USC football safety depth: Who will step up alongside Calen Bullock?

USC enters the 2023 season with six certain safeties and two players who could transition to the position this season

With spring practice in the books, we've put out our projected USC football depth chart for the fall. But let's go deeper. Over the course of the next few weeks, we'll release position-by-position breakdowns of USC's roster.

Who is back from last season? Who's new? Who will have the biggest impact? Who's an under-the-radar player to watch? What does the future of the position look like?

We'll answer all of those questions and more.

We started our breakdowns with the quarterbacks, running backs, tight ends, wide receivers, offensive line, cornerbacks and linebackers. Let's now move to the safeties. We leave out the nickel position in this breakdown — we'll analyze that group next. 

THE ROOM

USC enters the 2023 season with six certain safeties and two players who could transition to the position this season. Strong safety Calen Bullock is back after putting together an All-American season in 2023. Last year, Max Williams mostly played next to Bullock at free safety, but was one of the lowest graded players on USC's roster, per PFF. That opens the door for Bryson Shaw to potentially start with Bullock in 2023. 

Xamarion Gordon and Anthony Beavers both return from last year as well. They'll begin the season as reserves. True freshman Christian Pierce impressed in the spring, which will give him a chance to compete for playing time in the fall.

The two players who may or may not factor in to the safety spots are redshirt freshmen Zion Branch and Tre'Quon Fegans. Branch missed all of last season with an injury. He was a non-contact participant in the spring and will play either at safety or nickel in the future. Fegans recently transferred from Alabama. He was recruited by the Crimson Tide as a corner, but could play safety or nickel at USC. It will be interesting to see where he lines up during fall camp. 

PROJECTED LINEUP AND DEPTH CHART

1. Calen Bullock (Jr.) and Bryson Shaw (R-Sr.)

2. Max Williams (R-Sr.) and Christian Pierce (Fr.)

3. Anthony Beavers (R-So.) and Xamarion Gordon (R-So.) OR Zion Branch (R-Fr.) OR Tre'Quon Fegans (R-Fr.)

Shaw started in USC's spring game and currently looks like the preferred choice to partner with Bullock in the fall. The x-factor here is Pierce. If he continues to practice as well as he has so far in his young USC career, could he potentially break into the starting group? It's a legitimate question.

Of course, Branch and Fegans could factor in at safety too if that's where they end up playing. Williams is an extremely smart player who will likely rotate in during certain defensive sets. 

2022 BY THE NUMBERS

Bullock: Started all 14 games logging 837 defensive snaps. Made 48 tackles and 5 interceptions. Allowed 16 catches on 28 targets. 

Shaw: Played in 11 games starting 5. Logged 405 snaps on defense. Made 50 tackles, 1 interception and 1 fumble recovery. Allowed 22 catches on 31 targets. 

Williams: Played in all 14 games starting 13. Logged 808 snaps. Made 79 tackles, 2 forced fumbles and 2 interceptions. Allowed 45 receptions on 60 targets. 

Beavers: Played in 10 games logging 105 snaps. Made 12 tackles. Allowed 3 receptions on 5 targets. 

Gordon: Played in 4 games logging 43 defensive snaps. Made 9 tackles and 1 interception. Allowed 2 catches on 2 targets. 

Branch: DNP

Fegans (at Alabama): DNP

WHAT TO EXPECT

Out of the 11 starting spots on USC's defense, the free safety position is the one with the biggest question mark. Whoever played next to Bullock last season struggled — USC needs more production from that spot.

Whether it's Shaw, Williams, Pierce or someone else, a spotlight will be on the position. 

If USC gets increased production there, that will go a long way to improving a defense that struggled mightily at times last season. USC's defense had 156 total missed tackles last year, which ranked No. 120 in the country. The Trojans ranked No. 124 in opponents yards per play (6.53), No. 117 in opponents yards per rush attempt (4.98), No. 112 in points allowed (409) and No. 94 in points allowed per game (29.21).

Those numbers of course don't fall on one position/player. It's going to take improvement from every position group to get better. One key part of the equation is the second safety though. 

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE OF THE POSITION LOOK LIKE?

Pierce will be a big part of the equation moving forward. Bullock will almost certainly declare for the NFL Draft after this season and will need to be replaced. If every player in the room chooses to, they all could return next year though.

USC is hosting four-star safety Myles Davis, a Texas native, on an official visit this weekend. Adding a safety or two in the 2024 recruiting class is a priority for the Trojans staff. There could be a decent amount of turnover if Bullock, Williams and Shaw all decide to depart.