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USC released its annual end-of-spring depth chart last week, which we posted mostly without comment at the time. Here, now, is our position-by-position analysis of what Lane Kiffin and Co. released, with an eye on what it means for the 2012 Trojans.

Quarterback

This was exactly as expected, with Matt Barkley entrenched and Cody Kessler and Max Wittek continuing to compete behind him. It is noteworthy that Jesse Scroggins is listed a spot behind the two redshirt freshmen and not tied with them, but it'd be a little unfair for him to be anywhere else. He missed most of the spring with hip issues and is still in academic jeopardy.

Running back

Where would Tre Madden have been if he wasn't out for the 2012 season? That's the question this portion of the chart begs. Curtis McNeal would still be starting, but Madden could very well be vying with D.J. Morgan for that No. 2 spot. Javorious Allen will be the third-string back unless he gets beat out by an incoming freshman.

Fullback

Soma Vainuku is locked in as the starter with no pressing competition, but he had himself a nice conclusion to the spring anyway, giving the coaching staff more confidence in him going into the summer. Jahleel Pinner will be somewhat of an unknown.

Receiver

De'Von Flournoy jumped in front of Victor Blackwell with an impressive spring, and has now put himself into position to challenge George Farmer for third-receiver status in the fall. And if Farmer can't stay healthy (again), then Flournoy's suddenly the favorite to line up with Robert Woods and Marqise Lee.

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USC already has its starting defensive ends identified in Devon Kennard and Wes Horton, and its top three tackles organized too.

But that's not enough. The Trojans need more linemen capable of logging 10-20 snaps a game to provide breathers for the starters. Who will back those five guys up against the fast-paced offenses of the Pac-12?

"That's the big question," USC defensive line coach Ed Orgeron said last week.

Orgeron has dedicated this spring to cultivating some playable backups for the 2012 season. And as of right now, he says, he has four potential players: redshirt freshman Greg Townsend Jr., junior Morgan Breslin, redshirt junior Kevin Greene and incoming freshman Leonard Williams.

Realistically, those four are competing -- or will be competing, in Williams' case -- for two slots behind Kennard and Horton.

"There's gonna be a third and a fourth end," Orgeron said on Saturday after the Trojans' scrimmage at the Coliseum. "But there is a big difference between the first team and the second team right now.

"Those guys have to rise and I have to do a better job of coaching them to get ready."

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USC defensive tackle Cody Temple is out for the rest of the Trojans' spring practice schedule after undergoing surgery on his right ankle over the weekend, Lane Kiffin announced Tuesday.

Temple, a redshirt freshman who moved over to defense from the offensive line in the winter, had been bothered by the ankle for some time but tried to practice through it for USC's first two weeks of spring practice.

The Trojans expect him back by August, meaning he should be able to take part in fall camp.

Kiffin said the 6-foot-3, 280-pound Temple was proving to be "strong on the point of attack" before the injury and "kind of a run-plugger." He had been playing on the second-team line behind George Uko and J.R. Tavai.

"He was doing well," Kiffin said.

USC’s out on spring break this week and not practicing, but each weekday through Friday, we’ll bring you one thing we learned from the first three days of practice last week and what it might mean for the future.

Our first item covered Marqise Lee‘s continued progress, our second the new-look Aundrey Walker and third the situation at backup QB.

Fourth is this: All options will be explored in the interior of the defensive line.

It doesn't necessarily reflect the talent levels of the players who created them, but USC's biggest hole this offseason -- by far -- is at nose tackle.

Nick Perry had a natural replacement, as did DaJohn Harris in George Uko. Matt Kalil had a qualified candidate to replace him at left tackle, too, in Kevin Graf.

But Christian Tupou's spot? The natural person to step in would be J.R. Tavai, but it's clear he's not being looked at as an every-down option. Then there's Antwaun Woods, whose playing time seems to largely depend on his physical condition.

