USC football hits the field early this year

LOS ANGELES >> Safety Chris Hawkins was restless.

“I felt like a freshman again,” Hawkins, a fifth-year senior, said Saturday after USC’s first training camp practice. “Last night I really couldn’t sleep. I was tossing and tuing in bed, couldn’t wait to get to practice.”

Training camp is underway a bit earlier for the Trojans this season. Last year, they began on Aug. 4. This date on the calendar could mark the earliest point in program history.

Most players didn’t sound displeased with the arrangement.

“I was ready to get to camp anyway,” Hawkins said. “We haven’t played football since January. So I was ready to get back to camp and really get things going.”

The adjusted schedule stems from new NCAA rules that eliminated two-a-days, beginning with this season. Under the new legislation passed in April by the organization’s Division I council, teams remain permitted to have 29 practices before their first game. They are, though, barred from holding multiple contact practices on the same day. In order to use most of the allotted practices, the preseason workload has been pushed further back into the summer.

“It’s different, but awesome,” quarterback Sam Daold said. “The quicker we can get the ball the better. I was eager to get back.”

“We all miss football,” said linebacker Uchenna Nwosu.

Most players have expressed an eageess to retu to Howard Jones-Brian Kennedy Field.

Since topping Penn State in the Rose Bowl six months ago, the Trojans have emerged as a popular preseason pick to win the Pac-12 Conference and reach the College Football Playoff.

“When you got everybody talking about you, everybody wants to ask you questions about how good you think we can be and all that, all you want to is get out there and prove ‘em right,” Hawkins said.

Amid their enthusiasm to start the season, there are still five weeks to pass until they will play a game: a Sept. 2 season opener against Weste Michigan.

Asked how the Trojans might acclimate to a longer preseason, Coach Clay Helton said he hopes to see upperclassmen mentor underclassmen.

It will, he said, limit their repetitions in an effort to keep them healthy, while keeping them involved.

“They have to be mentally engaged,” Helton said, “and almost become coaches on the field, training young guys.”

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USC’s camp schedule is gradual.

While it practiced Saturday, it will be off Sunday, before resuming Monday. It is succeeded by an additional day off on Tuesday before four consecutive workouts.

Players won’t move into on-campus dormitories, where they typically stay for the first two weeks of camp, until the first week of August.

Offensive line

USC’s offensive line will remain a work-in progress early in training camp.

It must replace both right and left tackles Zach Banner and Chad Wheeler, who graduated.

Roy Hemsley and Chuma Edoga both started with the first-team offense Saturday. USC will also audition Nico Falah and Toa Lobendahn, who have started at center the past two seasons, at the tackle spots.

Falah lined up at right tackle Saturday, while Lobendahn saw some time at left tackle.

“We’ll keep on double-training those guys,” Helton said. “Both of those guys have been rocks for us and are going to need to work at those positions.”

Limited viewing

USC’s training camp practices had in recent years been open to the public.

This season, they are mostly closed. A crowd congregated on the east sideline Saturday, one of only two practices open to spectators. The other is Monday.

August is now a “dead period” for recruiting after the addition of an early signing period in December. That means schools cannot contact high school prospects or family member.

USC’s athletic compliance department suggested it close practices to the public. Some other schools in the conference have some of their August practices open.

Quick hits

Senior coerback Jonathan Lockett will undergo hip surgery and be out indefinitely, Helton announced. Lockett also underwent hip surgery last December. … Freshman walk-on kicker Chase McGrath is not yet listed on USC’s official roster, but practiced this afteoon. McGrath is one of two kickers for the Trojans, along with Michael Brown, vying to replace Matt Boermeester. … Senior safety Matt Lopes will miss the first week of camp with a dislocated toe. … Dion Bailey, Michael Hutchings and Silas Redd were among former USC players to attend the first practice of training camp Saturday.

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