The USC Trojans didn’t have a whole lot of offensive line depth in 2022. When Andrew Vorhees got hurt, the margin for error became a lot smaller for this position group.
Offensive line coach Josh Henson had to mix and match players and reshuffle them to get the best possible results. Against Utah — a really good team — USC didn’t have enough answers on the offensive line in the Pac-12 Championship Game. The Trojans were able to manage, however, in games against Arizona, Cal, Colorado, and UCLA, with Vorhees playing through pain against Notre Dame and helping USC thrive against the Irish.
Henson moved Bobby Haskins — probably the unsung hero of the 2022 offensive line — from one position to another. Mason Murphy got some playing time when Vorhees was hurt. The offensive line held together in the Pac-12 regular season.
Now Henson has more reshuffling to do with the injury to Gino Quinones. The loss of the backup left guard means the Trojans — who have been rotating bodies up front in an attempt to get player evaluations while also keeping guys fresh — have to re-order their rotations.
This game against Stanford will obviously involve new backup options at left guard, but it also invites the possibility for a re-think of the backup roles for the healthy linemen in the unit. The Trojans still don’t want to overextend their starters in a game they should be able to win comfortably, but now Henson faces a fresh set of (unwelcome) choices. Let’s see how he and Lincoln Riley put the pieces together on Saturday night.
Catch all of Ducks Wire’s Pac-12 team overviews for the 2023 season:
Arizona — Arizona State — California — Colorado — Oregon State — Stanford — UCLA — USC — Utah — Washington — Washington State
Story originally appeared on Trojans Wire
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