LOS ANGELES -- For USC Trojans third-year starting inside linebacker Anthony Sarao, this offseason will be especially meaningful because it will be his last.

The 6-foot, 220-pound New Jersey native with the long-flowing hair came to the City of Angels in 2011, and he’d be the first to tell you that a collegiate athletic career can fly by as fast as an electrifying Adoree' Jackson kickoff return.

“When I first got here, the old guys told me to let in all sink in because it’s really going to go fast,” said Sarao, a fifth-year senior, who was held out of the Trojans' recently concluded 15 days of spring practice in order to let a foot injury heal properly. “It all sounds all so cliché but they never lied. It went so fast and it’s already here.”

For Sarao, along with his cardinal and gold teammates, the offseason can take many forms such as anticipation, motivation or sometimes just plain boredom. The main goal is to stay in shape, be ready to go in August and be prepared emotionally for an upcoming season full of high expectations.

“All that keeps me motivated is to win,” Sarao said. “We have to keep our goals from last season because we had a great end to last season by winning that [Holiday] bowl game.”

And speaking of last season, No. 56 started all 13 games and recorded 74 tackles (with a sack), three pass breakups and two interceptions -- one of which was a 17-yard pick-six against crosstown rival UCLA.

Sarao, whose physical strength won him the 2014 Trojans Co-Lifter of the Year Award, knows as an experienced senior that he will be one of a group of veterans that will be expected to show the younger Trojans how to stay on task during this offseason.

“We need to get this team together and try to get our chemistry together,” said Sarao, who also made a point of saying that the Trojans must continue to learn how to finish games to have an ultra-successful season.

“We have to get our leadership roles going on and just try to move on. We don’t want no drop-off. Right now, spring is over with, so the coaching is also over with, so we have to put it upon the players to get this team organized and to get them right, so that’s the plan.”

Part of the plan is also knowing how to gain the respect of the younger players during summer workouts and to continue to teach them the necessities and nuisances to execute a successful 2015 campaign.

“I have to lead by example because that’s the best way,” said Sarao, who will be receiving his bachelor’s degree in policy, planning, and development with a real estate emphasis in May. “Those young guys are definitely watching and they might say nothing, but you have to show that you care about them.

“It’s not about yelling or trying to get into somebody’s head because most people don’t care about that until you show that you respect them and care about them before trying to correct them.”

While helping guide the underclassmen through the doldrums of the offseason, Sarao said he has a plan to ready himself physically and emotionally for his last season of Trojans football.

“First, give a 100 percent for this team and get my body 100 percent so I can give my best to the team to win,” Sarao said. “Second of all, doing things right by staying away from the negative stuff and staying in the weight room, training room and the film room.”

And this offseason also means that for the first time since he has been a member of the Trojans, he’s not returning in the summer to Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, to hang with his old chums.

“No, I am not going back home,” said Sarao, who was a 2010 U.S. Army All-American while playing for Holy Spirit High in Absecon. “It will be definitely different, but it’s the time of the year when the summer gets a little violent over there, and I am trying to stay away from the negativity and stay here with my team.”

As Sarao speaks about his offseason plans, he constantly returns to the “team” factor and how much he and his Trojans teammates want to not just win in 2015 but win in a big way. He knows that much is expected this upcoming season.

“I think we’re going to live up to all the expectations,” said Sarao, who originally committed out of high school to Stanford before switching to the Trojans.

The reason for Sarao’s high optimism is that he believes that these Trojans are different than in the past.

“We have a great team and all the young guys are good, a good mix of young and old,” Sarao said with Jersey conviction. “The older guys will provide a lot of good leadership that we didn’t have before. I think our chemistry is good. Everybody hangs out, and there is no group that 'he hangs with him.' It’s a team type of thing, which I think is good.”

What’s also good is that Sarao and a number of his older teammates have experienced the high expectations before, such as when the Trojans were ranked No. 1 heading into the 2012 season and then faltered badly.

“We have to learn from our mistakes from that last team,” Sarao said. “We just don’t want to think about it, and people tell you don’t think about it. There can be a lot of negatives [being ranked so high], but we must worry about SC and the SC logo. Our standard is not about being ranked No.1 or ranked No. 30, but it’s all about how we play and what everybody expects from the Trojans.”

So when will Sarao know when the tediousness of the offseason subsides?

“To be honest, it’s the point in [fall] camp when you get sick of hitting your teammates over and over,” Sarao smiled. “You say, ‘You know what, I am just ready to play another opponent’ because hitting your teammates every single day of the week, you really get bored of it.”

And Anthony Sarao sounds anything but bored when he thinks about the offseason, which begins his final roundup with the storied Trojans.