USC didn’t just get a top-rated linebacker in the transfer portal when it landed Mason Cobb from Oklahoma State. The Trojans already have Eric Gentry, a nimble and swift linebacker whose long reach can deflect a lot of passes and whose long strides enable him to cover a lot of ground in pass coverage. Gentry was a really good pass-defending linebacker.
USC needed a bruising linebacker who would hold up better in run support and can give the Trojans more physical heft in the tackle box.
That’s the kind of linebacker Mason Cobb is. Cobb was a tackling machine at Oklahoma State. Let’s keep in mind that in the latter part of the 2022 USC season, safety Bryson Shaw was one of USC’s leading tacklers. That might seem impressive, but if a safety is making lots of tackles, that means the linebackers aren’t making as many tackles. A lot of tackles were missed at a linebacker spot which was thin due to injuries and overall limitations.
Mason Cobb addresses that specific problem.
We talked about this with Mark Rogers at The Voice of College Football:
[mm-video type=video id=01gm9qwfp301nx1fxmsa playlist_id=none player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gm9qwfp301nx1fxmsa/01gm9qwfp301nx1fxmsa-5f1ce800029f353b16aab280fdc8f9aa.jpg]
[listicle id=54551]