LOS ANGELES >> On the field at Rice-Eccles Stadium, more than 90 minutes before kickoff last Friday at Utah, Sam Darnold gathered with JuJu Smith-Schuster along the west sideline.
They had not yet put on pads, wearing cardinal rain jackets. For a few extended minutes, they warmed up playing catch.
Maybe, Darnold could reinvigorate Smith-Schuster.
Through the first three games, the Trojans’ talented junior receiver had seemed absent with 11 catches. He had also been targeted just 19 percent of the time, according to SB Nation’s Football Study Hall.
In the past, he had been the focal point of USC’s offense, targeted 31 percent in 2015, the most for anyone in the Pac-12 Conference.