LOS ANGELES — Just about everybody involved with Southern California's defense last season still seems embarrassed about it.
The Trojans turned in one of the worst overall defensive performances in this school's proud football history in 2023. Coordinator Alex Grinch was fired and head coach Lincoln Riley became a national punch line while USC finished 8-5 after a 6-0 start despite fielding the third highest-scoring offense in the FBS, led by future No. 1 pick Caleb Williams.
Eight months later, No. 23 USC is back with a completely revamped defensive coaching staff and several veteran transfers to bolster the unit that stalled Riley's rebuilding project at the school. The Trojans get their first chance to move past the humiliation of last year when they face No. 13 LSU on Sunday in Las Vegas.
But defensive lineman Jamil Muhammad acknowledges the stigma hanging over his defense heading into a showdown with an SEC powerhouse to begin the Trojans' first year in the Big Ten.
“You’ve got to realize that until you have a real chance to show what you’ve been working on and how much better you’ve gotten, what you did and what everybody saw is going to be on their minds until you change it,” Muhammad said. “Obviously our focus isn’t on changing everybody else’s mind. Our focus is on getting better and fixing those things that we know we have to be better at.”
After last season, the Trojans needed to get better at absolutely everything related to defense.
USC finished 116th out of 130 FBS teams in total defense, allowing 432.8 yards per game. The Trojans were 118th in scoring defense, allowing 34.4 points per game, while ending up 124th in first downs allowed, 106th in third-down conversion percentage and 101st in yards passing allowed.
Several players are back from that defense, including linebacker Mason Cobb. To varying degrees, they acknowledge the frustration of being responsible for last season's regression, and they've had to sit with the notion for months now.
“I don’t ever dwell in the past. I’ve never been that type of guy,” said Cobb, the Trojans’ leading tackler last season. “When you do that, you hold on to stress, sadness, anger. ... Last year is not something you forget, but it’s something you learn from and move on, and that’s how we approach this year.”
USC was 116th in rushing defense, while crosstown rival UCLA finished second, allowing nearly 100 fewer yards per game. That's only one reason Riley entrusted his defense to coordinator D’Anton Lynn, who led the Bruins to an impressive resurgence across town.
Lynn's new players — along with a couple of veterans who accompanied him from Westwood to downtown LA — praise his teaching methods and his overall scheme, which is designed to be less complicated and more easily implemented than other defenses.
“It’s just easy to understand,” said cornerback John Humphrey, who followed Lynn from UCLA. “A lot of systems are very complicated for the players. This system is very simple. It’s up to everybody to make plays and thrive in this system. (Lynn) tells you that this is the way to do it, and you can do it at a high level because you’re here, so let’s do it.”
Lynn's pedigreed new coaching staff includes Eric Henderson, the longtime Los Angeles Rams assistant praised by Aaron Donald as a defensive line guru; defensive backs coach Doug Belk, the respected former Houston defensive coordinator; and linebackers coach Matt Entz, who won two national championships as the head coach at North Dakota State.
The USC linebackers already speak highly of Entz, who took a step back to an assistant’s role to build his resume for bigger head coaching jobs.
“He’s been everything I asked for as a coach, so I’m trying to give him everything he asks for as a player,” said Eric Gentry, the 6-foot-6 hybrid linebacker who had 45 tackles last season.
Gentry added that one of the best parts of USC’s defensive reboot is “just being able to talk to the coaches.”
“I think we were (thinking) more about other stuff last year instead of football,” Gentry said. “It’s way more straightforward this year, more NFL-style.”
The Trojans needed to get better, but they also needed to be bigger. Muhammad was among several players who added significant amounts of muscle in the offseason to shake the perception of USC's defense as a flashy, speed-reliant group.
Along with Humphrey, the new defensive arrivals include his fellow UCLA defensive back, Kamari Ramsey; former Florida State defensive back Greedy Vance; Oregon State linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold; his brother, safety Akili Arnold; and Wyoming defensive lineman Gavin Meyer. Each newcomer has a good chance to start.
“We’ve been working hard as a group of brothers,” Muhammad said. “I’m just excited to go see what we do, and put it all together. It’s going to be a show, for sure.”