USC cornerback Kevon Seymour had three days to simmer and re-watch over and over his flaws in the Arizona State game, including his decision to go for a deflection/interception without having safety help over the top.
Seymour misjudged Mike Bercovici's pass and the play resulted in a 73-yard touchdown reception for Cameron Smith -- and a one-play, 73-yard touchdown drive for the Sun Devils, allowing them to stay in the game despite Javorius Allen 's 53-yard touchdown that put USC up nine points the previous offensive play.
"That was a bad decision by me," Kevon Seymour said in the video interview above. "If you come up, you've got to make the play."
Defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox said it was technique breakdown and called the play a mental lapse, but said he trusts Seymour to learn from the mistake: "I believe in Kevon. I'm excited about Kevon. I think he's going to learn and get better and I'm going to put him right back out there."
The junior also discusses the final Hail Mary pass from Arizona State and why he didn't necessarily come across and try to make a play from the outside.
"I didn't want to come off and try to make a play..." Kevon Seymour said. "I just wanted to do my job and I was allowing my players to do their job, but as players, we just got to go up and make that play."
Seymour was matched up against ASU's Jaelen Strong for a lot of the night and did a really good job against him (all three of Strong's touchdowns came against other defenders). Prior to Allen's touchdown run in the fourth quarter, Arizona State went on a 98-yard touchdown drive that at one point featured a four-down set that was four consecutive pass attempts to Strong with Seymour defending. Seymour forced three incompletions, but slipped on the fourth down play and Strong was able to make a catch at the sticks.
It was the small things, like that slip preventing Seymour from batting down the pass and ending the drive, that hurt USC as much as the big things, like Seymour's misjudgment on the Cameron Smith touchdown. But the Trojans' secondary has to recover quickly because it faces tough matchups with the tall and athletic Arizona receiving corps this weekend. Seymour discusses the Wildcats' passing targets, including this strong statement:
"They got a whole bunch of Jaelen Strongs over there. They're nice, tall, big, physical receivers, so we've got to be ready for that and be on our toes," Seymour said.
Check out the entire interview to hear Kevon Seymour taking responsibility for his mistakes, discussing how USC has to bounce back and talking about how his role has changed since moving into the No. 1 cornerback slot with roommate Josh Shaw being suspended.