The Pac-12 enters one of its more anticipated college football seasons in recent memory in 2023. The conference is loaded with quality teams. Not coincidentally, the conference is loaded with superb quarterbacks and turbo-charged offenses. Within this context, it is fascinating to identify which players made the cut and thereby cracked the Athlon Sports rankings of the top 25 players in the conference for the upcoming season.
What is the balance between offensive and defensive players in the conference? That’s the biggest overall question worth tackling if you are evaluating the full Pac-12. When we drill deeper and focus specifically on USC, which Trojans not only made the cut, but were able to do so from the defensive side of the ball, where the Men of Troy are obviously weaker? We know one person who is definitely among the Pac-12’s top 25 players — no one has to guess about that one — but what about the others?
Let’s take a look at the Trojans which did — and didn’t — make Athlon’s Pac-12 list: