USC DC D'Anton Lynn faces alma mater Penn State – Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES – The journey began, even if he didn't know it yet, in D'Anton Lynn's student apartment in Center County, Pennsylvania.

For a time during his standout career as a cornerback at Penn State, he lived in a four-person apartment with Nittany Lions receiver Ryan Scherer and then-quarterback Matt McGloin. And as Scherer recalled over the winter, their home temporarily turned into a home theater for film study. What are they trying to do here? McGloin often asked Lynn, the two respective unit leaders at Penn State.

In quieter moments during those four years, Scherer and Lynn — who became lifelong friends — talked about the future.

“I’m going to be a coach,” Scherer recalled Lynn telling him, “and one day I’m going to be a head coach.”

Okay, yeah, whatever, Scherer would think. Me too.

About 15 years later, USC defensive coordinator Lynn stood at midfield on Saturday afternoon at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, watching the program that launched his career on the field. For the first time since graduating in 2011 and rapidly rising through the NFL and college coaching ranks, Lynn stood in front of his alma mater. And he unsurprisingly emphasized earlier this week that this matchup with Penn State brought no additional motivation.

“All these games in the Big Ten are big,” Lynn said Wednesday. “The weeks go by so quickly. You know, it’s like any other week.”

Still, he watched Penn State's offensive line warm up with the same steely intensity Lynn was known for in his playing days, whether in locker rooms or dorm rooms, and ran the ongoing head-to-head games in his dorm room on fights in “NCAA Football” games with Scherer.

“When it comes to competition,” Scherer told the Southern California News Group over the winter, “he wants to rip your throat out and win.”

Widespread defensive rotation

And with such a will to win, Lynn came into the game against Penn State with far more positional defensive rotation than he had shown in any game at USC to date.

Lynn noted Wednesday that Penn State's offense did a good job of “keeping the defense on its heels,” with its offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki utilizing a large amount of pre-snap movement and versatile tight end Tyler Warren in various Orientations rotated. And as the Nittany Lions displayed a number of strange lineups in their first game against USC, Lynn countered with his own disruptive plans.

Veteran Solomon Tuliaupupu, who was getting regular snaps on USC's defensive line after another injury wiped out his 2023 season, started at outside linebacker in place of Jamil Muhammad – but Muhammad subbed in on several plays. Sophomore defensive tackle Devan Thompkins, who has been quietly carving out a larger role each week, started alongside Gavin Meyer – but incumbent Nate Clifton and backup Kobe Pepe made multiple appearances. Linebacker-turned-safety Anthony Beavers rushed in and out. Stalwart safety Kamari Ramsey worked at weak linebacker for the injured Eric Gentry, while redshirt sophomore Zion Branch filled in at safety in Ramsey's place.

USC turns to CB transfer

A year and 10 miles west ago, John Humphrey was Lynn's most trusted corner, a fixture in the secondary of his 180-degree defensive turnaround at UCLA.

However, in five games at USC, Humphrey was little more than an afterthought in a stable and deep cornerback room, the UCLA transfer following Lynn on his trips to Southern California only to get exactly 73 snaps in five games.