Tireless Gary Patterson the missing piece to get USC to College Football Playoff

A jarring scene unfolded on USC’s football practice field this past spring.Into the fray of 300-pound defensive tackles and sculpted linebackers stepped a coach who might have seemed more likely to pull out an AARP card than knock a college kid onto his rear.One forceful blow later, there was no questioning the vitality of the USC Trojans’ new defensive coordinator.Gary Patterson still had it after all these years.Said linebacker Desman Stephens II: “I don’t know how old he is, but he’s out there like he’s 30.”Said new safeties coach Paul Gonzales: “For a 60-year-old guy, he’s still got some power.”Sixty? Try 66, the birthday Patterson celebrated in February.Maybe age really is just a number.In addition to Patterson’s strength, the Baby Boomer also owns plenty of stamina, if his daily schedule is any indication.After telling reporters upon his arrival in January that he had been going from 7 in the morning until around 8 at night, that ended up qualifying as a light workday.Now those days can last from 16 to 20 hours.When he met with reporters on Monday morning inside Heritage Hall, the man hailed as the father of the 4-2-5 defense had just compiled a list of corrections needed from a previous practice.Up next was the practice plan for Tuesday.It’s all part of a schedule that’s unforgiving by design.“You want to change things,” Patterson said, “it’s a full-time job.

It’s not one of those things that you do 70 or 80% of your time.”Patterson is here because USC’s defense has been the one thing that’s always needed fixing under coach Lincoln Riley.While some significant strides were made the last two seasons under former defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn, the Trojans haven’t had an elite defense since Riley’s arrival before the 2022 season.Not coincidentally, they’ve also failed to make the College Football Playoff.The hope is that Patterson can change that after a five-year hiatus from full-time coaching, though he ...