Jaylin Smith reveals his main emphasis for improvement entering 2023 season

The start of the college football season is four months away. Teams across the country have wrapped up their final spring practice preparations and are heading into the summer with a clearer image of what their team will look like in 2023. One program brimming with confidence, and rightfully so, is the USC Trojans.

USC had one of the best offenses in 2022 and will look to continue that trend with Heisman-winning quarterback Caleb Willams back for at least one more year. Their defense, on the other hand, could’ve been better. Defensive back Jaylin Smith was a part of that woeful Trojans’ defense last year and wants to do everything in his power to right the wrongs of last season. Before heading out for the summer, following USC spring practices, Smith revealed what his main emphasis for improvement would be entering the 2023 season.

“Working continuously to stay better; stay bigger, faster. Working my communication, (and) technique, and staying on my way weight. I’ve been on up upbringing of weight watching. And so I just got to keep going,” said Smith.

Smith ended last year wishing had done more production-wise. He finished 2022 with 37 tackles, 26 solo, and just one pass deflection. But in 2023, he plans on there being a whole different narrative surrounding the Trojan defense. And that is why he is also using USC’s defensive letdown last year as fuel. And according to him, he’s not the only one using it as fuel.

Smith says the humiliating defeat has stuck with them throughout the team’s 2023 spring practices and has been a motivating factor for USC.

“Never to feel that feeling again,” said Smith. “We worked that hard to get to that level in the season. Just to never get that gut feeling where you feel like you could do more and you can make plays and be out there with your guys. I just feel like going into it; we all had that feeling. We was all in that locker room at the end of the year. So, I mean, we all had that feeling, and we just all agreed that one feeling, we don’t want to feel like that no more. And that’s just been the goal going forward.

“I looked at some tape. I looked at the tape that whole week; the first two weeks, actually. And it sucked to watch, but it was some things to clean up. But once we got back at it, I feel like we just got back to work.”