USC Linebacker Desman Stephens Shares Candid Opinion on Defending Oregon

USC Trojans linebacker Desman Stephens is among the leading tacklers of new defensive coordinator Gary Patterson's unit, and like the rest of USC's leaders, Stephens is seemingly treating the upcoming matchup with No. 20 Oregon as just another game.

In addition to sharing his thoughts on preparing for the Ducks, Stephens also revealed his opinions on how the game will play out when asked about defending Oregon's wide receivers.

usc trojans desman stephens linebacker oregon ducks evan stewart dante moore gary patterson lincoln riley dakorien moore — Dec 30, 2025; San Antonio, TX, USA; Southern California Trojans linebacker Desman Stephens II (23) celebrates against the TCU Horned Frogs in the second half during the Alamo Bowl at Alamodome. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

"No, I don't see it being a high scoring game, but I would say just trusting our eyes. Like, every week is going to have a set of players and skill guys or whoever they think that are their key guys and who they want to feed the ball to. So just trusting our game plan and trusting our instincts and technique going into it, that's all we can do, more so than the names of them."

Ducks receiver Jeremiah McClellan is out with a broken foot, but the Ducks offense still features receivers Evan Stewart and Dakorien Moore as well as tight end Jamari Johnson.

The Trojans defense has surrendered an average of 22.8 points per game through four contests, but stopping Oregon quarterback Dante Moore and company will be key to defeating the Ducks.

Everything Desman Stephens Said

Message from Coach Patterson

"Just after getting back from our last game, fix what we need to fix from last game, and then also add in the new things that we want to do going forward, and just continue to push our defensive values, which is getting to the ball, communicating, and playing aggressive."

Things to Improve On:

"Well, that might be a better question for him (Patterson). We usually keep team things in-house, so he might be able to answer that better than I can. But just taking anything that he says and he gained the knowledge from a Hall of Famer and just applying that to the game and in practice."

What Stands Out on Oregon's Tight Ends

"I would say just listen to our coaches. We definitely have a good game plan and a good scouting report on what we got coming forward this Saturday, so just keeping our eye out for all the formations and all the different tells that we can do. We just got to be in our right spot and trust our keys, trust our eyes."

Challenges Against Rutgers

"Some of the challenges. Honestly, I'm not really sure about challenges, because the new day and age, we can fix things almost immediately when we see things on the field. So say we mess up a play or whatever the case may be, we can fix it almost like that next possession. So most of the things from the game, we usually fix on the go. So I wouldn't say we don't have any consistent challenges that arise, but just fixing those small little things when they pop up."

Biggest Difference in Facing Oregon

"I would say they definitely just try to mess with defensive eyes and just move around a lot. They make sure you're playing sound as a defense. And just being on our P's and Q's, I mean, that's really the main thing. I would say they just have a lot of movement pre-snap."

Message to Team Before Big Game

"Honestly, you got to treat all these games the same. I mean, each week we just got to strive to win the day and then keep stacking those days and eventually win on Saturday. So just not changing or wavering with whatever anybody tries to make it seem to be, just trusting our keys and trusting our team and trusting our family to go and execute on Saturday."

Time Spent Studying Last Year's Game

"Yeah, just I feel like we've done a great job of just getting a wide range of things that they've done, whether that's from now, whether that's from last year or previous years before, whatever, because coordinators and all those things move. So even if it's from previous years, we just do a good job of just getting a lot of information and making sure we best we can prepare for anything that we can get on Saturday."

Feeling in New Defensive System

"Yes, I would say just building those building blocks from spring and fall were very essential for our defense. So it helped having Coach Patterson in there in the spring and in the summer just to get comfortable. We're doing reps on reps on reps on reps on reps. So now it's more so like second nature. And obviously there's some fine tunes that we got to tweak from time to time. But yeah, it feels like second nature out there."

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