The USC Trojans need to improve in a lot of areas on defense. Everyone knows that heading into the 2023 season. However, if you had to choose one area where the Trojans had to make an especially big leap, which position group would you pick?
It shouldn’t be a close call here. The secondary matters. The linebackers matter, too. However, the USC defensive line is clearly the most important position group on the team. If that unit holds together in the 2023 season, USC should thrive. If the Trojans can be more than a Swiss cheese-level sieve up front, their weaknesses will be minimized, not magnified.
Lincoln Riley told 247Sports he loved what he saw from his defensive front seven at the USC spring game on Saturday:
“The difference in the front seven is noticeable,” Riley said. “I think we all knew deep down that we had some holes there last year. It is what it is, right? You knew that. And even when we’re winning games and playing well defensively, at some point, this has got to be addressed. It was gonna be a focal point. No matter if we won five games last year, we won 11 or we won 15 games last year, it was gonna happen and so I’m excited about what that looks like.”
We shouldn’t think this position group has it all figured out, but players are definitely bigger and thicker than they were at this time one year ago. We will see if that translates into better performance this fall.
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