USC to try to send seniors like Vavae Malepeai out as winners

2 years ago 357

LOS ANGELES — Following USC’s nonaccomplishment to BYU past weekend, moving backmost Vavae Malepeai sat up astatine the podium. After his relation fluctuated passim the season, the sixth-year elder had closed retired with last 2 games astatine the Coliseum with 30 carries for 148 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Asked what that meant to him, Malepeai fought backmost tears, got a small code from interim caput manager Donte Williams and past answered successful a shuddering voice.

“It means everything,” Malepeai said haltingly. “It’s humbling, but it was a large acquisition to trial wherever I was arsenic a quality being. … It’s a squad effort. Everything we do, it’s not conscionable for idiosyncratic successes, it’s squad success. I took pridefulness successful starring successful immoderate relation I was asked to bash for the team. And I loved it each infinitesimal of it.”

In the expected people of events, that crippled would person been the past of Malepeai’s assemblage career, and the past of USC’s 2021 season. Instead, the Trojans play this play against Cal, a midseason crippled postponed to the play finale owed to a November COVID-19 outbreak among the Golden Bears’ program.

It mightiness look to beryllium a meaningless game. Both USC and Cal are 4-7, 3-5 successful the Pac-12, and eliminated from vessel contention, with thing tangible to play for.

But for the Trojans, this volition beryllium the archetypal crippled since caller caput manager Lincoln Riley was hired Sunday. It volition service arsenic an audition of sorts for the players arsenic they play with the cognition of who their aboriginal manager is and that helium is paying attraction to their performance.

“There’s a batch of affirmative optimism astir our program, and I deliberation we conscionable privation to support that rolling into the adjacent crippled and benignant of usage that to physique momentum going into the adjacent season, whether it beryllium successful recruiting oregon wrong our ain team,” Trojans redshirt elder antiaircraft extremity Nick Figueroa said. “I deliberation there’s a batch of imaginable here. It’s a lucifer to commencement a fire.”

But the different information for USC this week is to nonstop retired the elder people with a win.

The sixth-year seniors similar Malepeai arrived successful 2016, the archetypal afloat play of Clay Helton’s tenure arsenic caput coach. They were portion of a Rose Bowl victor their archetypal twelvemonth and a Pac-12 title squad the next. But things rapidly turned sour for the programme arsenic the players endured 2 losing seasons and changeless speculation astir their caput coach’s job.

So portion Malepeai volition permission a USC tenure that did not spell arsenic helium mightiness person expected, the squad skipper leaves the programme with nary regrets.

“I’m going to soak up this past week with each and each 1 of them, coaches included. It’s a game. Gotta person amusive playing this game,” Malepeai said. “Regardless of what the result was each game, I tin honestly accidental each crippled I went out, played my bosom retired and conscionable similar everyone other did, and we had amusive playing this game.”

When USC has the ball

The Bears person a stout tally defense, holding opponents to 136.5 rushing yards per game. If Keaontay Ingram is incapable to play for a 2nd consecutive crippled with a rib injury, Malepeai and TCU transportation Darwin Barlow volition beryllium relied upon to support the shot moving connected the ground.

If USC can’t found the run, that volition enactment much unit connected freshman backmost Jaxson Dart, who has completed 61% of his passes and thrown for 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions successful his archetypal 2 starts this season.

When Cal has the ball

The Golden Bears haven’t precisely been explosive connected discourtesy this season, averaging 397 yards and 23.7 points per game. QB Chase Garbers completes 62.7% of his passes and has a 2-to-1 touchdown-interception ratio.

So this could beryllium a crippled for the USC defence to get immoderate assurance backmost heading into the offseason, depending connected the availability of the Trojan secondary aft cornerbacks Chris Steele, Isaac Taylor-Stuart and Jaylin Smith missed Wednesday’s practice.