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USC Football: Is sky falling under Clay Helton?

By Matthew Bartlett

SANTA CLARA, CA - DECEMBER 01: Head coach Clay Helton of the USC Trojans looks on from the sidelines against the Stanford Cardinal during the Pac-12 Football Championship Game at Levi's Stadium on December 1, 2017 in Santa Clara, California. The Trojans won the game 31-28. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CA - DECEMBER 01: Head coach Clay Helton of the USC Trojans looks on from the sidelines against the Stanford Cardinal during the Pac-12 Football Championship Game at Levi's Stadium on December 1, 2017 in Santa Clara, California. The Trojans won the game 31-28. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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Bru McCoy is considering leaving USC football for Texas, a move which would only be another blow in a series of tough months for Clay Helton and the Trojans.

USC football went 5-7 in 2018. That alone would have been enough to turn up the temperature on head coach Clay Helton’s hot seat. That seat cooled briefly this winter when renown offensive innovator Kliff Kingsbury was appointed the Trojans’ offensive coordinator. But now, in the span of a few weeks, Kingsbury has left his post for the NFL and one of the most prominent players in California is reportedly spurning USC for an out of state school, Texas.

Reports are starting to emerge that Bru McCoy, who committed and signed with USC during the early signing period, doesn’t want to stick around. The No. 9 player in the nation and No. 2 player in California was a star at high school powerhouse Mater Dei. His decision ultimately came down to USC and Texas before the California star opted to stay home. 247 Sports has confirmed McCoy has indeed put his name in the NCAA Transfer Portal.

It’s not just losing a 5-star from his own back yard which paints Helton in a negative light. It’s the process by which McCoy came to this decision. Is USC truly that undesirable as a program to the point which one of the state’s best players would rather risk sitting out a year at another Power 5 program than instantly become one of the go-to passing attack weapons for USC?

Helton needed to showcase control and a path forward this offseason. The early returns haven’t been good and the loss of the crown jewel of the Trojans’ 2019 recruiting class could be one more nail in his proverbial coaching coffin.

Where is the good news? McCoy is the only 5-star in the 2019 class, one which would waiver on the brink of the Top 20 if he were to leave the program. Poor on field results, a weak recruiting class and an incomplete coaching staff are all bad omens for a program expected to be a national power.

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Helton took this program to a Rose Bowl victory and a Pac-12 title. He’s had success at what has been historically been one of the nation’s premier college football programs. Things aren’t trending in the right direction, something Helton will have to alter quickly if he wants to stay in Los Angeles much longer.

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