O/NSO: The USC Mount Rushmore series – The final best of the best and Final Four

The Obvious: For the past couple of months, the O/NSO has presented to you our all-time USC Trojans football four-man Mount Rushmore from head coaches to assistant coaches to position groups to broadcasters.

The Not So Obvious: First, a big thank you to all of you that have commented and brought your memories and opinions to this exercise. It was greatly appreciated and was a labor of cardinal and gold love as we now ready for next Friday’s opening of “fall” camp. We now end this Mount Rushmore series with the naming of our best of the best head coach, one offensive and defensive assistant coach, 11 on offense and on defense, special teams, and broadcaster. Remember, judgement is based on what they did at USC and not in their pro football career.

At the end of today’s final installment, we will present to you our ultimate final four-man Mount Rushmore, whom we enshrine as the best of the previous months’ best. Only for the final four-man selection do we include not only playing ability, but how they represented USC and conducted themselves as Trojans after their playing days.

As always, feel free to differ from our selections and inform us of your own selections on the Garry P. WeAreSC message board.

The O/NSO now presents our final Mount Rushmore installment, the best of the best, and the ultimate four faces on our sacred cardinal and gold mountain.

The USC Head Coach

John McKay (1960 – 1975)

The Assistant Coaches

Offense – Hudson Houck (1976-1982) – Offensive line

Defense – Marv Goux (1957-1982) – Defensive Line

The Offense

Quarterback – Matt Leinart (2002-05)

Fullback – Sam Cunningham (1970-72)

Tailback – O.J. Simpson (1967-68)

Wide Receiver – Keyshawn Johnson (1995-96)

Wide Receiver – Marqise Lee (2011-13)

Tight End – Charles Young (1970-72)

Tackle – Ron Yary (1965-67)

Tackle – Tony Boselli (1991-94)

Guard – Roy Foster (1978-81)

Guard – Brad Budde (1976-79)

Center – Ryan Kalil (2003-06)

The Defense

Defensive Line – Leonard Williams (2012-2014)

Defensive Line – Gary Jeter (1973-76)

Defensive End – Tim Rossovich (1965-67)

Inside Linebacker – Chris Claiborne (1996-98)

Inside Linebacker – Richard Wood (1972-74)

Outside Linebacker/D-Line – Willie McGinest (1990-93)

Outside Linebacker – Junior Seau (1988-89)

Corner – Joey Browner (1979-82)

Corner – Adoree’ Jackson (2014-16)

Safety – Troy Polamalu (1999 – 2002)

Safety – Ronnie Lott (1978-1981)

The Special Teams

Placekicker- Quin Rodriguez (1987-90)

Punter: Tom Malone (2002-05)

Punt returner – Reggie Bush (2003-05)

Kickoff returner – Anthony Davis (1972-74)

The Broadcaster

Tom Kelly (1961-1965/1973-1988)

The Final Four-man Mount Rushmore – The best of the best

John McKay

Marcus Allen

Ronnie Lott

Matt Leinart

The Obvious: And finally, we hope you enjoyed this lengthy series with both the selections and the highlights.

The Not So Obvious: Not everybody will agree with the O/NSO with most or some of the selections. And that’s the point: USC has had such a great tradition of players over generations that’s it nearly impossible to have agreement, and that, IMHO, is a good thing.

Below are the previous O/NSO USC Football Mount Rushmore position selections:

The head coach: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-football-mount-rushmore-series-edition-presenting-the-immortal-head-coaches/ 

The quarterbacks: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-quarterbacks/  

The running backs: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-tailbacks/  

The wide receivers: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-wide-receviers/

The fullbacks: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-fullbacks/

The offensive tackles: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-offensive-tackles/

The offensive guards: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-offensive-guards/

The centers: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-centers/

The tight ends: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-tight-ends/

The defensive linemen: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-defensive-linemen/

The standup defensive ends: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-standup-defensive-ends/

The inside linebackers: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-inside-linebackers/ 

The outside linebackers: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-outside-linebackers/

The safeties: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-safeties/

The corners: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-corners/

The kickoff returners: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-kickoff-returners/

The punt returners: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-punt-returners/

The placekickers: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-placekickers/

The punters: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-punters/  

The assistant coaches: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-assistant-coaches/

The broadcasters: https://wearesc.com/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-broadcasters/