#makai-lemon

#makai-lemon

The drill is simple. Just a basic throw-and-catch warm-up, called "Pat-and-Go," that USC and many other football programs do virtually every day. Quarterbacks loosen their arms, while pass catchers get their legs warm, running routes on air. It's the sort of drill where it's easy enough to slough off a rep or two. Or to get a little casual, like playing catch in the yard.

Lemon doesn't jump off the page at first glance. He's undersized at 5-foot-11, and he doesn't have the blazing speed of some other prospects. But the USC wideout is a technician on the field. He can operate in the slot or on the outside, using his lateral quickness and impressive feel for zone coverage to consistently find open space. The wide out has sure hands, rarely dropping passes that come his way.

Makai Lemon came screaming across the center of the field, gliding past one Michigan State defender, then another, moving as if the world around him were in slow motion. USC's top receiver had presumably been a top-line focus of the Spartans' game plan - and even more so after fellow wideout Ja'Kobi Lane was ruled out Saturday with an injury. But here was Lemon slicing his way through Michigan State's secondary as if no one had bothered to tell him as much, sprinting free as a deep pass soared in his direction and hit him in perfect stride.