So what next? Ed Orgeron and the Trojans are looking every which way for potential options to fill the hole created by Tupou's departure. Defensive end Wes Horton worked out at tackle last season, but Orgeron said last week that was a failed experiment and will no longer be tried.

Now, defensive end Greg Townsend Jr. is getting time at the three-technique, which could presumably push Uko to nose if it works out. Redshirt freshman Christian Heyward is sitting out the spring after undergoing shoulder surgery, but he'll get a long look come fall camp to determine if he can contribute 20 or snaps a game.

One thing is clear: The nose tackle spot is going to be USC's biggest 2012 weakness, unless someone unexpectedly emerges. Tupou wasn't a high-profile contributor, but he rarely made mistakes and he was consistently on the field when healthy.

The Trojans could use a similar player this season, since Uko, Horton and Devon Kennard -- the other starting defensive linemen -- have the ability to produce enough quarterback pressure on their own.

Check back later Friday for the fifth and final thing we learned from the spring.

USC defensive coordinator Ed Orgeron and head coach Lane Kiffin both compared a current USC defensive linemen to former Trojans defensive tackle Mike Patterson on Thursday, but they were different players.

Orgeron said sophomore J.R. Tavai resembled Patterson in his ability to play nose tackle despite his light weight; Kiffin said redshirt freshman Antwaun Woods resembled him because of his precipitous weight loss since arriving on campus last August.

The funny thing: Tavai and Woods are competing against each other this spring for the only truly open starting spot on the USC team. Every other position everywhere else has either a returning starter or a clear-cut leader. Nose guard is totally up for grabs between Tavai and Woods with Christian Tupou graduating and pursuing an NFL career.

They're totally different, too. Tavai is the over-achieving type, a 6-2, 271-pounder who doesn't show a ton of physical potential but proved enough to get on the field as a true freshman last season. Woods has been an underachiever thus far, seriously underwhelming the USC coaches in fall camp last year when he showed up weighing 340 pounds on his 6-1 frame.

More than likely, the two are going to split time at nose tackle in 2012. If both players can't be counted on to play at least 20 or 30 snaps a game this season, USC's defensive line is going to be in trouble. Former defensive end Greg Townsend Jr. has been working at tackle so far this spring and former offensive guard Cody Temple is too, but there are no other healthy defensive tackles on the roster besides George Uko, will start at three-technique.

Patterson, of course, was a stout 6-foot, 290-pound tackle who found success at nose guard at USC after coming in weighing considerably more than that. Orgeron fell in love with Patterson's potential as a high-schooler and convinced then-coach Pete Carroll he could turn into something.

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We’re doing position-by-position previews in the weeks leading up to spring practice, breaking down the depth chart for one position group each day, paying special attention to things that can change in the spring.

We’ve looked at the quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, tight ends and offensive linemen so far. Today, we analyze the defensive linemen.

Lane Kiffin always said former USC defensive end Nick Perry was a unique athlete.

Everyone else finally saw the same thing at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis last weekend. Now the tough part comes, though: The Trojans have to replace him and the pass-rush presence he provided on the defensive line the last three seasons.

There isn't another returner on the line who has proven capable and consistent as a pass-rusher. Wes Horton has been effective in stretches and George Uko has shown flashes, but that's about it. Devon Kennard has struggled to get to the quarterback and the other projected starter, nose guard J.R. Tavai, doesn't even try to get there much.

Where will the sacks come from? That's part of what this spring will help figure out.

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USC's Cody Temple was all set to commit to Nevada as a defensive tackle back in November 2010, planning to call the Wolf Pack after school one day at Liberty High in Bakersfield and inform them of his plans.

Then his father picked him up and told him he had a phone call to make. And so he did, and found USC associate head coach John Baxter on the other end of the line. On the other end, in Los Angeles, Baxter soon passed the phone to Lane Kiffin, who offered the 6-2, 280-pounder a scholarship as an offensive lineman.

