Tag: anthony lucas

USC defensive end Anthony Lucas out for the season with injury

Anthony Lucas is out for the rest of the season, an undeniably big blow to the USC defense.

Anthony Lucas, injured in the Minnesota game and limping for much of the Penn State game, was seen hobbling off the field against the Nittany Lions last Saturday. Now USC and Lincoln Riley have received the unfortunate news that Lucas has received a medical procedure and will not be able to return to the field for the Trojans this season. Riley announced that Lucas is out for the season earlier on Tuesday. Hall of Fame college football coach Steve Spurrier called USC one of the unluckiest teams in the country on a recent podcast appearance. This injury is certainly a very unlucky development for the Trojans, who will have to do without one of their better defensive players.

The Lucas injury was a turning point in the Minnesota game. USC had held the Gophers to just 10 points with Lucas on the field. After Lucas left, the Trojans became noticeably weaker on defense, and Minnesota scored 14 points in the final 10 minutes of the game to win. USC’s defense was solid with a healthy Lucas on the field. The arrow has pointed in the wrong direction ever since his initial injury. Now, with Lucas out, USC’s task becomes even harder. Younger players who have been lower on the depth chart will need to step up in the second half of the season, beginning with Saturday’s game at Maryland.

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USC defensive line has a chance to show the full measure of its quality

2023 injuries and coaching changes could lead to a better-than-expected 2024 for the USC defensive line.

College football analyst and magazine publisher Phil Steele has rated the USC defensive line No. 46 in the country heading into the 2024 season. Bear Alexander is back for his third year of college football, his second with the Trojans and his first with new defensive line coach Eric Henderson. Former five-star prospect Anthony Lucas received praise from defensive ends coach Shaun Nua as being the most versatile player on the line, and he should shine both on the interior and exterior of the line. Can Lucas reach his potential with some “Dawgwork”? On the outside, Jamil Muhammad started the 2023 season hot, but his production tailed off toward the end of the year, which led to speculation that injuries might have caught up with him. However, with the increased depth this season, the load will be lighter and he should thrive.

Last year, 6-5, 250-pound Braylan Shelby flashed his elite combination of size and quickness. This year Kameryn Fountain, a 6-6, 256-pound freshman from Mobile, Alabama, was lured away from Alabama and Georgia to play at USC. He is young, but he has shown that he has a high ceiling.

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Ducks Wire evaluates USC defensive lineman Anthony Lucas

.@Ducks_Wire is keenly aware of Anthony Lucas’s potential.

Earlier this year, USC coach Lincoln Riley paid defensive lineman Anthony Lucas the ultimate compliment. He compared Lucas’s practice habits to Tuli Tuipulotu’s practice work ethic.

“Tuli practiced like Anthony,” Riley said. “If Tuli wasn’t in a drill you could feel that versus if he was there. The great ones you just kind of feel a presence and Anthony, I’m not saying he’s Tuli. I’m not saying he’s a great player yet but he’s certainly got the chance to be.”

Miles Dwyer of Ducks Wire wrote about Anthony Lucas:

“The other important USC defensive line transfer to note is Anthony Lucas, formerly of the Texas A&M Aggies. Like Bear Alexander, Lucas likely achieved less in his first collegiate season than he expected or wished to. He chose to move west and add more depth to the already solid Trojans’ defensive line. Hopefully, he’ll see more success in 2023 and start to realize his potential of becoming a top defensive lineman. My only hope is he realizes that potential after Nov. 11.”

We hope Lucas will be a beast on November 11 in Eugene.

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Lincoln Riley makes specific comparison between Anthony Lucas and Tuli Tuipulotu

“Tuli practiced like Anthony,” Riley said in describing how certain players create a special presence on the practice field.

Anthony Lucas isn’t the next Tuli Tuipulotu, but USC definitely needs the incoming transfer to replace Tuli’s production this season at USC.

While Lincoln Riley didn’t want to go too deep into a Tuli Tuipulotu comparison, he was stuck by how Anthony Lucas evokes the former Trojan in a specific way.

