He was also named to the 2024 Outland Trophy, Lombardi and Rimington Trophy watch lists, as well as the Athlon Sports Preseason All-America Second Team, Athlon Sports Preseason All-Big Ten First Team, and the Phil Steele Preseason All-Big Ten Second Team.
The 6-foot-5, 310-pound redshirt senior started all 13 games on the offensive line as a junior in 2023. He started 12 times at left tackle and one time at right guard. He was named to the AP All-Pac-12 Second Team and the Phil Steele All-Pac-12 Fourth Team.
Monheim will have an opportunity to lead the Trojans into a 2024 season that begins with a neutral site game against the LSU Tigers and features significant matchups against Big Ten opponents Michigan, Penn State, and UCLA, plus the nonconference rivalry against Notre Dame.
USC’s offensive line has to make sure Miller Moss has time to find open receivers against LSU.
USC football offensive line coach Josh Henson has an early opportunity to silence criticism of the poor performance of the 2023 Trojan offensive line. Henson’s first really big test of 2024 arrives quickly, when the Men of Troy play the LSU Tigers at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas in Week 1 of the college football season. LSU Wire recently discussed if the Tigers in Baton Rouge could replicate coordinator Blake Baker’s attacking pass rush last year at Missouri.
In 2023, Missouri’s defense under Blake Baker ranked No. 8 nationally in sack rate. Arriving at LSU along with Baker was defensive ends coach Kevin Peoples, who was a key to Missouri’s elite pass rush last fall.
Baker and Peoples will look to achieve similar numbers at LSU, but whether the Tigers can reach that mark in 2024 remains a question.
Bradyn Swinson proved to be a valuable defender down the stretch, but he needs to put it together over the course of an entire season. A promising breakout candidate is former five-star Da’Shawn Womack as he enters his sophomore year.
With LSU’s liability at corner and thin depth on the interior defensive line, the pass rush needs to be strength of this defense.
USC fans are confident about the emerging combination of Emmanuel Pregnon and Elijah Page. They are excited to see how the Trojans’ Swiss Army Knife on the offensive line, Jonah Monheim, will perform in leading his younger but skilled teammates. On the right side of the line it will all come down to consistency, and offensive line coach Josh Henson has made it clear that the guard who can lock down that stability on the right side will be the guy. Last year’s early season injuries and off season roster issues thrust Alani Noa into a starting role early on. If Noa can establish cohesion in his sophomore year with Mason Murphy, another skilled lineman who has struggled to maintain consistency, the Trojans’ offensive line should see significant improvement.
The Outland Trophy goes to the best interior lineman in college football. USC doesn’t have elite depth at the position across the board, but the Trojans definitely have a few individual stars. Monheim and Alexander are the two big shining lights in the trenches for the Trojans. If USC is going to be good this season, those two players have to lead the way on offense and defense, respectively.
They will also need help. One man is not enough to make a complete defense, as Tuli Tuipulotu found out for USC in 2022.
Miller Moss and his teammates are a credit to USC.
USC head coach Lincoln Riley and his players at Big Ten media days — Jonah Monheim, Miller Moss, and Kamari Ramsay — represented the Trojans in their first Big Ten media event in Indianapolis. Unfortunately, many of the questions USC coaches and players received at the large-scale gathering were based on West Coast and Los Angeles stereotypes. One of the continuous lines of questioning thrown toward Riley was the tired line about $110 million dollar barbecue skills, stemming from pictures of a brisket which has gained entirely too much attention from national reporters.
Trojans Wire talked about how well the USC coaches and players carried themselves at Big Ten media days. Miller Moss at one point used the word “anomaly.” You don’t hear that word from most college athletes. Moss might have a future in college football commentary after his playing career ends. Regardless, Moss, Monheim and Ramsey showed themselves to be impressive young men who are a credit to USC regardless of what they do on the football field.
Here’s our segment at The Voice of College Football:
Jonah Monheim sees and feels the difference in this USC team.
With a little over a minute left in the 2023 Holiday Bowl, near the end of a roller-coaster season for the USC Trojans, emotions were flowing. Through all the celebrations in the stands and on the field, one voice came out of nowhere but said it all: “We a team now!” Redshirt junior cornerback Jacobe Covington was voicing the mood of this team which was undefeated and ranked inside the top 10, only to finish the season losing five of the next six regular season games. But somehow, this young team went down to San Diego and beat the No. 15 Louisville Cardinals by two touchdowns despite missing a lot of veteran leadership, their Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Caleb Williams, and their starting running back MarShawn Lloyd. Jonah Monheim noticed.
