All eyes at USC football are on Alex Grinch, the defensive coordinator who certainly needs to prove he can get the job done in 2023. However, Grinch isn’t the only man coaching defense for the Trojans. There are position coaches who can — and must — help him out. There’s no better example of this than Shaun Nua, the defensive line coach whose previous work at Michigan needs to be studied.
Wolverines Wire wrote the following late in the 2020 pandemic season, which was obviously a disorganized mess for a lot of teams and coaching staffs:
“Under defensive coordinator Don Brown, Michigan has had a nasty front seven, led by the defensive line. It puts massive pressure on the opposing quarterback, forcing turnovers and also stuffing the rushing attack. This year, the group is but a shell of its former self, despite being touted as the strongest part of this team as the season got started. Now it looks like one of the weakest parts.
“Injuries have hurt the group as defensive end Aidan Hutchinson is out for the season with a leg injury. The other starting end on the opposite side, Kwity Paye, missed a few games with an injury but returned against Penn State on Saturday. While those injuries have stung, if this defensive line has massive depth and strongpoints at multiple spots, those injuries shouldn’t hold them back.
“Defensive line coach Shaun Nua has guys that can play inside or outside, like defensive tackle Carlo Kemp and some veteran presence with Donovan Jeter and Julius Welschof. Nua has the players to make this unit strong even with Hutchinson out for the year.”
From the disorder of the pandemic in 2020, Nua and Michigan were able to thrive in 2021, leading the Wolverines to the Big Ten championship and the College Football Playoff. Hutchinson became the 2021 Heisman runner-up.
Nua can make Bear Alexander into a top defensive lineman. He doesn’t have to be as good as Aidan Hutchinson. Merely being in the same neighborhood or zip code would be good enough to lift the Bear … and USC … to greater heights.
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