Riley told 247Sports that “Tuli practiced like Anthony. If Tuli wasn’t in a drill you could feel that versus if he was there. The great ones you just kind of feel a presence and Anthony, I’m not saying he’s Tuli. I’m not saying he’s a great player yet but he’s certainly got the chance to be.”

Riley added that “He’s got a really, really high upside. He’s one of those guys that you feel his impact on practice just about every day, and that’s what great, great players and certainly guys that are really good and impactful defensive linemen, you feel them.”

Now that presence needs to translate from the practice field to Saturdays, beginning with the August 26 season opener versus San Jose State.

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Anthony Lucas is a USC defensive player who is likely to be good

#USC can really use great players, but it can also use players who will be better than mediocre. Anthony Lucas should check that box.

Great teams need great players. No one would dispute this. However, great teams also need good players, in the sense that they have above-average personnel throughout their roster. There are 11 players on an offensive or defensive unit. Superstars won’t exist at all 11 positions, or even at a majority of those 11 positions. In many ways, the key to football success is to have players who won’t be liabilities at most of those positions.

Excellence in some areas, competence in all — that’s a realistic formula for success. Translated: solid, not spectacular. Avoid huge mistakes.

USC’s defense struggled in 2022 because there were too many positions where performance and production were mediocre. Lacking great players was a legitimate deficit, but lacking lots of good players — guys who were there, producing consistently every Saturday — was the more central reason the Trojan defense struggled.

As long as players are generally reliable, they don’t have to be spectacular. They just need to avoid being a bust.

New defensive lineman Anthony Lucas could become a star, but what matters more is that he seems likely to be a good, productive player. Lincoln Riley spoke to this over the weekend:

Reliability, setting an example, becoming a constant, positive presence — that’s what USC needs up and down its roster. It would help if Lucas did become a great player, but having a good player never hurts.

USC appears to have a good player up front, a very encouraging sign for the Trojan defense.

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Anthony Lucas doesn’t eliminate USC’s talent deficit on defense, but certainly reduces it a lot

#USC landing an elite defensive playmaker right after retaining Alex Grinch contains a level of significance which is not lost on anyone inside the program.

The USC Trojans were able to capitalize on the instability and misery within the Texas A&M football program by pouncing on an Aggie transfer.

Anthony Lucas is the high-end pass rusher and defensive playmaker the Trojans needed on their defensive front. If Lucas plays up to his five-star rating, USC will reduce its level of frailty on defense. The Trojans won’t be shoved around quite as much. Their ability to rush the passer will improve, which is a necessity in a 2023 Pac-12 populated by Michael Penix, Bo Nix, Jayden de Laura, Cam Rising, Shedeur Sanders, and other notable quarterbacks.

Many aspects of this portal acquisition are significant for all the obvious reasons you can readily provide. The biggest aspect of this portal pickup might be that Alex Grinch didn’t give Anthony Lucas second thoughts. If there were mounting worries that Grinch’s presence at USC would scare off elite defensive transfers, this portal acquisition immediately shoots down that notion or — at the very least — reduces its severity.

Lincoln Riley and Alex Grinch needed this kind of pickup in the worst way.

USC isn’t fully set on the defensive line. It can use two or three more high-end defensive linemen to truly feel good about where it stands at this position group. Developing Korey Foreman and making use of his potential — something which hasn’t happened the past two seasons — is another huge piece of the puzzle for USC.

Getting an elite defensive lineman puts an increased focus on the secondary, too. USC’s linebacker room is in very good shape, with Mason Cobb and Tackett Curtis joining the returning starters (Shane Lee, Eric Gentry). The defensive line just got a boost. The secondary is where the Trojans have to make up more ground.

The pursuit of better talent continues … but it took a big step forward with Anthony Lucas.

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Former five-star recruit Anthony Lucas transfers from Texas A&M to USC

This portal acquisition moves #USC much closer to where it needs to be on defense. Alex Grinch being retained matters less if the Trojans bring in these kinds of players.

Former Texas A&M defensive lineman Anthony Lucas has committed to USC. Lucas, a former five-star recruit in the Top247 rankings for the Class of 2022, will have three years of eligibility and joins the Trojans as a true sophomore.

