Job No. 1 for Gary Patterson this spring was progressing through the installation of the defense he concocted based on his evaluation of the USC personnel, his 4-2-5 TCU base and all he learned from stops at Texas, Baylor and working on television as an analyst. We speculated on a recent Peristyle Podcast how Patterson’s experience as a head coach could also benefit Lincoln Riley’s growth in Year 5 of running the Trojans. Patterson made it clear there hasn’t been too much time for that sort of input with all the energy he’s devoted to his top priority. Still, as Patterson broke down the rationale for USC moving the spring calendar up it was clear the hall of famer had some input into the decision.
“One of the things was push through to get it done,” Patterson said. “I always say, ‘Be done by the first of April.’ Also at TCU. So, lifting-wise you get back in, you put your bodies back together. You get stronger within your six-to-eight-week cycles however you’re lifting. And then especially like for us, we have so many freshmen on the defensive side of the ball. Being able to then, because they were just starting to come on at the end of spring ball as far as the knowledge, starting to catch all of it.
“Now you can get a chance. We’ve gone back to the beginning and started reteaching everything. So that’s for us to do then in June, you’re going to be able to do that when everybody comes back to summer. So really you get three times and they get close to probably three different cycles of lifting.”…