Nine starters – tailback Morton, wide receiver Soward, quarterback Palmer, tight end Harris

Travis Claridge

, guards Claridge and Grain, tackles McCaffrey and Welch, and center McShane – return on offense in 1999. TheTrojans’ top four rushers, top two passers and four of their top six pass catchers from 1998 are back. However, they’ll be asked to improve upon USC’s offensive output of a year ago. Last season, Troy was ninth in the Pac-10 in total offense at 343.8 yards (126.8 rushing, 217.0 passing) while scoring 26.6 points a game.
“The pressure, particularly early in the season, will fall on the offense because this is the side of the ball where all the experience is,” says Hackett. “That’s a flip-flop from last year.”
The head coach hopes to improve the team’s offensive timing and execution. “We were much too inconsistent in those areas offensively in 1998,” he says. “Working together will be the theme in 1999. And we need to establish depth at the wide receiver spots.”

Trojan Defense AT A GLANCE

Six starters – safety Gibson, cornerback Simmons, tackles Davis and Williams, linebacker-end Abdul-Malik and linebacker Moreno – retu

David Gibson

rn on defense in 1999. They’ll be hard-pressed to repeat the stinginess of last year’s defensive unit, when the Trojans led the Pac-10 in total defense (332.5), pass efficiency defense (91.2, third nationally) and scoring defense (18.5, tied for 17th in the United States).
“What you’ll see in 1999 is a total rebuilding of the league’s premier defense, especially at linebacker and then in the secondary,” says Hackett. “We expect only two seniors will start.” Which means there’ll be some surprises as new Trojans jockey to replace key players lost on defense.
“Although the returning players will get first crack, look out, because we’re expecting some immediate help from some high-profile newcomers in the fall,” Hackett says.

Trojan Special Teams AT A GLANCE

USC returns its punter (MacGillivray), kickoff specialist (Bell), long snapper (Swanson) and top return man (Soward), but the placekicker and holder will be new.

R. Jay Soward caught 44 passes in 1998.

“Our biggest concern here is to have a kicker who can be consistently successful,” says Hackett. “Generally, we didn’t have to worry about that too much the past few years. We also need to get increased production out of the punter. And we must be certain that the returners continue to be the threats they’ve been in recent years.”
USC returned two punts and a kickoff for touchdowns in 1998. “We’re as good returning kickoffs and punts as anyone in the country,” says Hackett. “We take great pride in our special teams play. We devote a lot of time to it. It will be a weapon for us.”

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