USC football: Observations from final practice before spring game, Tackett Curtis receives praise

The Trojans wrap up spring ball on Saturday in the Trojans' annual spring game

LOS ANGELES — USC football held its 14th spring practice of 2023 on Thursday. Here is what we saw from the Trojans:

OBSERVATIONS FROM USC SPRING PRACTICE

- Like he's done for most of the spring sessions, long snapper Daniel Meunier came out of the locker room first.

- When rush end Jamil Muhammad came out of the locker room, he yelled "last day baby!" before putting his helmet on.

- The two high profile high school recruits at practice today were 2024 St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) defensive back Jason Mitchell and 2024 Park City (Utah) linebacker Blake Tabaracci. Tabaracci's brother, Carson, is a tight end for the Trojans. 

- Before practice got going, Lincoln Riley checked in with Mitchell.

- Like he did on Tuesday, offensive lineman Andrew Milek greeted reporters before practice.

- Gavin Morris, USC's Director of Player Development, walked out wearing a shirt about transfers (see below). The portal opens back up on Saturday.

- Caleb Williams seemed pretty annoyed at getting his photo taken so he smiled extra big. It was pretty funny.

- Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who spent his last year of college at Oklahoma under Riley, came to watch practice. He pulled up in a ridiculously nice car.

- Zachariah Branch, Mario Williams and Raleek Brown were dancing during warmups.

- Former USC long snapper Jake Olson attended practice.

- In USC's defensive pursuit drill, Calen Bullock, Solomon Tuliaupupu, Ceyair Wright, Kyon Barrs, Jamil Muhammad, Shane Lee, Jaylin Smith, Mason Cobb, Domani Jackson, Jack Sullivan and Bryson Shaw were in the first unit.

- Anthony Lucas, Anthony Beavers, Jacobe Covington, Prophet Brown, Stanley Ta'ufo'ou, Tackett Curtis, Max Williams, Sam Greene, De'jon Benton, Raesjon Davis and Christian Roland-Wallace made up the second unit.

- The first unit of offensive linemen was once again Michael Tarquin at left tackle, Gino Quinones at left guard, Justin Dedich at center, Jarrett Kingston at right guard and Jonah Monheim at right tackle. 

- During a drill amongst the linebackers, freshman Tackett Curtis and senior Chris Thompson Jr. blocked one another. Curtis stood his ground very well.

- After practice, Curtis received a ton of praise from his teammates and linebacker coach Brian Odom.

"You had a good idea of what his best was, but how consistently he's close to his best, that's the one thing that separates him from a lot of other people," Odom said. ... "If he continues to make plays, you're going to see a lot of him [in the fall].

- Linebackers Mason Cobb and Shane Lee were also complimentary of Curtis.

- At the end of practice, Lee met and spoke with Hurts.