After USC defensive tackle Jay Tufele made the decision to opt out of college football on Wednesday — essentially making the choice to not risk a winter or spring season if one is played — one has to wonder if other opt-out decisions are coming from high-end Trojan athletes.
At the forefront of the list of potential opt-out candidates is receiver Amon-ra St. Brown. A player who gained over 1,000 receiving yards last year — in an offense with Michael Pittman as a teammate on the other side of the field — has clearly demonstrated the ability to perform as a stand-alone receiver. Pittman did give St. Brown more chances to operate one-on-one, but St. Brown still had to evolve into a strong receiver in his own right and on his own terms. No one could have left the 2019 season thinking St. Brown was merely a beneficiary of having Pittman as a teammate. That certainly helped, but St. Brown set his own high standard.
Given the quality of his 2019 campaign, St. Brown is rightly seen as a receiver who could come close to Pittman’s status, and maybe even exceed it. The idea that St. Brown could be an early second-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft is hardly ludicrous, at least from this vantage point. USC creates high-level NFL receivers; St. Brown’s ability to rise to the top of the depth chart on the Trojans’ roster is an achievement which speaks for itself.
Jay Tufele made the entirely understandable calculation that his draft stock won’t be significantly hurt by forgoing a college football season. Not playing in winter or spring ensures that he won’t go to the NFL Scouting Combine as a bruised and banged-up prospect. Many other players are currently arriving at that same conclusion.
Amon-ra St. Brown could be next. No one within the USC football family has to like it, but it is a possibility which has to be considered; there’s no getting around that basic point.