Hackett Is Pleased With Offensive Line

As USC opened its second week of training camp at UC Irvine on Monday, Trojan Coach Paul Hackett said he was pleased with the development of his offensive line, one of the team’s chief concerns heading into the season.

“I feel like we’re improved,” Hackett said. “I feel like we’re getting better.”

For starters, Faaesea Mailo has moved from left to right tackle, where Hackett said “he’s a natural.”

Hackett said he continues to be satisfied with the play of veterans Brent McCaffrey, Zach Wilson and Eric Denmon, but the player who has stood out is redshirt freshman Eric Torres, who’s splitting time between left tackle and left guard.

“He is really coming on,” Hackett said. “I’m very pleased.”

Even guard Trevor Roberts’ foot injury, which is expected to keep him out the entire week, could be viewed as a plus. It has allowed younger players such as Lenny Vandermade and Jacob Rogers to get extra repetitions in practice. Vandermade is expected to play center and left guard.

“I always talk about the individuals,” Hackett said, “but it’s really how they come together and how they blend together. There, we’re making progress.”

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Even though the Trojans have a bevy of high-quality tight ends, Hackett indicated he may not be able to redshirt freshmen Gregg Guenther Jr. and Alex Holmes this season.

“Antoine [Harris] is going to be the leader and the starter and all that, but those guys are going to contribute right away,” Hackett said. “I would say at this point it doesn’t look like any of those guys are going to redshirt. Fortunately, you don’t have to make a final decision on those things until a couple of weeks into the season, but right now I’d say they’re all going to play.”

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Kicker David Newbury said he has adopted a new mental approach. Instead of relying on past performances to win the starting job, he goes out to practice every day and tries to prove himself anew.

“That’s one thing I did last year--I sat back on a good performance and then let it go to my head and didn’t do good the next day,” said Newbury, who made four of five field-goal attempts in Saturday’s scrimmage but was a tad more inconsistent Monday. “Saturday, for me, is now over with. Maybe I won that battle, but I’ve just got to keep on going. It’s a long season and I have to perform like that every day.”

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The Trojans will hold their second scrimmage Wednesday at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. The scrimmage is closed to the public.