During a drill early during Wednesday's practice, Taylor Mays intercepted a pass and headed for the end zone.

As he got to the corner, he tried to balance the football on top of the pylon, and the ball fell to the ground. Two more tries and two more failures.

After four years of fall camp, Mays found something he couldn't do.

Anchored by the preseason all-American safety and supported by guys like Josh Pinkard, Kevin Thomas, Will Harris and Shareece Wright, USC has an exceptionally strong group on the back end of its defense, and USC head coach Pete Carroll said the group's special.



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