’s coaching staff, outside of interim inside receivers coach Luke Huard being elevated to full time."
So don't expect a special teams coordinator to join the program any time soon.
Riley famously told the LA Times that he doesn't “believe in a singular special teams coordinator," in an interview in November.
He went on to say: “I’ve never believed in one coach that’s doing something for two periods of practice a day, then what’s he doing the rest of the time? Let’s have guys that are coaching guys all the time, everywhere.”
In his first year as USC head coach, Riley took the Trojans from a 4-8 outfit in 2021 to an 11-3 team this past season. That's quite the turnaround, but concerns about USC's defense and special teams play grew bigger and bigger as the season went on.
USC's defense gave up up over 1,000 yards of offense in two losses to Utah and then allowed Tulane to score 16 unanswered points to go along with 539 yards in the team's 46-45 Cotton Bowl defeat. In the bowl game, the Trojans made a key special teams blunder when Mario Williams bobbled a Tulane kickoff out of bounds, which gave USC possession at the 1-yard line. Two plays later, the Green Wave tackled Austin Jones in the end zone for a safety, which was critical to Tulane's comeback.
- USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch to be retained
The Trojans should get improved special teams play from one new member of the team in 2023: Arizona State transfer punter Eddie Czaplicki, who was named an All-Pac-12 first team selection in 2022.
But for USC fans' sake, hopefully that isn't the only change the Trojans make on special teams next year.
