special team

One is Catholic, the other Jewish. One was a star linebacker for a private high school, Loyola, the other a star receiver for a public high school, Newbury Park. Both wear the same jersey number at UCLA, No. 20.

Scott Taylor and Shane Rosenthal became roommates last year and based on their many smiles, witty comeback lines and football success, it’s clear they’ve become best friends and best teammates.

“It’s cool,” Rosenthal said.

“We just get along really well,” Taylor said.

They share an apartment with two other UCLA players, punter Lennox Miller and defensive back Kuron Jabari.

Whatever initial concerns or perceived stereotypes they may have had quickly vanished after learning about their similar upbringings, goals and expectations to be good students and good people.

“I hosted him on his official visit,” Taylor said. “Hosted him for dinner, took him to Westwood. We have a lot of the same priorities, doing the right things, eating the right food, going to bed at the right time. Little things.”

Said Rosenthal: “We’re on the same timing for everything. He plays defense. I play offense. We’re able to watch film together, talk about football, talk about what he sees from the defense, talk about what I see from the offense and how we go at each other in practice.”

Taylor, a 6-foot-4, 241-pound sophomore who’s never seen a steak he didn’t want to eat, “is a damn good cook,” said his grandfather, Bill Thomason, a former Loyola principal and basketball coach. Thomason once bought his grandson Omaha Steaks as a birthday gift.

“They were so good,” Taylor said.

He sometimes drives home on Sundays to cook steaks for family members. And he eats them, too.

In the competition for who cleans the room the best, Rosenthal wins in a landslide.

“He might be the cleanest guy in the country,” Taylor said. “He might be an All-American cleaner.”

Said Rosenthal: “I definitely feel like I’m the cleanest guy in the apartment.”

As for washing clothes, both said there are no irons in sight. They learned how to do laundry at home but it appears parents are always welcome to help.

Taylor is dating a girl who’s Jewish but Rosenthal gets no credit as a matchmaker since they’ve been seeing each other well before Rosenthal arrived. “There’s usually two Jews in the apartment,” Rosenthal said.

Taylor has become a key pass rusher for the 4-0 Bruins going into Saturday’s game against Oregon. Rosenthal, also a sophomore, has received playing time as a gunner on punts while being a backup receiver. He’s the state-record holder in high school football with 24 career interceptions, so tackling on special teams is something he does well while waiting for the opportunity to show his receiving skills.

Taylor has used weight training to build up his body and give himself an NFL-like stature. It started back during the pandemic when he was 13. He decided to walk down the street to the local fitness center that was allowing kids to use the equipment for free — as long as they were 15. Somehow, he convinced them he was 15. When the business started charging him, he got his mom’s credit card, became a paid member and the rest is history. He has the talent to be on par with former UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger.

He also possesses the ability to comfortably talk in public. He was the only UCLA player chosen to answer questions from the media after Bob Chesney was introduced as head coach last December. On Tuesday, Taylor welcomed a group of middle school students touring Spaulding Field with high-fives and fist-pumps.

Taylor remembers his first impression of Chesney addressing the team.

“He’s a great communicator to you guys,” Taylor said of Chesney. “He’s also a great communicator to us. Everything’s crystal clear about what we’re supposed to do, what our role is since Day 1. He showed up and said, ‘If you guys choose to stay here’ and … this is before the portal even opened. ‘If you guys choose to stay here, we’re gonna do something special, so if you choose to stay, be ready to work, be ready to compete.’”

Taylor said the foundation of strong relationships within the team is important.

“It’s really special the connection we have,” he said. “And I think that speaks to who we are as a team because it’s really easy to play hard for each other when we’re so close off the field.”

If Chesney ever decides to host a team barbecue, Taylor is ready to lend his steak-cooking skills, with Rosenthal at his side.

In No. 12 USC football’s first three dominant wins of the season, its opponents combined to convert about one-third of third-down attempts and made one fourth-down conversion in three attempts.

