Joel Klatt calls Dorian Singer, Marshawn Lloyd two of the country's most important first-year fixers

USC returns Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams and is once again a College Football Playoff contender, but the Trojans will have to replace some key skill position players in Travis Dye and Jordan Addison. To that end, FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt has tabbed two newcomers as among the nation’s most important first-year fixers.

He explained what he meant on The Joel Klatt Show on Tuesday.

“You could say my most important shoe-fillers, and that’s at USC,” Klatt said. “You’ve got to replace Jordan Addison and Travis Dye, and they’re going to do that with Dorian Singer, the transfer from Arizona, and MarShawn Lloyd, the transfer running back.

“Now Austin Jones is also there, so he got some carries after Dye went down a year ago. But I would just say Caleb Williams, I think we all would agree is the best player in college football. He is the Heisman Trophy winner, and rightly so, and these guys have to come alongside and they have to produce at a high level.”

Here’s the production USC must replace from a year ago. Dye ran for 884 yards and nine touchdowns, while also adding 202 receiving yards. Addison led the team with 875 yards receiving and eight touchdowns.

Quite a hefty chunk for the first-year fixers to pick up.

“Now I will say it’s not like Addison set the world on fire last year, but he was the Biletnikoff Award winner from the previous season,” Klatt said. “He drew a lot of attention. Travis Dye, he was a workhorse, he gained a lot of yards. So what they did is they took the pressure off of Caleb Williams to a large extent. Defensive looks, production, all of those things got a little easier for Caleb Williams.”

That’s what the new first-year fixers will have to replace. They’re both certainly more than capable in their own right.

Singer racked up 1,105 receiving yards and a touchdown last year, while Lloyd ran for 573 yards and nine touchdowns at South Carolina last season.

“These guys have to do that for Williams this year, because everyone is going to be gearing their entire defensive plan to Caleb Williams,” Klatt said. “How do we stop him, how do we corral him, how do we keep him in the pocket? He’s got to have guys around him that step up and play well and if they do, watch out for SC.

“This was a team within a breath of a playoff berth last year and they will be again this year, in particular if Dorian Singer and MarShawn Lloyd show up and play like we think that they possibly can.”