The fifth-year senior felt the change in this team in the lead-up to and then in the aftermath of the bowl game. He explained to Ashley Adamson on the Big Ten Network how this young team came together and new stars emerged for this upcoming season. Monheim recalled:
“That was a great moment for our team at the end of last year showing a lot of the work that those guys [the freshman wide receivers and offensive linemen] had done up to that point to get that break out moment and end the season the right way after the season had not gone the way that we had wanted. I think building on to this next year, a lot of those guys are going to be significant contributors that we are going to count on day after day and game after game, so it was great for them.”
These same sentiments were shared by USC head coach Lincoln Riley and starting quarterback Miller Moss at Big Ten Media Days.
USC football will take center stage at Big Ten media days on July 24 at 12:15 p.m. Eastern time on the Big Ten Network. Head coach Lincoln Riley, redshirt senior offensive lineman Jonah Monheim, quarterback Miller Moss, and safety Kamari Ramsey will represent the Trojans at the event.
Riley is entering his third season at USC after leading Oklahoma to four consecutive Big 12 championships and three straight College Football Playoff appearances. He will discuss his expectations for the upcoming season and provide insights into the Trojans’ transition to the Big Ten.
Monheim is a 6-foot-5, 305-pound veteran of the USC offensive line with 34 starts in his career. He has played and excelled at both tackle positions and right guard. This year, he moves inside to center. Monheim is expected to anchor a talented but unproven offensive line that is positioned to have a breakout season in the Big Ten.
Moss is a junior quarterback who is expected to be the starter for the Trojans this season. He will discuss his development under Riley and his expectations for the upcoming season.
Ramsey is a redshirt sophomore who came over with defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn from UCLA in the offseason. Ramsey’s physical tools and his familiarity with Lynn’s defense make him an ideal candidate to play center field in this offense. It will be tough to fill the void left by three year free safety Calen Bullock on the field, but his experience last year with Lynn at UCLA will make him a coach on the field, flattening the learning curve for the Trojan defense in 2024.
Perceptions of this 2024 Trojan team vary. They have a talented roster and a proven head coach, but depth concerns lurk until the younger players can emerge and prove they can provide that depth. USC fans are excited to see how the Trojans perform in their new conference. Nobody is giving USC a chance to win the Big Ten, but few would argue the Trojans will factor into the conference race.
USC offensive lineman Jonah Monheim is the top-rated USC Trojan on the EA Sports College Football 25 video game, based on the release of the game’s Top 100 players. Monheim is rated as the No. 41 overall player in NCAA 25 with a 92 rating. Monheim is the No. 7 overall offensive lineman and the No. 2 center.
Monheim has these ratings in NCAA 25: 92 overall, 70 speed, 82 acceleration, 87 strength, 94 awareness, 80 jumping.
He has 40 career appearances and 34 starts in his USC career. Those starts have come in 18 games at right tackle, 12 at left tackle, and four at right guard.
He has been named All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention each of the past two seasons. He was USC’s highest-graded starting offensive linemen by PFF this past season in overall measurements and in pass blocking and run blocking categories. His experience and positional versatility will be invaluable as USC looks to build a strong offensive line in front of new starting quarterback Miller Moss. The Trojans will take on an extremely difficult 2024 regular season schedule in the Big Ten.
The highly anticipated NCAA 25 game will be released on July 19 and will feature top Trojan players, including defensive lineman Bear Alexander and wide receiver/returner Zachariah Branch.
One analyst is completely sold on Jonah Monheim’s quality.
The USC football team needs its offensive line to be great if the 2024 college football season is to become a success. If the Trojans are going to move in the right direction, they need their offensive front to shine and give Miller Moss the best possible chance of thriving in the Big Ten. If USC’s offensive line does meet expectations, Jonah Monheim will be at the forefront of that effort. Monheim is receiving considerable praise heading into a much-anticipated 2024 campaign.
Pro Football Focus college football analyst Max Chadwick did not tap-dance around the truth with Monheim. In a straightforward and lavishly positive evaluation, Chadwick called Monheim “easily the most underrated offensive lineman in the country.” The word “easily” stands out, as though Monheim is ahead of the curve compared to other linemen not already receiving maximum buzz and hype before the 2025 NFL draft.
Now all that’s left is for Monheim is to live up to Chadwick’s assessment. USC would love that.
Lincoln Riley needs Emmanuel Pregnon to evolve and perform this year.
USC’s offensive line room never quite came together as a unit in 2023. I asked Lincoln Riley during his weekly press conference on Saturday about the offensive line’s play last year. He said there were games when the unit struggled and lost: UCLA, Notre Dame, and Oregon.
