USC O-Line Coach Reveals 'Toughest' Player on the Field

Clay McGuire details the performance of his position group thus far.

During media availability on Tuesday morning the Trojans new offensive line coach Clay McGuire joined reporters via Zoom, to discuss the progression of the position group this spring. 

USC brought in McGuire from Texas State after dismissing former position coach Tim Drevno. 

McGuire looks to improve the overall strength and skill at the offensive line position despite inheriting his entire position group from Drevno. 

On Tuesday he admitted that he is still in the process of evaluating all of his new players this spring, but feels good about the direction the group is headed in. 

"We're going to start mixing and matching and shuffling things around and kind of seeing what people look like at other positions so we can have a good foundation going into fall camp of where we want to put guys" said McGuire.

McGuire also provided is initial spring ball assessments of a few lineman...

Clay McGuire on Courtland Ford:

"He’s a guy that’s shown up every day with a great attitude. He works really hard. He competes. He has a really good skill set. I think we’ve got a couple guys in that room that really have the potential to be really good tackles. 

Courtland has done a really good job. Every day he shows up and you’re getting his best. He’s in-tune. He’s focused. He’s in there. He’s not somewhere else. With that approach, he’s done some really good things for us. He looks like he’s going to be a good option for us at the tackle position, as well as some other guys."

Clay McGuire on Jonah Monheim:

"Jonah's had a really good camp. Jonah's really talented" said McGuire. 

"I think he's having a really good camp, he's really sharp. Not a real vocal guy, but every day he shows up and is extremely consistent and does a really good job out there."

Clay McGuire on Casey Collier: 

"Casey is a guy that has incredible talent. I think a lot of the new terminology and things like that have been hard for him early on, but the last practice he had was the best practice he had. 

But when he knows what he's doing and when it's clicking for him he has incredible ability. So when we put it all together for him, he has the ability to be a rare talent, and so I think that's coming down the road. 

Casey is a great kid and he works really hard every single day. And at one point he really has a real opportunity to be a special player here."

Clay McGuire on Andrew Milek and Justin Dedich: 

"[Andrew] Milek has really done a phenomenal job, to come in and he gives us the opportunity to move Justin Dedich around who's having a great spring.

Dedich is probably, you could argue right now through camp one of the toughest [and] hardest-working players we have out there. Because what Milek has been able to do at center has given us the ability to move DeDe around and give him the opportunity to really push and compete at other spots than just the center position. 

Those two guys have been extremely valuable for us to work different lineups and get different people in the rotation so that we can get looks at other people at different spots."

Overall McGuire believes his group is 'getting better' every day and 'that things are going well'.

"This is the first spring ball they’ve had in two years. I know they got one practice last year" McGuire said. 

"Just getting to work on the continuity and the development of players is huge right now. Things, to me, what I’ve been seeing is every day we’re getting better. That’s the ultimate goal, for the group to continue to have a steady process of development to reaching our ultimate goal of winning every game. I think things are going well." [McGuire]

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