So Helton rested his upperclassmen during the team’s scrimmage Saturday. It was time for the young Trojans to prove themselves — Helton’s last chance to study them before the upcoming week of practice, the team’s mock game week.
“We really needed to see, OK, who can realistically contribute in that opening game,” Helton said. “And that’s what part of this scrimmage was about is to thrust those younger players to the forefront.”
Several of those players emerged Saturday, and the team showed improvement, especially on defense. Here are five takeaways from USC’s second scrimmage.
But Brown resisted being relegated to a backup role.