Former Florida OL backs off transfer to USC following injury update

A former Gator offensive lineman is dealing with a serious injury and won’t be transferring to USC after all.

Former Florida left guard [autotag]Ethan White[/autotag] won’t be playing for the USC Trojans after all, according to head Southern California head coach Lincoln Riley.

Riley said that White is dealing with an injury that could prevent him from football moving forward and will not be joining the program. Injuries were a consistent problem for White in Gainesville, but he started all 13 games for the Gators a season ago.

“There’s an injury situation that looks like it’s going to prevent him from playing further, and I’ll let him take it from there,” Riley said Thursday to the Los Angeles Times. “Obviously, we were excited to get him. It’s football — certainly, these things come up and we get it. There’s football and there’s also long-term health, and we understand guys have got to make those decisions and the best decisions for themselves.”

At first, some fans speculated that White could return to Florida, but Riley’s comments make it fairly clear that a reunion won’t be happening.

White never allowed a sack at Florida, which is impressive after playing more than 1,500 snaps across four seasons. He initially started off at right guard but moved to left guard during the shortened 2020 season.

He started 20 games over the past two seasons and was named an All-SEC Second Teamer by the Associated Press in 2022. A fan favorite, most of Gator Nation has wished White well in his recovery.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=1368]

[mm-video type=video id=01gxxeqq2vhjmccteth4 playlist_id=01eqbz250mdknqvm5z player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gxxeqq2vhjmccteth4/01gxxeqq2vhjmccteth4-2346b84476bb420195db0f813431176e.jpg]

Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.