Temple, raised a USC fan, accepted immediately, signed in February of last year and served quietly on the scout-team interior offensive line throughout the 2011 season while using his redshirt year.

Then, Thursday, Kiffin called Temple into his upstairs office at Heritage Hall. He and Ed Orgeron had talked, Kiffin told Temple, and they decided that they wanted him on the defensive line again. There was less depth there than there was on the O-line, Kiffin said, so it made more sense for the team and the player.

Temple obliged, again immediately, beginning his new adventure in a Thursday conditioning session with his teammates as members of the USC coaching staff observed.

"It doesn't really matter where they put me," Temple said afterward. "Whether I was offense or defense I was gonna make sure I was on the field one way or another."

With Temple as a center/guard, there would have been 15 offensive linemen on the USC roster for five starting spots compared to four defensive tackles for two starting spots. The move makes sense, and he realizes that.

He'll compete with Antwaun Woods and J.R. Tavai for time at nose guard while Christian Heyward backs up George Uko at the three-technique.

"We were looking at nose guard because it looks a little bit light and seeing what I can do to help out," Temple said. "We discussed it -- getting on the field the earliest I could and helping out the guys."

Here are five more USC-centric observations from National Signing Day, focusing on what they will mean for the future of the Trojans. Later, we'll have a post on some news and notes Lane Kiffin revealed in his signing day press conference.

1. The star(s)

Most recruiting classes have one or two players who are recognizable names, often top-recruited quarterbacks or skill-position players from the area.

But the two most exciting players -- defensive end Leonard Williams and receiver Nelson Agholor, both from Florida -- in the Trojans' 2012 class don't fit either of those bills.

Williams' decision to choose USC didn't attract a ton of national attention, but it's clear the Trojans were both surprised and delighted at his choice. Kiffin credited defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron for sealing Williams' signature from out-of-state.

The 6-5, 270-pounder spent high school on the East coast of Florida, but he hails from L.A. and attended a camp at USC last summer. That's where USC's interest stemmed from.

Agholor is an interesting combination as an elite athletic prospect and a superb character guy. His high-school highlight film is prodigious; his press-conference performance Wednesday morning when he picked the Trojans earned him some positive attention.

Kiffin said Agholor will primarily play receiver at USC but could occasionally log some time at running back.

2. Depth issues at two spots

We wrote about the offensive line on signing day and how USC wanted to get one more lineman in the fold, but the truth is there were two other positions where the Trojans needed players more desperately than they did on the O-line.

Those spots? Defensive tackle and running back. The Trojans have only four scholarship tackles on the roster, and two of them have never played in a college game. The other two, J.R. Tavai and George Uko, have played but started a combined one game.

At running back, USC has three scholarship players and only two with any experience in Curtis McNeal and D.J. Morgan.

Kiffin didn't shy away from saying Wednesday that the Trojans were worried about their depth in the backfield. But, he emphasized, they chose being worried about depth over taking a prospect of questionable character or talent.

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LOS ANGELES -- We're about set to go here at the Coliseum for the Trojans' 5 p.m. PT game against Oregon. Here are a couple of last-minute things worthy of an update before kickoff:

• The crowd and the atmosphere around the Coliseum has the look of the Stanford game more than any of the other contests this season, meaning it actually looks like the stadium will be close to filled and fairly electric by kickoff. A 7 o'clock kickoff allowed for more tailgating time and more time to get in the building, but it also presented added challenges for USC's security systems. The two schools announced earlier in the week that they were bringing on more than a 25-percent increase in security forces for the game.

• Injury updates: Cornerback Nickell Robey (foot) looked ready to go in pregame warmups after missing some of Thursday's practice. Six players who had missed some portions of practice during the week -- receiver Robert Woods (ankle/shoulder), running back Curtis McNeal (knee), defensive end Devon Kennard (foot) and linebackers Dion Bailey (ankle), Lamar Dawson (ankle) and Hayes Pullard (undisclosed) -- all appeared healthy in warmups.

