Look no further than USC's first scrimmage of camp earlier this week to see how high the team's defensive staff have set the expectations for themselves and their players.

"I thank God it wasn't a game. Long story short," said defensive coordinator Alex Grinch on Thursday with a dry laugh. 

"It felt like a first scrimmage in terms of a tackling standpoint," Grinch said. "What you can't do as a coach, you can't get surprised the first time you go live all sudden and you have some misses that way."

"It's tough because to get good at something, you've got to do it repeatedly and you can't tackle every day, at any level," outside linebackers coach Roy Manning explained. "But it's good for them to be in those situations and to have some adversity."

Manning's position group in particular has already faced some adversity this fall. Sophomore Korey Foreman and redshirt sophomore Romello Height have been limited in camp due to injury. Players like junior Tuli Tuipulotu have moved around on USC's defensive line in order to make up for the team's current depth issues.

"We've gotten an opportunity to train more guys, but that position has got to get shored up really quick or it's going to be an interesting first couple of weeks," Grinch said.

Notes from USC's 12th practice of camp:

• Inside linebackers coach Brian Odom expressed the same sentiment as his defensive peers when evaluating the Trojans' tackling in their first scrimmage

  • "Not good. I think a cause for concern, yes. But you've got to be logical that that might happen the first time we go full, live [tackling]. There's a definite improvement that needs to be made. We're striving for that obviously every day."

• Odom also gave an update on the competition at his position group.

  • "We'll see a little bit more after this week, but it's kind of shaping into place. Guys are kind of falling into some roles. But, you know, again, we'll find out more as we move a little bit further down the road."

  • "The first team reps are at a premium. So if you get first team reps, you've got to earn them. We're not going to rotate a bunch of guys. Starters gonna be starters."

• Manning reiterated Thursday that his expectations remain high for USC's defense.

  • "I'll be very honest, we're not going to pat them on the back a whole lot. Because it's the standard. It's the expectation. You're a USC football player, so we expect a high, high level execution from these guys. But you know, I give them credit they're working and that's all we can ask for.

• Given the aforementioned injuries at rush end, Grinch expressed the consequences that come with missing valuable practice time.

  • "I'm very concerned. I'm more concerned with the individuals because you get better as a football player by playing football. So you don't get these last two weeks back. Very quickly we transition into game week and there's a lot that goes into game week and what doesn't [go into it] is a lot of reps. You want to get so many [reps] and we try to maximize that, believe me."

New numbers to know:

• Defensive lineman Nick Figueroa, who previously wore No. 50, now dons 99. The redshirt senior wore that number during his stint in junior college.

• Defensive back Bryson Shaw, who transferred from Ohio State as a redshirt junior this summer, wears 27.

• True freshman running back Raleek Brown sports the number 14.

• Wide receiver Michael Jackson III, who previously wore No. 13, now wears the number 9.

• Wide receiver Jordan Addison wears the once-retired No. 3, after Trojan legend Carson Palmer gave his blessing.

• Redshirt senior defensive lineman Solomon Byrd, who transferred from Wyoming this summer, dons No. 51.