The optimistic view or argument for a team, coach or player must be balanced against the pessimistic case. When wondering if a team is going to rise or fall, when speculating if a specific unit is going to improve or regress, one must weigh the evidence on both sides of the discussion. So it is with the USC football defense heading into the 2023 spring game, which will lead into August camp and then the regular season.
The optimistic case for Alex Grinch and the USC defense in 2023 rests on a reasonable and logical argument that in Year 2 of a system — also Year 2 for the strength and conditioning program put forth by strength coach Bennie Wylie — players will soak up knowledge better. They will retain concepts better. They will understand everything better and become more instinctive, fluid, competent performers. Just having another year will create growth and development. It’s a fair argument, given that a lot of great coaches — think of Urban Meyer at Florida in 2005 — needed a transition year before they got the train rolling down the tracks at full speed.
If we are to provide a counterpoint to the optimistic case for Alex Grinch, the 2022 game at Arizona might be the centerpiece of the pessimistic view for a number of reasons. We talked to Tim Prangley, co-host of Trojan Conquest Live at The Voice of College Football, about this particular point.
Tim and co-host Rick Anaya bring you Trojan Conquest Live every Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern and 5 p.m. Pacific. This weekend, however, they’ll move their show to Saturday at 8 Eastern due to Sunday being Easter Sunday.
Subscribe to, like, and share Trojan Conquest Live. Do the same for the USC channel at The Voice of College Football.
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