“Yeah, we had a we had a handful of games last year we didn’t play good enough you know, handful of the games that we lost,” answered Riley. He clarified the games were at Notre Dame and at home against Washington and UCLA. “We certainly didn’t play good enough in those games to win. We had some good moments but we were too inconsistent.”
The problems with the line started before the season kicked off. USC had to replace two huge pieces who anchored the veteran unit in 2022, All-America left guard Andrew Vorhees and multi-year starter Brett Neilon at center. USC had luck in 2022 bringing in Bobby Haskins as a grad transfer from Virginia to help shore up the line.
Riley went on to explain what went wrong last year, with the Trojans’ offensive line never coming together as a cohesive unit.
“I would agree, I don’t know that we ever completely gelled as a unit. I think it starts with your your older players. Your older guys, your leaders have got to play their best; they’ve got to be great leaders: they’ve got to set the tone. I think at times last year that did not necessarily happen all the time.
“So you know there’s obviously Jonah [Monheim], you’re talking about [Emmanuel] Pregnon — some of the guys that have now played some snaps for us. Mason Murphy, you need those guys to step up.”
Veterans will need to step up. The members of the 2023 class, who were true freshmen last year, are looking for leadership while competing for playing time this fall. During a press conference, Riley named all five offensive linemen from that class: Micah Banuelos, Elijah Paige, Alani Noa, Amos Talalele, and Tobias Raymond. Riley is relying on his upperclassmen’s consistent leadership to bring this group together.
How can USC reach its goals, and what do we need to see from this team more than anything else in 2024?
On the Conquest Call-In Show, a weekly caller-driven YouTube show on Friday nights at 6 p.m. Pacific time, John from Detroit chimed in. He said that USC would need to go at least 9-3 in its first season in the Big Ten to be successful.
I explained to John that I don’t have a number. I just want to see measureable and drastic improvement on both sides of the line of scrimmage for USC. Lincoln Riley has put together an outstanding staff with new defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn and defensive line coach Eric Henderson joining defensive ends coach Sean Nua. This new staff will try to fix the issue that plagued USC’s defensive line last year. On paper, Lynn was able to turn UCLA’s dismal 2022 defense into a top five defense in 2023. He completely changed the Bruins’ defense in just one offseason, so the Trojans’ hopes ride on him replicating that feat here at USC. His plan at UCLA was to install his defense methodically in the spring and fall, building the fundamentals of the defense early and slowly. This would ensure a deep understanding of the basics of the scheme, allowing him to add additional wrinkles as the season progresses.
The addition of Isaiah Raikes, 313 pounds of quick-twitch athleticism in the middle, and the defensive line room adding 340 pounds in the offseason gives the Trojans the ability to exert the physicality that new defensive line coach Eric Henderson is stressing in the offseason. The added size and attention to fundamentals from Henderson will be tested early in the season as USC faces LSU and Michigan in their first three games of 2024.
Offensively, Josh Henson remains the offensive line coach for the third year at USC. Clay Helton’s offensive line coach, Clay McGuire, had done a great job developing the line and leaving Henson a great foundation to work with, but there was no depth. The addition of Bobby Haskins in 2022 allowed USC’s veteran line to be a strength on the team in an 11-win campaign.
However, the Trojans were unable to overcome the loss of their three-year starting center, Brett Neilon, and All-America left guard Andrew Vorhees; the unit never gelled in 2023. The football team faced significant challenges due to injuries, which included multiple key players. Courtland Ford departed the team through the transfer portal, Ethan White, a transfer from Florida, was unable to join the team due to a medical retirement, and Gino Quinones suffered a season-ending injury early in the season. Relying on multiple transfers who didn’t pan out created a less-than-ideal situation. The line was plagued by miscommunication and protection breakdowns throughout the year.
In 2024, the big and physical 2023 offensive line class has had a year of collegiate weight training, nutrition, and coaching from Henson. Two of the members of that 2023 class, Alani Noa and Elijah Paige, got some starts last year, but this unit has developed together and is expected to play significant roles. Micah Banuelos, who is on his way back from injury; Amos Talalele; and Tobias Raymond all look to push for starting roles in 2024. The left side of the line with Paige at tackle and Emmanuel Pregnon at guard seems to be set. Lincoln Riley and Henson have selected Jonah Monheim to anchor the offensive line at center, but there are questions on the right side. The Trojans will absolutely need someone to step up and take those roles for USC to call 2024 a success.
