Category: USC Trojans

Two Trojans earn Pro Bowl invitations

Sam Darnold will make his first-ever Pro Bowl appearance, and he completely deserves it. Congratulations, Sam!

This past weekend marked the conclusion of the NFL’s 2024 regular season. With the playoffs on the horizon, there is still plenty of football left to be played. With the regular season now concluded, however, the league released its annual NFL Pro Bowl rosters earlier this week, and two Trojans saw their names selected. One of those players was Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold. After starting his career with six disappointing seasons and largely being written off, Darnold experienced a career resurgence in 2024. In his first season in Minnesota, he threw for a career high 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns.

In addition to making his first career Pro Bowl, Darnold led the Vikings to a 14-3 record and a playoff spot. Minnesota will take on the Los Angeles Rams in a homecoming matchup Monday evening. (The game was originally supposed to be a homecoming trip to LA for Darnold, but was instead moved to Glendale, Arizona, due to the ongoing wildfires in Southern California.)

While Darnold is headed to the Pro Bowl for the first time, Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown will be making his third straight appearance. St. Brown went over the 1,100-yard mark for the third consecutive year, and also caught a career-high 12 touchdown passes.

By finishing with a 15-2 record, St. Brown and the Lions earned the top seed in the NFC playoffs. They will enjoy a bye this weekend, where they will get to rest up and see who their opponent is for the divisional round. It could be the Vikings and Darnold if Minnesota beats the Rams, the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Green Bay Packers, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeat the Washington Commanders,

USC women’s basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb publicly supports first responders

Lindsay Gottlieb and the rest of the Trojans are thinking of everyone in LA and personally know people whose lives have been uprooted by the wildfires.

On Wednesday night, USC women’s basketball racked up a huge road victory over No. 8 Maryland. While the Trojans were taking down the Terrapins on the East Coast, however, a tragedy was unfolding back in LA. As the game was being played, wildfires continued to ravage Southern California’s urban areas, destroying numerous homes and businesses.

During her postgame press conference, USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb made sure to touch on this.

“We’ve been on the road for whatever it is now, five days, and our city is on fire,” Gottlieb said following Wednesday’s game. “It’s been hard to be away and watch those scenes.

“Just wanna send our thoughts and prayers to the first responders, to those impacted—I have friends that have been displaced, I know our players probably do too. That’s more important obviously than what we’re doing.”

USC is currently scheduled to host Penn State at Galen Center Sunday evening. Given that several other major sporting events in Los Angeles have been either postponed or moved, it will be a situation to monitor as the game gets closer.

Lake McRee return to USC for 2025 is a rare piece of good news

USC finally got some good news with the announcement that Lake McRee is returning to solidify the tight end room.

Amid several unexpected transfer exits, USC football got one piece of badly-needed good news this week. On Monday, tight end Lake McRee confirmed on social media that he will return to USC for his final season of eligibility. The redshirt junior has started at tight end for the better part of the past three seasons.

In his career as a Trojan, McRee has caught 67 passes for 704 yard and three touchdowns. However, his contributions go beyond the stat sheet, as he has also served as a valuable blocking presence during that time.

With the return of McRee, USC’s tight end room should be in a good place heading into 2025. The Trojans also bring back Walker Lyons and Kade Eldridge, both of whom saw playing time as freshmen in 2025.

The room will have a new coach leading the way, however. With Zach Hanson moving over to coach the offensive line, USC on Tuesday hired Colorado State’s Chad Savage to serve as tight ends and inside receivers coach.

USC hires new tight ends coach

USC makes another coaching staff change as part of a domino effect of events.

Last month, USC football announced that Zach Hanson would move from coaching tight ends to the offensive line. While that filled the Trojans’ void at OL coach, it also meant that they needed a new tight ends coach.

On Tuesday, USC filled that void when the Trojans hired Colorado State’s Chad Savage. Savage will coach both tight ends and inside receivers at USC.

Savage has been at Colorado State since 2022, where he has served as the wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator. Prior to that, he was the tight ends coach at Nevada.

Just 30 years old, Savage quickly established himself as one of the top young recruiters on the West Coast during his three years with the Rams. That should certainly help the Trojans, whose recruiting classes have not nearly lived up to par the last two cycles.

Savage will inherit a solid tight end room at USC. The Trojans are set to return Lake McRee, Walker Lyons, and Kade Eldridge in 2025.

USC men’s basketball experiences its first Big Ten road atmosphere

USC absorbed a road atmosphere in an unexpected Big Ten location.

On Saturday evening against Michigan, USC men’s basketball experienced a Big Ten road atmosphere for the first time.

The Michigan fans were loud throughout the game. They cheered after their team’s baskets, and made noise when the Trojans were at the free throw line. Chants of “Let’s go Blue!” and “It’s great to be a Michigan Wolverine!” rang throughout the arena.

There was just one problem: The game was played at Galen Center in Los Angeles, more than 2,000 miles from USC’s campus.

The good news is that the fans came out in full force on Saturday. The announced attendance for USC-Michigan was 7,075, by far the highest for a Trojans home game this season.

The bad news for the Trojans is that at least half—if not more—of those were Michigan fans. In their first Big Ten home game against a non-former Pac-12 opponent, USC fans were outnumbered by the opposition in their own building.

Obviously, there are several things that should be noted. Michigan has a huge alumni network in Los Angeles. The game also took place during the middle of USC’s winter break, meaning that many students were not yet back on campus.

But still, to see the Trojans playing what felt like an away game in their own building was alarming. Hopefully it will serve as a wake up call to USC fans that this isn’t the Pac-12 anymore, and that they need to show out for each and every game.

