No. 4: DEs Everson Griffen/Clay Matthews

Vitals: Griffen – 6-3, 265, sophomore, Agua Fria High (Avondale, Ariz.); Matthews – 6-3, 240, senior, Agoura Hills High

The skinny: Yeah, I kinda cheated by lumping Griffen and Matthews (right) together, which, by the end of this exercise, will make for six unproven Trojans would could make or break 2008. But they will serve similar functions for the USC defense — harassing opposing quarterbacks — so I did it anyway.

Griffen and Matthews are listed as co-starters at right defensive end, but the likelihood is that Griffen will start and Matthews will be a pass-rush specialist playing the stand-up “Elephant” defensive end role that helped Brian Cushing lead USC with 13.5 tackles for loss in 2006. Griffen made an impact as a freshman, playing in all 13 games and recording 21 tackles and 5.5 sacks. His new challenge is to become an every-down dominator in place of Lawrence Jackson, whom Seattle picked in the first round of the 2008 NFL draft.

Matthews primarily has played on special teams, twice earning USC’s co-Special Teams Player of the Year honors. Then the coaches moved him to the “Elephant” role in spring, and they liked what they saw. “I’m really pumped about Clay,” USC coach Pete Carroll said. “Clay had a great spring for us. We played him like we played ‘Cush’ a couple years ago, and he really took to it. I need to see him in another camp to know how much we can count on him. (But) he’s really fast, he really understands what’s going on and he’s relentless. That position he rushes from is one that can be a dominant factor in getting to the quarterback.”

Carroll said Griffen and Matthews are his fastest defensive linemen, running the 40-yard dash in the 4.5-second range (“That’s really fast coming off the edge,” Carroll said.) Carroll is hopeful they can create takeaways, one of his few complaints about last season’s otherwise stellar defensive unit. As Carroll noted: “The quarterback is the most vulnerable player to turn the ball over.”

Coming up: Part 5.

See also: Part 1 (Mark Sanchez), Part 2 (Joe McKnight), Part 3 (Charles Brown).

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