Todd Orlando will finally see his USC defense in action

Wednesday was an exciting day for Todd Orlando. Nine odd months after he took the job as USC defensive coordinator, and his new wards were finally suiting up to practice in full pads.

“Today will be the day,” Orlando declared on Wednesday morning. “We’ll just let them line up and go play and find out who can tackle people, who can get off blocks, who can separate.”

It’s been a long time coming. This step should have happened during the spring, but the pandemic shut down USC spring ball after one practice. Orlando has been consistent since being hired that he won’t really know what he has until he sees the Trojans in full pads, bringing their offensive teammates to the ground.

But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t seen progress with the unit since that lone spring practice.

Orlando and the Trojans have spent five months installing the defense over Zoom. It wasn’t an ideal situation, especially for guys who aren’t visual learners.

But it did allow the new defensive coaching staff to build a rapport with the team before trying to implement the defense on the field.

“I think it’s a little bit of a blessing in disguise because if we had went out on the field after just a month or a month and a half, I don’t know if these kids really knew us,” Orlando said. “Eventually when you keep talking about the same thing, it actually does process. And I just look at the last four days for us, and saying, ‘Man, these kids retained a decent amount of information.’”

Orlando admits there was an initial disappointment when spring practice was canceled, but he tried to keep a positive attitude as the team went about its virtual install. Instead of one day on the field learning each section, it was 7-8 days of reiteration over Zoom.

Orlando said there will be similarities between the USC defense and what he ran at Texas, his previous coaching stop. There are some modifications to fit the Trojans’ personnel, though Orlando didn’t want to reveal too much ahead of the season opener.

But he comes to USC with a certain expectation: Historically, Orlando has prompted quick turnarounds in his first year at new coaching stops, whether it’s Utah State, Houston or Texas.

He says that is partly due to scheme, but not entirely.

“A lot of the places just need a little bit of a kick start,” he explained. “So I think that’s what trying to, the places I’ve been coming into, is just to try to free these guys up. It’s okay to fail, man. That’s what practice is about. Fail big. I’m going to fail big at times. But I’m gonna learn from it and I’m gonna go to the next play and I’m just gonna keep moving forward.”

There are still personnel decisions to be made. Orlando said Ralen Goforth and Kana’i Mauga are competing for the starting Max linebacker job.

And there’s a need to replace defensive tackle Jay Tufele, who opted out of the season for the NFL Draft, though senior Brandon Pili is taking that responsibility personally.

“Seeing (Tufle) leave, I’m happy for him, don’t get me wrong. But seeing him leave, it left a big void in our defensive line, experience-wise. I just feel like now that burden is on me, being the veteran, the senior of the group,” Pili said. “I just feel like I have more accountability to my teammates now to fill that void that Jay left.”

But the pads went on Wednesday, and that was reason enough for excitement.

“This is your résumé to show that you’re going to run as hard as you can for your teammate, and you’re going to hit somebody,” Orlando said. “And if you’re not, you’re going to be on the sidelines with us. I’m excited about it for today.”

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