USC football: Pete Jenkins adds veteran experience to coaching staff

Pete Jenkins joined USC’s staff last week, but the veteran defensive line coach is no stranger to the Trojans.

Jenkins, 72, had twice spent a week with USC since spring practice.

“I hate to use the word consultant,” he said Wednesday. “It implies you have the answers, and I don’t.”

Jenkins, who began his career in the 1960s, met USC interim Coach Ed Orgeron at a coaching clinic in the 1980s and has been a mentor since.

Jenkins coached at Louisiana State and other universities in the South before joining the Philadelphia Eagles’ staff for the 2007 season. He noted how the spread offense has changed the sport.

“It’s a little softer game, you know, to be honest with you — a little more like basketball on grass than it is the stuff I like,” he said. “But anyway, we’ve had to change with it.”

Jenkins is a defensive line assistant for the Trojans. His presence allows Orgeron to move about the practice field.

“We have a blast all day, and I can go around watching other guys and enjoy being part of the team,” Orgeron said. “And I know they’re getting coached as well or better than if I’d be there.

“It’s fantastic.”

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