JuJu Smith-Schuster poised to leave USC as their best receiver ever
USC Trojans wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster enters his junior season with a chance to cement his legacy as the best receiver in program history.
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USC is a football factory and wide receiver may be their best product. The Trojans have produced some of the best college football has ever seen. From Keyshawn Johnson and Johnnie Morton in the early-90s to Mike Williams and Dwayne Jarrett in the Pete Carroll years to Marqise Lee and Robert Woods recently, there is no shortage of legendary USC receivers.
110 receptions and 1,488 yards are all that separates USC junior wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster from becoming the biggest legend of them all. That’s what he needs to become the school’s career leader in receptions and yards and cement himself as the best receiver in USC history.
Woods holds the career record for receptions with 252 and Marqise Lee holds the career records for yards with 3,655. Smith-Schuster has career totals of 143 receptions for 2,178 and 15 touchdowns. His 89 receptions for 1,454 yards and 10 touchdowns set new career-highs for the former five-star athlete out of Long Beach Poly.
His numbers would have been even better if not for a broken hand that required surgery to insert a small screw and plate. He didn’t miss any time but he was forced to wear a soft cast that limited the use of his right hand.
He had 37 receptions for 360 yards and two touchdowns in the last six games of the year. The numbers are skewed by his 8-138-1 performance the next week vs. Arizona but the lingering effects of the broken hand severely limited his output with each week and was held out of the end zone for the last four weeks of the year.
How many receivers with two healthy hands would love the production he had with a broken one?
If he reaches the target numbers, the 110 receptions would be third on USC’s single-season list behind Lee’s 118 in 2012 and Woods’ 111 in 2011. He would be the fifth Trojan overall, joining Nelson Agholor (104) and Johnson (102) to hit the century mark.
That is a 23.6 percent increase. He made a 64.8 percentage increase when he went from 54 to 89 receptions from his freshman to sophomore year. He can’t replicate that number but if he’s healthy for 14 games, he can hit that mark.
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The 1,488 yards would also be the third most in single-season history, trailing Lee’s 1,721 in 2012 and Morton’s 1,520 in 1993. If he hits that target, it would only be a 2.3 percentage increase from last year’s 1,454 output and 2.4 yards per game more.
The 6-2, 215-pound Smith-Schuster has the ability to muscle up against defensive backs and has the speed and route-running ability to be one of the best deep threats in the nation. He makes it look effortless and everything looks like it comes so easy to him, but do not mistake that for not putting in the work needed to be an all-time great
Two years ago, then-receivers coach Tee Martin didn’t think he was a serious prospect at receiver and believed he’d be playing safety for the Trojans, not a wide receiver, and certainly not an All-American receiver.
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“He said he wanted to play receiver as a junior [in high school], but I looked at him and saw one of the best safeties in the country and thought he was just saying that,” Martin said. “You listen to what the guy says in recruiting and I recruited him to [receiver], but I didn’t really take him seriously because I saw his film at safety and thought this kid could be a top-10 draft pick playing safety.”
Smith-Schuster made himself into the receiver he is by putting in the hours in the film room, weight room, practice field and on game day. Martin, now the offensive coordinator for head coach Clay Helton, may still be right about Smith-Schuster being a top-10 draft pick, albeit at a different position he envisioned.
Martin will try to help Smith-Schuster set the records but it will have to be as a natural product of the offense, which has the potential to be one of the best in the Pac-12 if Max Browne delivers on his potential.
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Browne backed up Cody Kessler the last two years after coming to USC as the No. 11 overall recruit and No. 1 quarterback recruit in the nation. He’s in a competition with Sam Darnold, but I expect Browne winning the job and relying on Smith-Schuster to ease his transition to the starting lineup.
What quarterback wouldn’t love to throw to the best receiver in program history?
Smith-Schuster was destined for stardom at USC but instead of covering receivers he’s developed into the player who can’t be covered.