Tag: Kyle Ford

USC receivers step up vs Arizona with Jordan Addison, Mario Williams injured

Losing one of Jordan Addison or Mario Williams is a big deal. #USC didn’t have either one. The other receivers really came through.

It was true going into the season that of all the position groups on the USC roster, wide receiver was the deepest. That said, no one wanted to find out what would happen if the two best receivers on the Trojans were out and could not play.

Yet, that’s exactly the scenario which greeted the Trojans Saturday evening in Tucson. Jordan Addison and Mario Williams were not able to play against the Arizona Wildcats. They are fast, they are skilled, and they make big plays, but the value of those two receivers goes beyond playmaking ability. They block. They understand the offense. They understand Caleb Williams.

Missing one of those two guys is a notable loss. Missing both? That’s a ton of missing production and leadership.

It was no guarantee that USC’s other receivers could fully compensate for their two missing superstars.

Saturday against Arizona, they did. We have the details:

If USC plays in spring, Kyle Ford could reclaim his season

One of the big “what-ifs” connected to a possible spring season for USC

No one should be expecting spring football, given the logistical complications involved. It’s an enormous challenge, in light of the simple reality that asking young men to play two football seasons in one year — without giving athletes significant added protections and benefits at the very least — invites all sorts of problems. Add the fact that college sports is desperately trying to save the 2021 college basketball season and the NCAA Tournament and Final Four which will come along with it. Saving the NCAA Tournament is a huge priority for the NCAA. Wedging in spring football under uncertain conditions could take a back seat to basketball, with schools facing the need to make sure football can be played in the fall of 2021.

We have to be realistic about spring football, even though many of us hope football can still be salvaged.

Yet, if we are to look ahead and consider a world with spring football — and what it would look like — one USC football player’s outlook could become a lot brighter.

Trojans Wire staff writer Andy Patton brought you the news in June that receiver Kyle Ford had suffered a torn ACL. This was going to cost him most, if not all, of his 2020 fall season. Ford was probably going to be part of a four-wide receiver set on passing downs. He was initially envisioned as an important depth piece behind Amon-Ra St. Brown, Tyler Vaughns, and Drake London in the USC receiver corps. 

Of all the valuable pieces on the 2020 USC roster, Ford emerges as a candidate for resurrection and revival if USC plays a spring 2021 schedule. We shouldn’t expect spring football — it is something to hope for without attaching our emotions to it in these complicated times — but if, somehow, the Pac-12 is able to pull it off and provide a plan which is able to work, Kyle Ford could reclaim a 2020 season in the early months of 2021.

It would be something — not just having football in the spring, but having Kyle Ford on the field for USC.

It’s not likely, but that doesn’t mean the possibility should be completely ignored or buried.