LOS ANGELES >> The journey began, even if he didn’t know it yet, back at D’Anton Lynn’s college apartment in Centre County, Pennsylvania.

For a time, amid a standout career as a cornerback at Penn State, he lived with Nittany Lions receiver Ryan Scherer and then-starting quarterback Matt McGloin in a four-person apartment. And their place, as Scherer remembered back in the winter, would at times morph into a home theater for film study. What are they trying to do here? McGloin would often ask Lynn, the two respective leaders of their units at Penn State.

In quieter moments within those four years, Scherer and Lynn — who became lifelong friends — would chat about the future to come.

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

Okay, yeah, whatever, Scherer would think. So am I.

Roughly 15 years later, USC defensive coordinator Lynn stood at midfield at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday afternoon, watching the program that launched his career warm up across the turf. For the first time since he’d graduated in 2011 and embarked on a rapid rise through NFL and collegiate-coaching ranks, Lynn would face his alma mater. And he emphasized earlier in the week, in little surprise, that this matchup with Penn State carried no extra motivation.

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

Still, he watched Penn State’s offensive line warm up with the same stone-faced intensity that Lynn was known for back in his playing days, whether in locker rooms or dorm rooms, keeping a running tally on his dorm room of head-to-head bouts in games of “NCAA Football” with Scherer.

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

Widespread defensive rotation

And with such fire to win, Lynn came out against Penn State with far more positional defensive rotation than he’d shown in any game thus far at USC.

Penn State’s offense, Lynn remarked Wednesday, did a good job of “keeping defenses on their heels,” with its offensive coordinator, Andy Kotelnicki, utilizing a heavy dose of pre-snap motion and rotating versatile tight end Tyler Warren in a variety of alignments. And with the Nittany Lions showing a variety of wonky alignments on their first drive against USC, Lynn countered with his own disruptive schematics.

Veteran Solomon Tuliaupupu, receiving a steady diet of snaps on USC’s defensive-line rotation after another injury washed his 2023 season, started at outside linebacker in place of Jamil Muhammad — but Muhammad rotated in on multiple plays. Sophomore defensive tackle Devan Thompkins, quietly carving out more of a role every week, started next to Gavin Meyer — but incumbent Nate Clifton and backup Kobe Pepe came in for multiple plays. Safety-turned-linebacker Anthony Beavers zipped in and out. Steadfast safety Kamari Ramsey worked some in the injured Eric Gentry’s weakside-linebacker spot, with redshirt sophomore Zion Branch inserted at safety in Ramsey’s place.

USC turns to transfer corner Humphrey

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

Through five games at USC, though, Humphrey has been little more than an afterthought in a stable and deep cornerback room, the UCLA transfer following Lynn in his Southern California travels only to receive exactly 73 snaps through five games.

“He’s been doing good, just keep on being consistent in practice,” Lynn said of Humphrey on Wednesday. “We have a competitive room. And every week, the playing time in that room has been a little different.”

It was different Saturday, as starting cornerback Jacobe Covington was scratched with injury after being listed as questionable entering the matchup. And in his biggest snaps yet in a cardinal-and-gold jersey, Humphrey started next to mainstay Jaylin Smith.