USC Twitter and message boards were on fire earlier this week in a whirlwind 24 hours of speculation. Everyone was asking: Is Bear Alexander entering the transfer portal? There are only a handful of spots on the USC first string that most people who follow Trojan football have written in ink for the 2024 season, and Bear Alexander was probably at the top of that list. This apparently had caught the coaching staff and USC’s main collective, House of Victory, off guard. Bear had just signed a new deal with House of Victory last week. But one tweet Tuesday morning put all of that certainty into doubt.
In the morning, a buzz started among reliable sources that Bear Alexander planned to enter the transfer portal. Later that morning, USC J shared in a post on X that he had confirmed with a source very close to Alexander than he would transfer due to family reasons. It wasn’t long before On3 and 247Sports also reported the speculation. Some sources were even speculating destinations in Texas — specifically Texas, Texas A&M, and SMU.
Later that evening, as the story was unfolding, Mark Rogers, Matt Zemek and I went live during our weekly live show, Trojan Conquest Live. In the opening segment I stressed my feelings on why I didn’t think this was a done deal.
USC had just hired Eric Henderson, a well-respected defensive line coach from the Los Angeles Rams who had helped Kobie Turner lead all rookies in sacks and drew a huge endorsement from arguably the greatest defensive tackle in NFL history, Aaron Donald. Alexander was had a starting role on the team and would be able to say he received a year of development for the NFL under Henderson. Not many things could raise his stock more than that, and it’s certainly not worth the pocket change of NIL compared to a top NFL draft pick in 2025.
Another issue that struck me as odd was the timing of all this. It was strange. The spring transfer portal window was not set to open for another week on April 16. Sure, there are always back channels before players enter the draft, but things behind the scenes were not as clandestine as the typical feelers that go out in these situations.
Most importantly, I stressed that he was not in the portal, and could not enter the transfer portal until the aforementioned window had opened next week. I put my faith in Henderson to use the relationship he had developed with Bear to explain the benefits of a year with him at USC. Coaches don’t just recruit players from high school and the transfer portal; coaches have to recruit their own roster. If there was even the slightest chance of Bear staying, it was likely Henderson would convince him USC was the right place for him.
I asked the Internet to do the unthinkable, be patient and let things unfold before people freak out (or for many rival fans, celebrate too loudly).
Fans of all parties involved didn’t have to wait long. Speculation ended on Wednesday morning when Bear stated in a post on X, “I’m not crystal clear on all of the noise or what any of this portal mess is about…I’m here to finish what I started and that’s chasing a natty here at USC with my teammates.”
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