On Saturday, in a rocky 42-35 win over Rutgers (0-3, 0-1 Big Ten) that saw the Trojans give up 292 passing yards, nearly get outgained overall and suffer multiple injuries in the secondary, the Scarlet Knights converted 6-of-11 third downs and made 3-of-4 fourth-down tries.

Against one of the worst teams in the Big Ten, USC’s high-powered offense and a clutch pick-6 from cornerback Prophet Brown were enough to survive the defense’s late-down struggles for a fourth consecutive win. However, with No. 20 Oregon (2-1) coming to Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday with a star veteran quarterback in Dante Moore, that might not be possible.

“As a secondary, we’ve got to be a little bit tighter in those situations. We’ve got to make those competitive plays,” Trojans coach Lincoln Riley said Tuesday of third- and fourth-down situations. “We have a good defensive line. We have a group that can rush the passer. We’ve got to make guys hold onto that ball, make our pass rush work and make those plays when we get to the point of attack.”

USC hasn’t beaten Oregon in two matchups under Riley, including a 42-27 loss that all but eliminated the Trojans from College Football Playoff contention late last season, and has only won two of the teams’ last 10 meetings. A second loss this season for the Ducks or a loss this early in USC’s loaded conference schedule could make either team’s CFP path more difficult moving forward.

Though Brown echoed a common team sentiment that Saturday’s game is just like any other despite the potential CFP stakes, he said third- and fourth-down defense could be a deciding factor.

“Great defenses find a way to get off the field on third and fourth down,” Brown said. “Going into this game, it’s definitely going to be a big indicator on how it’s going to go, how we do on third and fourth down.”

Secondary, wide receiver groups dealing with injuries

During the Rutgers game, both cornerback Jontez Williams and safety Alex Graham appeared to be dealing with injuries, which Riley acknowledged Monday on Trojans Live. Riley said on the show that he was hoping to get both back “right away.”

Williams did not appear on USC’s initial availability report released Wednesday evening after telling reporters Tuesday that he was “ready to go.”

Graham, however, was listed as questionable on the report, which is updated daily from Wednesday through Saturday during a typical game week.

Standout freshman wide receiver Trent Mosley, who racked up 13 catches, 255 yards, four receiving touchdowns and a punt-return touchdown in his first three games with USC, was listed as doubtful. Mosley missed the Rutgers game after appearing to favor his right knee after a third-quarter touchdown the week prior against Louisiana.

On Tuesday, Riley deferred a question about Mosley’s return timetable to the availability report. Last week, Riley said he didn’t expect Mosley to be out “extremely long term,” but did not offer specifics.

Another of USC’s top receiving options, Corey Simms, was listed as out. Simms had at least two receptions in each of the Trojans’ first four games for nearly 200 yards and caught a touchdown against Rutgers.

Standout sophomore defensive tackle Jahkeem Stewart was also listed as questionable after missing the first four games of the season with a foot injury. Stewart dressed for the game against Louisiana on Sept. 12, but Riley said the team “made the decision to pull him back a little bit” after seeing him warm up for that game.

“He’s definitely getting better and better each week,” Riley said Tuesday.

Special teams an emphasis in practice

Hours before their playoff hopes were dashed, the 2025 Trojans had the ball and were as in it as they could be.

More specifically, the then-No. 15 Trojans were tied with then-No. 7 Oregon 14-14 early in the second quarter and playing well on the road. Should they have won the game, USC would have had a reasonable argument to the CFP selection committee to make the 12-team field.

The Trojan offense stalled and was set to punt. Oregon’s Malik Benson took a line-drive punt 85 yards to the end zone to give the Ducks a lead. The Trojans compounded mistakes and fell convincingly afterward.

“It was a huge, huge play in the game,” Riley said after the game. “You definitely don’t want to give them something like that.”

Last week, the play that kept Rutgers in the game near the end of the first half also came from a punt formation, but with the roles reversed.

