USC’s center-quarterback exchanges haven’t been a snap

Max Browne stood in the shotgun formation during Saturday’s practice, waiting. Toa Lobendahn flicked his wrist to snap the ball. Browne still waited — the ball never reached him, so he lunged, the ball wriggled away, and the defense pounced on it.

Such has been life for USC’s quarterbacks, who’ve flailed at more wayward snaps than they’d prefer during training camp.

“To be frank, we’ve got to get better at it in the next three weeks,” Coach Clay Helton said.

The problem has festered since the first day of camp, when Nico Falah filled in for Lobendahn, the usual center, who was easing back from a knee injury. Helton said at the time he expected Lobendahn’s return to fix the problem.

So far, it hasn’t. Fumbled exchanges, particularly in the shotgun, have been a regular occurrence. Each quarterback often suffers at least one each practice.

“It’s primarily the center,” Helton said. “And I put a lot of pressure on the quarterback for a lot of things.”

USC has spent extra time working on exchanges before and after practice.

“But,” Helton said, “we’re nowhere near a finished product.”

Defense rises

For the second time in a week, USC’s defense swarmed onto the field, hooting and spraying water from bottles into the air. In another goal-line drill, the defense had defeated the offense.

The unit was supposed to USC’s biggest weakness — especially the defensive line, and especially in goal-line situations. Has it surpassed Helton’s expectations?

“Yessir,” Helton said. “Especially today.”

Helton credited defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast with simplifying assignments, allowing the defense to play more quickly. Helton used Leon McQuay III, who has seen time at safety, as an example.

McQuay, he said, “was kind of lost for a couple years. Now he’s back out there really doing a nice job.”

Saturday, Helton said, was the defense’s best performance of training camp.

Helton (almost) gets angry

USC’s players stood on a far sideline against a fence around the end of practice, hands on hips, huffing and puffing. The coaches did too. Everyone had just run a sprint of some 350 yards.

Helton settled the team in a circle and, just for a second, yelled, just a little bit.

Helton, it turns out, is indeed capable of something approaching anger. At times, it can be difficult to judge USC’s practices by Helton’s demeanor. He is positive by constitution.

Saturday’s (rather minor) outburst was spurred by a freshman who’d brought a phone into a team meeting. The phone rang. The team ran.

“Just to teach a point, little things, attention-to-detail things, can cost you big,” Helton said. “That was the lesson learned today.”

As Helton settles into his first full season as head coach, pieces of his coaching style have emerged. His favorite word during news conferences is probably “great.” Players say he is firm but genuine. He prefers letting his assistant coaches do the screaming.

Even on Saturday, he couldn’t help himself. He said he’d been waiting, in vain, to hand down some discipline “because they were so damn good.”

Kicking competition

Kicker Matt Boermeester enjoyed another solid practice, hitting from longer than 40 yards several times, with enough distance to carry significantly farther.

“He seems a lot more accurate, a lot more consistent than he was in spring,” Helton said.

Michael Brown’s quadriceps injury has left little competition for Boermeester in training camp.

Among the punters, Helton said Chris Tilbey has showed a stronger leg while Reid Budrovich has displayed more consistency. Unlike at kicker, Helton said the starting punting position is still being contested.

Quick hits

Receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (toe and ankle) was limited in team drills. . . . Linebacker Quinton Powell was pulled from practice with a neck sprain. . . . Safeties Chris Hawkins and Matt Lopes returned. . . . Offensive tackle Chad Wheeler (foot) did not practice. . . . Helton reported all of USC’s freshmen are now enrolled and eligible.

zach.helfand@latimes.com

Follow Zach Helfand on Twitter @zhelfand

zach.helfand@latimes.com

Twitter: @zhelfand