Lucas was rated the No. 1 player in the state of Arizona in the Class of 2022. He appeared in seven games for the Aggies this past 2022 season.

The Chapparal High School product and Scottsdale (Ariz.) native had 10 tackles and one tackle for a loss this past season. He could have thrived in 2023 in College Station with the Aggies, but the 6-foot-6, 270-pound defensive lineman will thrive in L.A. now for a Trojan defense that defiantly can use the help in the trenches.

Lucas is an NFL prototype player who will have immediate impact on the USC defense. Lucas should start for the next two seasons. In 2023 he will play alongside another former five-star recruit, Korey Foreman.

Lucas was a member of Texas A&M’s historic 2022 recruiting class that ranked No. 10 all time, but the Aggies and Jimbo Fisher have now lost Chris Marshall at wide receiver to Ole Miss and Denver Harris at cornerback to LSU. Both were five stars along with Lucas.

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Notre Dame a contender for former five-star defensive lineman?

Besides Sam Hartman, what is your biggest want in the transfer portal for Notre Dame?

It was just over a year ago that Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M made headlines as they hauled in what was supposed to be one of the most epic recruiting classes of all-time.  A year later that recruiting class continues to fall apart as the Aggies have seen several star recruits from a year ago enter the transfer portal.

The latest to do so should be of major interest to Notre Dame.  Defensive lineman Anthony Lucas entered the portal on Wednesday.  Lucas was a five-star recruit just a year ago and was rated as one of the nation’s very best defensive lineman.  Notre Dame gained his attention for quite some time before he ultimately chose Texas A&M.

Lucas was the top-rated player in Arizona in the 2022 recruiting class.  If his other top schools from a year ago give any indication, then Notre Dame and UCLA would figure to be among the favorites to land him.

Obviously, following several key losses on the defensive line and misses so far in the portal, Marcus Freeman and company could certainly use the talents Lucas would bring.  Stay tuned as a crazy off-season is only getting started in South Bend.

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Former USC target Anthony Lucas leaves Jimbo Fisher, enters the transfer portal

USC needs defensive help, and former target Anthony Lucas, a freshman edge rusher, has decided to transfer from Texas A&M after one year. Can the Trojans pounce?

After a disappointing Cotton Bowl loss to the Tulane Green Wave, everybody knows which area of the team the USC Trojans need to address: the defense.

After the defense blew the Cotton Bowl game, USC needs to bring in some more talent.

Alex Grinch is on the hot seat, and the transfer portal needs to be examined with all eyes on that side of the ball.

Texas A&M freshman EDGE Anthony Lucas announced his decision to leave Aggieland and head into the portal, according to his Twitter profile.

He was one of the top players at his position in his class, and USC had an interest in him before he decided to play football at College Station in his freshman year.

Lucas had interest in Oklahoma and USC before deciding to go to Texas A&M, so there are a lot of reasons to believe that USC is in the mix for the talented edge rusher.

Before he made his decision, his final seven were as follows: Alabama, LSU, Miami, Notre Dame, Oregon, USC and Texas A&M.

Lucas played in just seven games and had 10 total tackles, and there is no doubt that he would slot right in and become an immediate contributor for the Trojans.

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Former Texas A&M DL Anthony Lucas could be target for Ducks in transfer portal

Former Texas A&M DL Anthony Lucas is entering the transfer portal. The Ducks recruited him heavily last year before he signed with the Aggies.

One of the biggest needs the Oregon Ducks have in the offseason is on the defensive line. It has been expected that Dan Lanning and his staff would work hard to find a plug-and-play player in the transfer portal.

That hasn’t happened yet, largely because there haven’t been many top-end defensive linemen available in the transfer portal this offseason. That might have changed on Tuesday morning, though.

Former Texas A&M DL Anthony Lucas, a true freshman in 2022, announced he would enter the portal. Lucas is a former four-star recruit who was rated by 247Sports as the No. 32 player in the 2022 class and No. 8 DL in the nation.

The Ducks recruited Lucas hard down the stretch and were arguably in the running to land him before he signed with the Aggies. We will see if Lanning and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi choose to try and land him out of the portal this time.

Anthony Lucas Transfer Portal Profile