Donte Williams reveals message to USC Trojans following loss

USC’s 2021 season was derailed as early as Week 2, when the highly-ranked Trojans, who had serious postseason expectations, lost in upset fashion to Stanford, fired head coach Clay Helton and replaced him in the interim with Donte Williams.

Things haven’t gotten much better for Williams in Los Angeles; though he picked up a 45-14 win over the lowly Washington State Cougars in his first week, he followed it up with a 45-27 loss to Oregon State, 37-14 win over Colorado and 42-26 loss to Utah. Against Utah, USC’s defense was abysmal, and Utes’ quarterback Cameron Rising on Saturday completed 22 of his 28 passing attempts for 306 yards — averaging 10.9 yards per completion — along with three touchdowns, while rushing for 27 yards and another touchdown.

Suffice to say, a 3-3 record with its toughest tests yet to come is not where USC thought it would be come bye week.

Williams on Tuesday night joined the Trojans Live radio show and explained how he will continue getting the most out of his USC team, as well as what message he’s sending to them during the bye week.

“Today, the whole message was perception and reality,” Williams said, explaining the message he’s sending during the bye week. “Everybody, I guess, thinks that the perception is that this team is going to quit, that guys are going to fold, that we’re just going to pack it in and quit. That’s the perception. The reality is, when you look at these guys’ eyes, there’s no quit. We’re never going to quit. So, we as coaches are never going to quit. We’re going to continue doing what we need to do moving forward. It would be no different if it were 6-0 or if we were 0-6. That’s the true meaning of ‘Fight On.'”

USC enters its bye week with a very tough test in the near future, as the Trojans head to South Bend on Oct. 23 to take on the No. 14 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. And Williams has reassured his USC team that it should prepare for the Notre Dame game as it would any other contest; furthermore, he believes the Trojans, who would certainly benefit from the potential return of freshman phenom Jaxson Dart, will be able to compete with the Fighting Irish.

“The locker room was a little different [after the loss]. It was more of making sure they understand the process,” Williams said of what he’s told the USC Trojans. “Just because we lose a game or just because we win a game doesn’t mean we change what we do. There were still guys here on Sunday at study hall, still doing everything. The process continues.”