LOS ANGELES – Late in USC’s practice on Saturday afternoon, Clay Helton huddled his team off toward the south end of Howard Jones Field.
He wanted to address an incident from earlier in training camp.
A team rule was broken. Helton said a freshman brought a cell phone into a meeting. It rang. And so the Trojans spent the final part of their latest workout running a series of gassers across both practice fields. Some of the coaches followed the players.
“Little things, attention to detail, can cost you big,” Helton told them. “That was the lesson learned.