• The only player out for the Trojans who was in doubt for this game is defensive tackle J.R. Tavai (ankle), the freshman who had taken on an increased role in recent weeks when defensive tackle DaJohn Harris was bothered by an ankle injury. Tavai was in sweats before the game, meaning Harris, Christian Tupou and George Uko will have to take all the snaps at the two tackle spots.

• On the uniforms: As expected, UCLA broke out the all-white uniforms for Saturday's game. One twist to the blue-numbered jerseys: There are no names on the backs. Also as expected, USC stayed with its normal cardinal-and-gold home uniforms, despite some rumors that the Trojans would contrast the Bruins and go with all-blacks.

Only one player is expected to miss Saturday's game against UCLA after getting hurt last week against Oregon: defensive tackle J.R. Tavai, who has a sprained left ankle and sat out of Thursday's practice with his foot in a boot.

Everybody else practiced, including receiver Robert Woods (ankle/shoulder), running back Curtis McNeal (knee), defensive end Devon Kennard (foot), defensive tackle DaJohn Harris (ankle) and linebackers Dion Bailey (ankle), Hayes Pullard (undisclosed) and Lamar Dawson (ankle), who have all been limited or out at some point in this week.

Cornerback Nickell Robey sat out of the end of practice with an apparent foot injury but didn't seem too bothered. USC coach Lane Kiffin said he'd be fine.

Kiffin said he expected everybody but Tavai to play "no matter what" because of the magnitude of the game but added that he and his staff would wait until game-time Saturday to make final determinations on their readiness.

LOS ANGELES -- We're just about set to go here at the Coliseum for the Trojans' 12:45 p.m. PT game against Washington. Here are a couple of last-minute things worthy of an update before kickoff:

• Defensive tackle DaJohn Harris, who sat out most of practice this week with an unspecified ankle injury, was participating in pregame warmups with his teammates, but he will not start Saturday. Harris' presence will be key against a Washington team that's carried by its run game, but redshirt freshman George Uko will make his first career start under tackle in his place. If Harris can't come in as a reserve, true freshman J.R. Tavai would back up Uko and nose tackle Christian Tupou.

• Also warming up with his teammates was freshman running back George Farmer, who has missed the last two weeks with a sprained ankle. Farmer made news this week by announcing he'd prefer to play receiver over running back, but he's only going to play running back the rest of the year. It'll be interesting, then, to see how much he plays this week now that he's healthy.

• Compared to the crowd last time USC played at the Coliseum, two weeks ago against Stanford, there were very few non-stands in the crowd as of half an hour before kickoff. Game-time temperature is projected to be 62 degrees, with a 35 percent chance of rain throughout the game, according to Weather.com.

• Former USC defensive end Kenechi Udeze is now working as an assistant strength coach for Washington. He and Huskies head coach Steve Sarkisian made the rounds on the field pregame, visiting with a number of long-tenured USC staff members. Udeze played in the NFL for four seasons after being drafted in the first round out of USC in 2004 but was forced to retire in 2008 when diagnosed with leukemia. He has since beat the disease and is now in remission.

This is Monte Kiffin's 45th season coaching football at either the pro or collegiate ranks.

In that time, he's come across his fair share of both top prospects who don't live up to the hype and diamonds in the rough who exceed it.

Even so, though, a guy like J.R. Tavai gets him excited. Because Kiffin is well aware of how rare it is to find a complete unknown one year and have him playing meaningful snaps for you the next. It just doesn't happen very often.

But it happened with Tavai, USC"s slow, undersized-yet-super-productive freshman defensive tackle. Back in March 2010, Kiffin found the then-6-1, 240-pound 17-year-old practicing with high school team during the spring before his senior season -- only a couple months after Kiffin moved to Southern California from Tennessee for the first time.