The Scarlet Knights ran a fake punt to convert a fourth-and-21 for a 44-yard gain that sparked a touchdown drive to close the gap to 3 points.

“The special teams play last year (against Oregon) really turned the game. The one the other day did too,” Riley said. “In these big games, when you’ve got two really good teams going at it, it always feels like there’s a couple of just really, really impactful special teams plays.”

With last year and last week in mind, how much emphasis did Riley and company place on special teams with a critical matchup with Oregon upcoming?

“A ton,” Riley said.

The Los Angeles freeway system has its downsides, especially during traffic-jammed weekdays, but the Rams are absolutely looking forward to commuting from their Woodland Hills facility to SoFi Stadium for Monday night’s game against the New York Giants.

After traveling about 16,000 air miles round trip for their season-opener in Australia — and suffering a humiliating loss to the San Francisco 49ers — the home opener requires only a 28-mile journey and offers a chance for a reboot.

And the embarrassed-but-still-Super-Bowl-favorite Rams are eager for the opportunity.

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Aaron Donald will play for the Rams against the New York Giants on Monday, but will Puka Nacua be on the field?

“An eternity,” coach Sean McVay said when asked about the 11-day wait between games. “It has been forever. We’re excited to compete again.”

In the 27-7 defeat by the 49ers, the Rams’ offense never established a rhythm, the defense gave up three touchdown passes and special teams gave up a long kickoff return.

Veteran receiver Davante Adams cautioned about overreaction.

“Everybody’s freaking out, which I understand,” he said. “We didn’t put together the greatest showing out there. But you’re a fool if you think that that’s what it’s going to look like every single week.”

The Rams will be without edge rusher Myles Garrett, who is on injured reserve for at least four games following knee surgery. Star receiver Puka Nacua is listed as questionable because of a hip injury.

But defensive lineman Aaron Donald is expected to give Rams a much-needed boost.

Donald, 35, ended a two-year retirement when he returned to the team a few weeks ago. The three-time NFL defensive player of the year did not travel to Australia for the opener, but McVay is happy to have him available for the first time since 2023.

“Aaron is a stud, and he’s been at the forefront of setting the foundation of everything that we’re about here,” said McVay, who is in his 10th season as Rams coach. “I remember my interview process included meeting with him and he’s looking at me like, ‘This is the guy that they’re thinking about hiring?’”

One of the reasons Donald returned was to play alongside Garrett, a two time NFL defensive player of the year who amassed an NFL season-record 23 sacks last season.

Now that combination — which boasts a combined 236½ sacks — is on hold.

The double- and triple-team schemes Donald thought he had put behind might once again be in full effect.

“You think they’re going to double/triple team me [after] not playing for two years?” Donald quipped when asked about the prospect. “They ain’t worried about me, man. They don’t have to be worried about me.

“They don’t have to worry about me at all. No man, they don’t have to worry about me.”

But does he anticipate getting that kind of attention?

“I don’t know what they’re going to do out there,” he said of opponents. “I don’t know what I’m going to get. All I can know is I got a game plan. I’m going to go out there, execute it, and just try to play ball. That’s it.”

The Giants, under new coach John Harbaugh, are coming off a 28-20 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

Second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart, receiver Malik Nabers, tight end Isaiah Likely and running back Cam Skattebo lead the offense, outside linebacker Brian Burns the defense.

Rams players have said that they quickly put their performance against the 49ers behind and were focused on the Giants.

Quarterback Matthew Stafford, the reigning NFL most valuable player, passed for only 155 yards, with an interception, against the 49ers.

“You get trained, whether it’s a game or a play. Good, bad, and different, move on to the next,” said Stafford, an 18th-year pro. “Don’t think too much about it. Don’t harp too much about it. Just be honest with yourself, play in and play out, game in and game out.”

That next game is here.

The Rams will be “primed and ready,” Adams said, “at the right time.”