USC Football: Can Clay Helton get over the hump in 2018?

Offense

Last year’s USC team featured a relatively dominant offense. After the buildup of the fireworks in the Rose Bowl that capped the previous year, though, the Trojans felt at times like they had flamed out. Now they get a chance to start fresh, which could either take the team to a new level or cause them to crater back to the middle of the pack in the Pac-12 South.

On paper, the team lost six starters from the 2017 offense. Of those starters, three were among the five most impactful skill players on the roster last year. Workhorse running back Ronald Jones II went in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Players who produced more than 70 percent of last year’s offensive yardage are now gone.

Some key pieces do return, though. Stephen Carr will step into Jones’ spot in the backfield. Young receivers like Tyler Vaughns, Randal Grimes, and last year’s top-rated receiving recruit Amon-Ra St. Brown have the opportunity to step up immediately. St. Brown has been vocal about his Heisman aspirations out of the gate, so he will be an especially fun star-in-the-making to watch.

Focusing on the quarterback situation

The key to USC’s success or failure in 2018, though, falls on the shoulders of whoever steps up to replace Sam Darnold at quarterback. Two years ago, Helton was in a similar situation when Cody Kessler graduated. Initially, Helton opted to go with experience and put Max Browne in as the starter. Once he finally turned to the redshirt freshman Darnold, everything clicked for the Trojans.

Last year, teams had some book on Darnold and dealt him the slightest of sophomore slumps. But Darnold still threw for more than 4000 yards and piloted the Trojans to a conference title. Even though his touchdown-to-interception ratio dropped by more than a full point, he still went third overall in the 2018 NFL Draft to the New York Jets.

Now Helton and offensive coordinator Tee Martin have another tough choice. Right now redshirt sophomore Matt Fink looks like the third-best option behind redshirt freshman Jack Sears and true freshman JT Daniels. The latter of the trio is starting to gain an edge despite missing out on spring practice. Helton might elect to go young, in a make-up for his earlier mistake with the Darnold/Browne decision.