- Associated Press - Saturday, April 15, 2017

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The role has reversed for Sam Darnold at Southern California.

When Darnold took over as starting quarterback four games into last season, he had the benefit of one of the nation’s most experienced offensive lines and veteran wide receivers to help him ease into the role that ended with him directing a dramatic Rose Bowl win and No. 3 final ranking for the Trojans.

But as was evident Saturday afternoon during a situational scrimmage at the Coliseum to conclude spring practice, the redshirt sophomore Darnold is now the leader, helping young receivers and a jumbled line develop.

“I just think his maturity level has been off the charts,” coach Clay Helton said. “He doesn’t let anything get too big. A lot of people are talking about him and he’s really captured the now.”

USC decided not to hold a spring game because of injuries and instead worked on specific instances such as the red zone or being backed up against the goal line. Darnold was 4 of 6 passing for 58 yards, sitting out the second half of the workout.

Rose Bowl standout Deontay Burnett was held out, allowing sophomore Michael Pittman Jr. and redshirt freshmen Tyler Vaughns and Velus Jones Jr. more chances to catch passes from Darnold. All three shined at times during the spring, and each again had nice moments during the scrimmage.

Jones had a 21-yard reception with the first team and showed his speed with a 34-yard run on a reverse, while the steady Vaughns had consecutive 14-yard catches from Darnold. The 6-foot-4 Pittman, who mostly played on special teams last season, had three receptions for 30 yards.

Helton said refining the chemistry between Darnold and that trio tasked with replacing JuJu Smith-Schuster, Darreus Rogers and two-way star Adoree Jackson is one of the team’s main goals this summer.

“Sometimes when you deal with young wideouts and they don’t run the exact right route, he never showed frustration. He communicated with them,” Helton said.

“He’s not a big talker as we know, and when he talks you listen. I’ve really appreciated how he has done a great job 1-on-1 with each of these wideouts.”

While Darnold got to work extensively with his receivers, he never had the same opportunity with a rebuilt offensive line that lost left tackle Chad Wheeler, left guard Damien Mama and right tackle Zach Banner. USC’s three returning starters up front - center Nico Falah, right guard Viane Talamaivao and Toa Lobendahn, who has started at every position but right tackle in the previous three seasons - missed part or all of spring because of injury.

Falah, who has been limited by a herniated disk and briefly considered a position change in hopes of taking pressure off his back, acknowledged the challenge ahead.

“We got a lot of work to do. We got to get there,” Falah said.

“As soon as I got back in, Viane got hurt. I mean, it’s been tough. It’s a lot of new faces around me, but we got to adapt to what’s around us.”

In spite of the changes around Darnold, he is the early favorite to win the Heisman Trophy and USC is being touted as a contender to reach the College Football Playoff.

For his part, Darnold doesn’t seem fazed by either the lofty expectations or his new responsibilities in helping teammates assimilate as quickly as he did last season.

“I’m pretty comfortable right now, honestly,” Darnold said.

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