USC Football: Will 10 Less Scholarships Take a Late-Season Toll on Depth?

As 2012 college football draws near, fans of the USC Trojans await the kickoff to the season with delirious anticipation.

And well they should.

With Heisman candidate front-runner Matt Barkley leading a potent offense that features all world receivers Robert Woods and Marqise Lee, the offensive side of the ball should be a sight to behold this year.

Couple that with a fast and hungry defense with something to prove, and it is no wonder USC enters the preseason ranked in the top three of any poll that matters.

Yet, there are still a group of followers of the men of Troy that can't help but do some hand wringing and their angst is usually focused in one area.

The Trojans are in the first full year of scholarship reductions, which meant that USC only had 15 scholarships available and they only signed 12 players for the class of 2012.

Because of this, nervous fans wonder if depth issues will catch up with Lane Kiffin's crew this year, especially later in the campaign.

Will the Trojans' season come down to an injury or two to a key player who can't be adequately replaced? Is it possible that this dream season may be dashed simply because of a lack of depth?

Relax Trojan fans, take a deep breath and repeat after me:

"USC will be fine this year depth-wise."

Now, it should be noted that there are some units that are painfully thin and if an injury occurs there, it will be a problem to some extent.

Of particular concern is the defensive interior line and running back.

However, it should also be noted that the lack of depth in those units is not due to scholarship reductions, but rather the transfers of Dillon Baxter and Amir Carlisle at running back and some Signing Day snubs by prep defensive tackles as well.

This is not to say that the scholarship reductions won't catch up to the Trojans eventually, they will.

As B/R regular Greg Katz points out, the year USC really feels the pinch will be in 2014 when graduation—combined with the 15 scholarships available—will mean that Kiffin is going to have to be incredibly creative to even stack two deep, much less three at each position.

Still, one must take Kiffin at his word when it comes to his having a plan and the Trojan faithful, by and large, have a lot of confidence in both Kiffin and his coaching staff.

And it should hearten those who follow the cardinal and gold that last year Kiffin prepared for the eventuality of 2014 by only playing 45-50 players in several games.

It can be done, especially if few Trojans turn pro early, but that is a couple of years away.

So stay calm, Trojans fans. 2012 should be fine.

Save your worry for a couple of years down the road...

Rich McMahan is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.