Remember when Stanford transfer running back Austin Jones came to USC? Oregon transfer Travis Dye also joined USC, and Raleek Brown was another mouth to feed in the USC running back room last season.
This year, Jones should be the second option in the ground game, although there is a ton of talent everywhere on the offense for Lincoln Riley and Caleb Williams.
Jack Follman of SuperWest Sports sang the praises of Jones, whom he has as the 11th-best running back in the Pac-12.
“He’s been in the Pac-12 for quite some time and did well in his first season at USC after playing at Stanford. He had almost 800 combined yards and scored seven touchdowns last year.”
As productive as Jones was late in the 2022 season, he wasn’t overworked over the full 12 games because Dye got so much of the workload until his November injury. Jones enters this season relatively fresh, and that should matter for him and the USC running back room.
The 1-2 punch of MarShawn Lloyd and Austin Jones is going to be a headache for opposing defenses, and then you add in the intriguing factor of Raleek Brown, who can line up a lot of places and will begin the season as a receiver, not a running back. This offense will be a nightmare for defensive coordinators to figure out.
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