So far this year USC wide receiver Drake London has torn apart every defense he’s faced except on, Stanfords. On the year, London has 64 receptions for 832-yards and 5 scores. The yardage puts the Trojan wide receiver 4th in the country and second in the country in catches.
He’s been awesome over his last four games, each of them going over 130-yards, averaging a score each of them. How do you stop London? Well, you have to go back and look at what the Cardinal did to him, specially cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly.
After holding London to a season low 4 catches and 68-yards, he mentioned that his “mentality going in, it was gonna be a battle…. I had to go in with confidence, knowing that I could press or I could play off,” said Kelly.
That’s the key right there, will be mixing coverages, press and off, to confuse London as much as possible. Having a safety over the top, most likely Kyle Hamilton to help whichever cornerback, Cam Hart or Clarence Lewis ends up on him.
Another key will be to get pressure on Kedon Slovis and not give him time to make the proper reads. Isaiah Foskey has to continue to be a monster while Jayson Ademilola also has to pressure Slovis.
It will not be an easy task to contain London, but the Blu print is there. With a week off prior to facing the Trojans, Brian Kelly and defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman should have a good game plan to stop the star receiver. B