Former USC QB heads to third school in three seasons

Will Malachi Nelson be able to make a name for himself in El Paso? He should finally get a chance to play a full season of college football.

After entering the transfer portal once again in December, Malachi Nelson has a new home. On Sunday, Nelson announced his commitment to UTEP. It will be the third different school in three seasons for Nelson, who spent 2023 at USC and this past year with Boise State.

After signing with the Trojans as a five-star recruit in the 2023 signing class, Nelson was seen as USC’s quarterback of the future. In his first season on campus, Nelson served as the Trojans’ third string quarterback behind Caleb Williams and Miller Moss. He appeared in one game and attempted just three passes, preserving his redshirt.

The expectation was that Nelson would compete with Moss for the starting job in 2024 following Williams’ departure. Instead, however, Nelson elected to enter the transfer portal. According to reports, Nelson did not want to have to compete for the job, and USC’s coaching staff was less than thrilled with his work ethic.

Nelson committed to Boise State. However, he lost the QB competition to Maddux Masden, who went on to lead the Broncos to the College Football Playoff. As Boise State’s backup this season, Nelson completed 12 of his 17 pass attempts for 128 yards and one interception.

Nelson left the team prior to their Fiesta Bowl matchup against Penn State. The Broncos lost the game 31-14, bringing their historic season to a close.

USC adds quarterback help with a familiar name in transfer portal

USC has a Huard on the coaching staff, and now another Huard on the 2025 football roster.

It’s not Jalen Milroe, but USC football officially has quarterback help in the transfer portal. On Monday, the Trojans landed a commitment from former five-star quarterback Sam Huard. Huard has previously spent time at Washington, Cal Poly, and Utah.

Huard is the nephew of USC quarterback coach Luke Huard.

A highly-touted recruit in the class of 2021, Huard originally committed to Washington, where his father Damon and uncle Brock starred in the 1990s. However, he was stuck behind Michael Penix Jr. and Dylan Morris on the depth chart, and started just one game in two years with the Huskies.

Following the 2022 season, Huard transferred to FCS Cal Poly. He appeared in nine games during the 2023 season, completing 185 of 304 passes for 2,205 yards, 18 touchdowns, and ten interceptions.

He transferred again ahead of thew 2024 season, this time landing at Utah. However, he did not see any action in his lone season with the Utes, and received a medical redshirt.

Now, Huard heads to USC, where he will reunite with his uncle. He will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.

In addition to Huard, USC’s QB room consists of Jayden Maiava, who started the final four games of the 2024 season for the Trojans, and five-star freshman signee Husan Longstreet. While Maiava will likely enter spring ball as the favorite to win the job, expect USC to have an open competition at the position.

USC lands top JUCO running back transfer

USC is beginning to collect some more pickups in the transfer portal.

As it turns out, the addition of Purdue offensive line transfer DJ Wingfield was not the only commitment USC football landed this weekend.

On Sunday, USC landed a commitment from Hutchinson Community College (located in Hutchinson, Kansas) running back Waymond Jordan Jr. 247Sports ranks Jordan as the top JUCO back in this year’s cycle.

At Hutchinson this past season, Jordan had more than 1600 total yards and 20 touchdowns. For his performance, he was named NJCAA Division I Football Offensive Player of the Year.

Jordan will be a part of a new-look USC running back room in 2025. The Trojans also added New Mexico State’s Eli Sanders in the transfer portal. In addition, they will return rising sophomores Bryan Jackson and A’Marion Peterson, both of whom performed well in the Las Vegas Bowl victory over Texas A&M.

Zion and Zachariah Branch transfer to Georgia

Georgia and Kirby Smart are Branching out.

After entering the transfer portal a few weeks ago, Zion and Zachariah Branch officially have a new home. On Sunday, the brothers announced their commitment to Georgia. Zion will play defensive back for the Bulldogs, while Zachariah will play wide receiver.

The elder brother, Zion, was one of the top defensive backs in the 2022 recruiting class, and one of Lincoln Riley’s first big recruiting victories at USC. However, he struggled with injuries during his time at USC, having missed his entire first season and significant parts of the past two.

The younger brother, Zachariah, arrived as a five-star wide receiver in the class of 2023. He immediately turned heads when he returned a kickoff for a touchdown in his first game in Cardinal and Gold. As a freshman, he was named first-team All-American as a return specialist.

This past season season, following the departures of wide receivers Tahj Washington and Brenden Rice to the NFL, Branch took on a bigger role in the passing game, catching 47 passes for 503 yards and a touchdown. However, he struggled with drops at times, and his confidence on kick returns by the end of the season was clearly broken.

Following the conclusion of USC’s regular season, both Branch brothers elected to enter the transfer portal. The expectation from the start was that they were a package deal, which indeed proved to be the case.

Both brothers have two seasons of eligibility remaining.

USC lands offensive line help in transfer portal

Zach Hanson picks up an offensive lineman after some recent departures. More work is left to be done.

It didn’t take long for one of USC’s weekend visitors to officially commit. On Sunday, USC football landed a commitment from former Purdue offensive lineman DJ Wingfield. Wingfield was one of several high-profile transfer targets visiting campus this weekend.

Originally a Los Angeles native, Wingfield’s journey took him to community college and New Mexico before spending the past two seasons at Purdue. After seeing significant playing time on the offensive line the past two seasons for the Boilermakers, he will return home to LA for his final season of eligibility.

The addition of Wingfield is a big one for new USC offensive line coach Zach Hanson. The Trojans are currently set to return just two starters on the O-line next season. While the addition of Wingfield will certainly help, expect the Trojans to continue to be busy in the portal at the position this offseason. They need more bodies up front.