"It was exciting as a coach, really," Kiffin said. "I went down to the South Bay, my recruiting area, and I stopped by Mira Costa High. And the head coach, the defensive coordinator and the D-line coach all said you should look at this guy we have. So I looked at him -- not knowing his name at all -- and he played fullback and defensive tackle both ways and he played it well and I just started following him.

"Then he came to our camp, and he really stood out. Nobody could block him. Yeah, it's high school kids, but nobody could block him."

The camp in question was the Rising Stars Camp, held on the USC campus on June 23 and 24 of 2010. All of the Trojans' coaches were in attendance, and they all saw Tavai's dominance first-hand. And that's how they became convinced -- or almost convinced -- that he was a Division I prospect. Because, before that, everyone else had scoffed at Kiffin's high praise of the kid he found at Mira Costa.

"We’re kind of like, the guy’s short, he’s not very big, there’s no way," says Kiffin's son Lane, USC's second-year head coach. "Sure enough, he came to camp, had a great camp. We watched him on film playing great. He’s just a natural player who isn’t a height-weight-speed guy.

"That’s why he wasn’t as highly rated as these other guys. But he’s going to be a really good player for us."

Even then, USC didn't offer him. Knowing that no other major colleges had their eyes on him, the Trojans decided to wait until after his senior season. When he finished with 95 tackles and 12 sacks, they offered him a scholarship the week after his season ended and he accepted it on the spot.

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At one point after USC concluded practice Wednesday, just before coach Lane Kiffin was due to talk shop and while players were concluding one-on-one interviews with members of the media, Kiffin stopped for a second and looked around.

Six players were being interviewed, he later said. And all six of them were first- or second-year players, another in a long list of signs to Kiffin that he and his staff have recruited well since their arrival in January 2010.

"The majority of our really good players and best prospects probably for the long term, for the next level, are in their first or second year," he said. "It's great."

Kiffin made the point after being asked about freshman kicker Andre Heidari, who has been unexpectedly solid through six games this season, making 10-of-11 field-goal attempts and all 18 extra points.

The Bakersfield native, has quietly been one of USC's most reliable players, already the Trojans' best kicker since David Buehler in 2008. His kickoffs haven't been as powerful as Buehler's, but they've consistently gone past the opponents' 10-yard line and forced opponents into returns.

"I think he's doing great," Kiffin said. "Not too often do you find a true freshman kicking like that in big-time games. He's another freshman reminder of the future here."

Heidari is one of nine true freshmen to suit up for the Trojans this season, a list that also includes running backs George Farmer, Amir Carlisle, receiver Marqise Lee, linebackers Lamar Dawson and Tre Madden, defensive lineman J.R. Tavai and offensive linemen Aundrey Walker and Marcus Martin.

Several other redshirt freshman and true sophomores have also played significant roles with the team this season.

1. The Pac-12 debut: Much has been said about it in the days leading up to this game, but this really will mean a lot to a lot of people. Conference commissioner Larry Scott will be in attendance at the Coliseum, along with many other dignitaries, and there will also be a ceremony prior to the game commemorating the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Linebacker Chris Galippo made a good point about another reason why the conference opener is important: Opponents prefer to watch film of teams playing within the conference, so they know exactly what they're watching instead of guessing about what the other team on tape is bringing to the table. Teams USC faces early on in conference play, like Arizona State and Arizona, will be watching this game film intently for weaknesses over the next few weeks.

2. The running back situation: Who's going to get the bulk of the carries for the Trojans this week? Any one of three players seem like fairly good bets, from starter D.J. Morgan to the no longer suspended Marc Tyler to the recently reinvigorated Dillon Baxter. If the past is any indication, Trojans coach Lane Kiffin will most likely just go with the hot hand, feeding the ball to whichever back is having the best day. But, at the same time, maybe he will show some loyalty to Morgan and give him the chance to establish himself early on without the threat of another player supplanting him.

