Top Five College Football Assistant Coaching Hires This Offseason

2. D’Anton Lynn (DC, USC)
The biggest reason why the Trojans have failed to reach a College Football Playoff over the past few seasons is because of a very lackluster defense.

Head coach Lincoln Riley finally addressed this issue by firing Alex Grinch in early November and bringing in former UCLA defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn to be his replacement.

While the Bruins offense struggled at times this past season, Lynn had everything to do with their defense being exceptional. The unit ranked 11th in the nation in total defense while allowing an average of just 19.3 points per game (15th in FBS) and 307.3 yards per game (12th in FBS).

The Trojans will provide Lynn with a handful of highly-rated transfers, including first-team All-Pac-12 linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold (Oregon State) and a pair of Lynn products from UCLA in cornerback John Humphrey and safety Kamari Ramsey.

It's a home-run hire at a costly time for USC as the program obviously faces even more of a challenge by moving into the Big Ten. A big question that remains is whether or not Lynn can turn this USC unit into a more physical, hard-nosed defense that adapts to the conference's style of play.