They shipped food. Boxes of food. All over the country.
Florida. Georgia. Hawaii. Tennessee. Texas.
When their Australian punter, Ben Griffiths, couldn't go home during the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they shipped supplies to him in Oregon where he was staying during the time campus was closed.
And their defensive lineman, Brandon Pili, from Oregon by way of Alaska, who returned to the Last Frontier during the lockdown, got supplies delivered to Anchorage, Alaska.
Most of all, every member of Southern California's football staff embraced additional responsibilities from mid-March through, well, this week for two reasons: anything for the student-athletes and anything that could help deliver a football season, some semblance of normalcy, for the Trojans and the Pac-12.
“One example is (assistant A.D. for football/chief of staff) Joseph Wood, my guy is day in day out just working his butt off,” Trey Johnson, USC's Director of Scouting, told FootballScoop. “He's probably an expert in government relations and COVID-19 and Zoom and absolutely everything else in this world since this started. I don't think he's slept since March. He probably is looking forward to the season more than anyone. I'm out there filming for the first time; I've never done that. Drew Fox, in our recruiting office, is doing about four different jobs for everybody as well.
“Our strength coaches, nutritionists, everyone's helped find creative ways to get meals to our players, especially when they were home. We all had to come up with ways to get them boxes of food and ship from wherever because we weren't allowed on campus. But it's been a total buy-in from everyone.”
In forty-eight hours, a summer spent with players and staffers barred from campus, then permitted only to gather for workouts outdoors at the track and field complex, begins to unfold as the Pac-12 plays a six-game regular-season schedule and sets the league's sites on its Dec. 19 championship game.
“I think it's a feeling of we're super-excited, it's been a helluva process, a helluva journey to get here,” said Spencer Harris, USC's Director of Player Personnel. “We're just excited and ready to go. Ready to put on a show. You know, we are kind of representing the entire campus.”
In a way, the Trojans are somewhat representing their entire state, if not the entire Pac-12, after their players' mid-September letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom pleading for an opportunity to play football.
They're certainly an inspiration to those behind the scenes in Los Angeles helping USC prepare for an abbreviated season that carries with it all the usual expectations for a program that, when roaring, is rivaled only by the Dodgers and Lakers in Hollywood.
“They were emotional from seeing everybody else having the opportunity to play and they couldn't play,” Harris said of the letter. “I think it showed we're all on the same page, kind of united on this front. It was well thought out, well planned and it made an impact.
“It's proud to be a part of this university and team and program to really take initiative on something like this. And it's cool to see that their voices were heard and could listen to each other and do it together. Pretty cool moment for our program.”
Now that moment is a piece of everything happening this week. All the Zooms, players like Pili incorporating his siblings into his squat workouts, the private Instagram account from the Trojans' strength and conditioning staff to both keep in touch with players and share workout tips, the calls, the review of the program's lone spring practice – in such depth that perhaps even the digital film is wearing down.
“We got one spring football practice underneath our belts,” said Johnson, a former recruiting analyst in the SEC at Tennessee and later head of recruiting under Turner Gill at Liberty. “Chris Steele actually said there's only so many times you can break down one spring ball practice. Cornerbacks could tell you exactly who was up in a drill before seeing it, what foot they didn't plant with in a drill.”
Trojans head coach Clay Helton said quarterback Kedon Slovis began to work toward the dream of a season as soon as the team could gather, still in limited form and outdoors only, July 6.
“When you're in a system going from Year 1 to Year 2 and you've been with those guys, they've been throwing since July 6 together, waiting for this opportunity together” Helton said. “You see the chemistry that him and an Amon-Ra (St. Brown) have. Him and a Tyler Vaughns and a Drake London and those kids have. …
“He's making timely decisions, decisive decisions, the right decisions and you can just tell the chemistry is so much better going from Year 1 to Year 2.”
The year isn't quite here just yet, not in the Pac-12. Reports surfaced late Wednesday night that the Cal Bears had a player test positive for COVID-19 and isolated several others due to contact tracing.
Helton has preached this message since players returned.
“As Coach Helton says, you've almost got to be perfect on and off campus,” Johnson said. “One mistake can leave teams hurting; you look at Wisconsin (which has postponed a pair of Big Ten games due to a COVID-19 outbreak among the team) and the Titans (barred by the NFL from their facility earlier this season and their game delayed to a Tuesday night, after an outbreak), you really have to be just about perfect all the time. Eyes are watching us. Just waiting to see what happens.”
The Trojans, however, feel prepared for this moment. On and off the field.
In terms of preparations, Helton – his staff reinvigorated by the return of offensive coordinator Graham Harrell and the arrival of high-energy defensive coordinator Todd Orlando – says this preseason stands alone for reasons altogether unrelated to the pandemic.
“Our kids have done a phenomenal job through camp,” Helton said. “By far our most physical camp over the past couple of years.”
Helton is preaching a laser focus. If he or his players are thinking beyond Saturday's breakfast bowl with Arizona State, kickoff set at 9 a.m. PT for TV broadcast purposes, it doesn't fit into Helton's approach to the campaign.
“I talked to our team (Sunday) about pouring ourselves into each and every week and going 1-0 each and every week,” Helton said, “and not getting caught up in looking at the future or looking in the past but staying in the moment. If you want to win a championship, you're going to have to look at perfection and that requires being in that moment.
“I told them, I like us in every game that we play as long as we stay in the moment and pour all of our energy and focus into this week and then consistently do that, week in and week out. And then add them up and you're going to be in a position that you really like come December.”
USC's campus still largely is a ghost town. Classes are not being held in person; very few people are even allowed onto the school's grounds.
Admittance into athletics facilities? That requires a health screening and a wristband.
“There's a lot less bodies; only essential staff is around,” said Harris, a California native and University of Washington grad. “There's numbers on doors of how many people can actually be in each room. Of course, everyone's in masks. There's temperature checks and hand sanitizer stations almost every four feet.
“I think it's been adapt or die, honestly. We've all just tried to find new and unique ways to work together with the situation that's been handed to us. It's a credit to our administration, our players writing that letter and helping make this happen and the Pac-12 to get the (COVID-19) testing done and all the stuff so we can get to play. Now it's really just excitement, ready to roll. Ready to prove we can compete at the highest level, day in and day out, and we can't wait to get back in there this weekend.”
It's been a long path from the post office to almost game day.