3. Getting the freshmen in the game: Three true freshmen were supposed to play last week but never got in: Lamar Dawson, J.R. Tavai and Christian Heyward. If the same thing happens again this week, you can assume that the plan has been modified and that the Trojans now plan to redshirt them and preserve a year of their eligibility. Dawson, in particular, provides a lot of intrigue. At certain points in camp while he was subbing for an injured Galippo, he looked like he deserved to be starting right away in the Pac-12. At other points, not so much -- but the Kentucky native has tremendous potential, as evidenced by his pick-six off of Matt Barkley in team drills Thursday in practice.

4. Following up a record-breaker: Yes, Robert Woods broke the school record for receptions with 17 last week against Minnesota. Most everybody following the Trojans knows this by now. And Barkley also broke the completions record with 34. That's done and over with now. The question is how Woods and Barkley will follow up that opener and start to bridge the gap to the rest of the 2011 season. Woods won't catch 17 balls this week -- Utah's defense is too good and too smart to let it happen again -- but he could create advantages for his teammates by sucking up two defenders and opening up the field for the rest of them. And that brings us to perhaps the most important thing to watch in this game.

5. Who will join Woods as a top option for Barkley? You can argue it either way. Sure, Kiffin probably called a few too many plays for Woods in the Minnesota game. But he also didn't have very many alternatives, when most of the other players he was dialing up were inconsistent in catching the ball and in regards to route running. There are two primary candidates for players who could prove to be legitimate second options in freshman Marqise Lee and fullback/tight end Rhett Ellison. It's clear USC must get the ball in Ellison's hands more to be successful, and it seems like the natural progression for Lee is to get more and more involved as the weeks go on. This might be a perfect week as the Utes really key in on Woods.

Notes and quotes from Lane Kiffin's Sunday evening conference call, where he also disclosed that he had met earlier with running back Dillon Baxter and his family:

• A quick review of the Minnesota game: Kiffin said that in retrospect he feels a "little better" about the way the Trojans played against the Gophers. Robert Woods played a "great game," with "great energy all over the field." The strength of the defense was the defensive line, he said, and, overall, the defense actually played "very well for the majority of the game."

• 'Defensive' would be a good word to describe the way Kiffin addressed his decision to go for two twice in the first half Saturday. "We don’t just all the sudden make a decision one second before they happen," he said. "All that stuff is thought out well before. Those aren’t just split-second decisions. "In this case, the plan going in was, if we were the first ones to score and we had an advantage in our special-teams look, we were going to go for it." It was a bit of a different approach to how he talked about the two-point attempts in his press conference after Saturday's game, when he referenced the Trojans' 2010 statistics with the two-pointers and stuck to those.

• Three freshmen were supposed to play in Saturday's game but didn't get a chance to because the game was too close late, Kiffin said: linebacker Lamar Dawson, defensive tackle Christian Heyward and defensive end J.R. Tavai. The other freshmen are then presumably on a path to redshirt, including highly-touted receiver George Farmer and running back Amir Carlisle.

• The Trojans didn't suffer a single injury during the game. "It's pretty much unheard of," Kiffin said. "That’s obviously good, because you want to be 1-0 and you want to be healthy." Left guard Abe Markowitz is on track to practice this week and potentially play against Utah in six days.

• On the topic of Utah, Kiffin didn't reveal much of his initial analysis of the Utes' opener but did say he was happy to gameplan for a more traditional team he's more familiar with. "It is good to see a normal offense," he said. Of course, after Saturday's game Kiffin said his team would not beat Utah playing like they did against Minnesota.

• Kiffin said he did not have an update on the statuses of suspended running back Marc Tyler or defensive tackle Armond Armstead, who continues to sit out with an unspecified condition that forced him to be hospitalized in March. "As of right now, nothing has changed," Kiffin said of Tyler, who was originally suspended only for Week 1 but not given a specific reinstatement date. "We'll just keep evaluating it and we may have something here shortly.”