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USC Football’s Flexibility On Defense Will Be Key In 2016

They probably won’t call it platooning — that was a Steve Sarkisian term — but the 2016 USC football defense will feature much more rotation than the 2013 version under Clancy Pendergast.

The newly released USC depth chart for 2016 makes that very clear.

“We’re just trying to get the best 11 guys on the field,” Pendergast said before the depth chart was released.

Of course, the best 11 guys can change depending on situation and opposition, so expect to see regular changes across every level of the defense.

In some years, the prevalence of “ORs” on the depth chart could be read as a sign of players not distinguishing themselves from others.