LOS ANGELES — Trumain Carroll, USC’s new director of football sports performance, strode in between rows of dynamic stretching Wednesday morning, drill instructor-style.
The strength and conditioning coach barked out stretches in a gruff voice, starting off the first practice of fall football camp on a note of discipline. Players in shoulder pads and helmets ended the warmup with jumping jacks alongside Carroll while spelling out “Trojans.”
“Coach Tru yells at them sometimes, and I get scared,” cornerbacks coach Trevon Reed told reporters at USC football’s media day Monday.
Over the summer, the team only got as far as the warmup in Carroll’s first workout with them. The Trojans were supposed to run half-gassers, but the warmup continued for an hour until it met the coach’s standards.
USC believes an overhaul in the weight room can help the team push harder in the fourth quarter and in rough road-game environments, and Carroll is at the middle of it all in his first season with the program.
“I firmly believe that you don’t ever rise to the occasion – you fall to the level of your training,” said Carroll, who was hired away from Kansas State. “So we do our best to put these guys in the most strenuous, chaotic positions right in here within the training, but nothing can replicate football. And so that really is going to come down to how well they prepare and attack this fall camp.”
USC announced Carroll’s hiring in early May, allowing for just a short period of time to design strength and conditioning programs as well as getting to know the nutrition, sports medicine and equipment staffs.
Nevertheless, Carroll learned the names of every player prior to their first workout. It was a step he took in order to build mutual trust with the team early.
“And it’s not like he got a whole spring practice period to work through some of the kinks,” head coach Lincoln Riley told reporters after practice Wednesday. “You’re right in basically the Super Bowl for offseason training, which is your summer conditioning.”
Carroll’s weight room motifs include “finish what you start” and “put some cheese on it” – a creative way of encouraging players to add more weight to their lift. He told reporters that the players have collectively added roughly 800 pounds of muscle and lost 540 pounds of body fat.
The day’s lifting routine is on the weight room’s television monitors during the workout before being replaced with an encouraging quote after it’s finished. Players are asked to explain what each quote means.
“These parents, they trust us with developing their sons to become not just football players, but responsible young men,” Carroll said. “If all they get from us is football after two or three or four years, then we’re failing the parents when we tell them that we’re gonna turn them into men when they leave USC.”
Carroll called the weight room a “classless society” in which there is no hierarchy. Anyone can be a leader, and anyone can be called out for having a standout performance.
The position coaches are happy with the weight room culture and how it blends with the overall football culture.
“When we’re not around, that’s who they’re with,” Reed said. “And the way Coach Tru came in here and put his foot down early, we knew we wasn’t going to have any problems with any of the guys outside of football because you’re going to have to see Coach Tru when you get in this building.”
A leader for the receivers
Jayden Maiava has been taking ownership of the quarterback position and he has a deep receiving corps at his disposal, and Ja’Kobi Lane appears to be an early leader for the group.
Lane is limited in practice due to an undisclosed injury, according to Riley, but he could hardly stand still as the receivers and quarterbacks went through their first individual drill of the day. He jumped out of line to get better looks at his teammates and offered critiques and encouragement often.
“Even though it’s not full-go here for the first couple of practices, his presence is important to this team,” Riley said. “He is definitely a spark plug for this team and, really, this program.”
Lane, a junior, had the second-most receiving yards on the team last season with 525 and averaged 40.38 receiving yards per game. Makai Lemon led the team with 764 yards, but Lane ranked first on the team with 12 touchdown receptions.
Injury report
Riley provided updates on multiple players who are expected to be limited early in fall camp.
Kicker Caden Chittenden, defensive lineman Carlon Jones, Kendarius Reddick and Lane will be “available pretty soon in camp,” Riley said. The head coach did not disclose the exact injuries or a timeline for their return.
Running back Riley Wormley is expected to be out for longer as he recovers from a knee injury sustained in early October of his senior season at Carroll High School in Texas.
Originally Published:
