Makai Lemon – Syndication Server

USC is losing former five-star recruits at an alarming rate

We can’t ignore how many highly-touted recruits are leaving USC. It’s not the sign of a healthy program heading in the right direction.

They say that the key to building a successful program is signing lots of blue-chip recruits. That is true at USC football and other places, but it only works if the recruits actually stick around.

Perhaps no program is a bigger example of this right now than USC itself. In his first three recruiting cycles at USC, Lincoln Riley signed six players who were rated as a five-star by at least one of the four major recruiting services (247, On3, Rivals, and ESPN). Of those six, just one is still with the Trojans.

Last offseason, USC saw cornerback Domani Jackson, running back Raleek Brown, and quarterback Malachi Nelson transfer out. This year, the Trojans have lost wide receivers Zachariah Branch and Duce Robinson. (Several of them have also offered some snide comments following their departures.) Only wide receiver Makai Lemon remains with the team.

Now, each individual player had their own reasons for leaving. Some struggled to earn playing time, while others did not play well and left in search of a fresh start elsewhere.

Still, the fact that the Trojans have lost as many former highly-touted recruits as they have is an alarming sign. Clearly, Riley and his staff are struggling to develop and retain the talent that they are signing, which is a major problem.

It would be one thing if USC was continuing to win games despite the departures. But the Trojans are just 14-11 since the start of the 2023 season.

Riley and company will need to get these issues sorted out and start winning soon. Otherwise, they might not be around for much longer.

One fact shows why USC football fell short in the Big Ten this year

USC placed just one player on the Big Ten’s first team this year, and it was the punter. Few facts will tell a simpler story about the Trojans in 2024.

There are many indicators and telling facts which explain why USC football fell woefully short in Big Ten football competition this year. Earlier this week, the Big Ten announced its all-conference football teams for the 2024 season.

In a rather fitting development just one Trojans made the first team. Who was it, you ask? Why, that would be punter Eddie Czaplicki, of course.

Czaplicki being the lone Trojan to earn all-conference honors was a rather fitting microcosm of USC’s season. The Trojans struggled offensively throughout the year, with Czaplicki frequently needing to bail them out in terms of field position.

Two USC players did earn second team all-Big Ten honors: offensive lineman Emmanuel Pregnon and running back Woody Marks. The Trojans also had four players on the third team: offensive lineman Jonah Monheim, cornerback Jaylin Smith, long snapper Hank Pepper, and return specialist Makai Lemon.

In addition, Lemon was an all-conference honorable mention at wide receiver. Also earning honorable mention recognition were linebacker Easton Macarena’s-Arnold, offensive lineman Elijah Paige, tight end Lake McRee, safety Kmari Ramsey, and defensive lineman Gavin Meyer.

The Trojans finished the regular season 6-6, and await their bowl game destination.

USC’s big moment vs UCLA was a pass, but not by the quarterback

The fact that USC used a trick play to beat UCLA shows Lincoln Riley is at his best when he is creative, not predictable. Everyone can agree we haven’t seen enough of that.

For the past few weeks, much of the discussion surrounding USC football has surrounded the quarterback position. The UCLA football rivalry game offered a fascinating plot twist connected to big-play passing for the Trojans.

Following the loss to Washington, head coach Lincoln Riley elected to bench starter Miller Moss in favor of UNLV transfer Jayden Maiava. Through two games, the move has shown mixed results. Maiava has not exactly lit the world on fire, but he has played well enough for the Trojans to defeat both Nebraska and UCLA.

On Saturday night at the Rose Bowl, USC’s biggest play of the game was indeed a pass. It just wasn’t thrown by Maiava.

Midway through the third quarter, the Trojans trailed 13-9, and had not been able to get much going offensively. So Riley decided to pull one out of his bag of tricks.

Facing second down and 4 at the UCLA 43 yard line, Maiava took the snap and threw a backwards screen to wide receiver Makai Lemon. Lemon caught the ball and dropped back to pass himself, delivering a 39-yard dart to Ja’Kobi Lane, setting USC up with first and goal at the UCLA 4.

If the play looked at all familiar to you, that’s likely because the New England Patriots pulled off a similar trick nearly a decade ago in the AFC Divisional Playoffs against the Baltimore Ravens, with former college QB Julian Edelman playing the role of Lemon.

Following Lemon’s big throw, the Trojans punched the ball into the end zone on the next play to take a lead that they would not relinquish the rest of the night.

The play had a huge outcome on USC’s win probability. Prior to Lemon’s double pass, the Trojans had just a 37.6% chance to win the game, per ESPN analytics. After that play, it jumped to 58.6%.

We will never know what would have happened in the game had the trick play not been successful. But given how poorly the Trojans’ offense had looked prior, it was undeniably their most important one of the night.

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National columnist says Miller Moss is taking the fall for Lincoln Riley at USC

Miller Moss is not the problem with the USC Trojans’ struggles, rather Lincoln Riley is covering up his own failure.

After starting the season 3-1 and moving up to No. 11 in the AP Poll, the USC Trojans plummeted with losses to Minnesota, Penn State, and Maryland. The Trojans are just 1-3 in their last four games, but the weight of the struggle seems to have fallen on the wrong shoulders.

It was announced earlier this week that quarterback Miller Moss lost the starting job to transfer Jayden Maiava, but Moss and the offense are not entirely the problem. The Trojans have scored 21 or more points in eight of their nine games this season while scoring 28 or more in three of their last four.

This season, Moss has a 64.3% completion rate with 18 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. Four players — Woody Marks, Makai Lemon, Zachariah Branch, and Ja’Kobi Lane — all have 32 or more receptions, while Lane (5) and Lemon (3) are amongst the teams’ top TD targets.

The Trojans rank fifth in points scored this season in the Big Ten behind Iowa, Ohio State, Oregon, and Indiana.

While the offense surely has room to improve, it is clearly still performing at high levels, which begs the question: Is Lincoln Riley just using Miller Moss as a scapegoat to cover up his atrocity of a season?

College football columnist Patrick Conn of College Sports Wire makes a good point when he notes that the quarterback is far from the only reason USC has struggled in 2024. This is not a one-man problem:

Moss didn’t play particularly well in their last game against the Washington Huskies, turning the ball over with three interceptions. Moss doesn’t have terrible numbers by any stretch but this feels like someone having to take the fall. Maiava could provide a spark for this team but even when the quarterback play has been good, this team has found ways to lose.

USC has lost as a team this year, meaning that in the games USC lost, the blame generally couldn’t be placed on any one player or position group. Some position groups have been more disappointing than others, but a little bit of everything has gone wrong in these games. To an extent, the move to Jayden Maiava might be Lincoln Riley’s way of hoping that the other USC players will step up to help their quarterback.

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Makai Lemon, Woody Marks bust out the big plays for USC

Makai Lemon and Woody Marks helped the USC offense roar to life against Rutgers. Can they sustain this level of play in November?

The USC football team, particularly the offense, was finally able to put the pieces together on Saturday. The Trojans scored 42 points. They won easily. They didn’t allow an opponent to stay close deep into the fourth quarter, or at any point in the fourth quarter. This was more like it. This is how USC is supposed to look. Makai Lemon and Woody Marks had a large hand in making this game go smoothly for the Men of Troy.

Lemon uncorked an 80-yard kick return in which he faked out the Rutgers kick coverage unit. He finished with 256 all-purpose yards, 134 receiving and 122 returning. Marks scored three touchdowns and was an elite weapon as a runner and a receiver. Rutgers had no answer for either player. The Trojans received elite performances from their quarterback, Miller Moss, and from thier WR1 (Lemon) and RB1 (Marks). When the quarterback, top receiver, and top running back are all clicking, that’s a recipe for success.

Now comes the harder part: doing this in November against better opposition and tougher defenses. Let’s see if USC can pull it off and finish the season in style.

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Eerie parallels between LSU’s new defensive coordinator and Alex Grinch

LSU is placing a lot of faith in its corners and safeties in ways which offer a parallel with Alex Grinch. This could get interesting.

USC plays LSU in Week 1, as you know. LSU Wire recently posed a concern about the Tigers’ young cornerbacks’ ability to hold up in man coverage in new defensive coordinator Blake Baker’s scheme. There’s a parallel with Alex Grinch involved. Here’s what LSU Wire had to say:

New defensive coordinator Blake Baker will play an aggressive style of defense. That could put stress on an inexperienced secondary, specifically LSU’s group of cornerbacks.

At Missouri, Baker had two of the best corners in the SEC with Kris Abrams-Draine and Ennis Rakestraw. Both playing at an elite level was a big reason why Missouri’s defense was among the best in the country.

Now at LSU, Baker has the talent, but it’s unproven. Ashton Stamps looks to be LSU’s top corner right now. As a true freshman last year, he played 51 snaps in man coverage, Stamps struggled, allowing a perfect NFL passer rating of 158.3, according to PFF.

LSU is boosted by the return of CB Zy Alexander, but his season was cut short by injury last year and the ramp up this summer has been slow. Ohio State transfer JK Johnson is set to see time too, but he’s also returning from injury after missing the entirety of 2023.

For LSU to take the needed step forward, at least one of these guys needs to emerge as an SEC-level player in man coverage.

This should make the hair on the back of Trojan fans’ necks stand up. One of the fatal flaws of Alex Grinch’s defense was the pressure it applied to the corners and safeties, often placing them on an island. If the pass rush doesn’t get home, it puts a lot of pressure on the secondary. In 2022 Mekhi Blackmon was a first-team All-Pac-12 cornerback, but without him in 2023, the USC defense was much more susceptible to chunk plays.

The Trojans’ strength on offense is at wide receiver, led by the talented second-year wide receivers Makai Lemon, Ja’Kobi Lane, Duce Robinson and Zachariah Branch. Lincoln Riley and his receivers might make the Tigers pay if they have unproven cornerbacks cover them in man defense on the outside. Look for Riley and Miller Moss to try to capitalize on one on one matchups outside that favor the Trojans.

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Miller Moss talks about young USC receivers, who are ready to make their mark

Miller Moss has every reason to be excited about his wide receivers.

USC football has produced a lot of great receivers, year after year. The Trojans are one of the best college football programs in the United States in terms of developing elite receivers who make big money in the NFL. Michael Pittman, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Drake London, Jordan Addison, Nelson Agholor, Marqise Lee, and the list just keeps going on and on. Now Miller Moss — USC’s 2024 starting quarterback — has another promising group of receivers to throw to, the latest Trojans ready to become top-tier wide receivers who will eventually play on Sundays and become a force in the NFL.

From the 3:00-5:00 mark of this video, Miller Moss has a lot more to say about a USC receiver group which — it is important to note — spent a lot of time practicing with Moss last year as part of the “twos,” the backups on the roster. While the starters got game reps with Caleb Williams, the backups were able to spend a lot of time with Moss. Developing continuity last season, on the practice field and then in the Holiday Bowl, could really pay off for USC on the field this fall.

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USC receiver Makai Lemon poised for breakout season with Trojans

Makai Lemon is ready to do great things at USC.

Makai Lemon, a 5-foot-11, 190 pound sophomore, enters the 2024 season with high praise from his USC teammates. Both his quarterback Miller Moss and the defense’s starting free safety Kamari Ramsay listed him as a player of note for the Trojans in the offseason. While other receivers might garner more attention from the outside, Lemon’s contributions last year and in the offseason were noted by his team. The dynamic playmaker looks for a breakout season this year.

As a recruit, Lemon was the No. 43 player overall and the No. 7 wide receiver in the 247Sports Composite in the 2023 recruiting class. He was the fourth-highest-rated commitment for the Trojans behind his high school quarterback Malachi Nelson and fellow receivers Zachariah Branch and Duce Robinson.

As a freshman last year Lemon caught only seven passes. The veterans in the wide receiver room, Tahj Washington, Brendon Rice, Dorian Singer, and Mario Williams — along with aforementioned classmates Branch and Robinson — received the vast majority of targets from quarterback Caleb Williams. Lemon also had five kickoff returns, averaging a team-high 18.8 yards per return. He showed his athleticism when he temporarily moved over to cornerback, a position he excelled at in high school.

Look for Lemon’s role in the offense to greatly increase in 2024. He is arguably the most polished receiver among his 2022 enrollees, which also include Ja’Kobi Lane from Red Mountain High School in Mesa, Arizona. Lemon has an elite combination of speed and explosiveness that allows him to create separation in his routes. He has been praised for his reliability to catch the ball underneath and in traffic with his great hands. He is an all-around athlete who shows his playmaking skills with the ability to run clean routes and become a threat to score each time he touches the ball after the catch.

As the backup to Williams in previous seasons, Miller Moss has built up a lot of confidence with countless reps with the 2022 receiving class. Moss, Lemon and the other freshmen receivers put on a show in the Holiday Bowl. While Lemon only had two catches, they averaged 37.5 yards per completion. It would not be surprising, from what we saw of Lemon at Los Alamitos High School and in the Holiday Bowl, to see him fill the role played by 1,000-yard receiver Tahj Washington in 2023.

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Lincoln Riley challenges Zachariah Branch to be more than a special teams weapon

Lincoln Riley sent a clear message to Zachariah Branch.

On the USC football team, sophomore receiver Zachariah Branch stands out as a rare talent who captivates college football fans with every touch of the ball. Last year, Branch made history by becoming USC’s first true freshman to earn All-America honors, showcasing his exceptional abilities as both a punt and kick returner. He led all punt returners in the nation in 2023 with 20.8 yards per return.

During the recent Big Ten media days event, USC head coach Lincoln Riley reflected on Branch’s impressive freshman campaign, highlighting his potential for even greater achievements in the upcoming season.

“Zachariah Branch had really an exciting freshman year for us. He’s an explosive player. Even when you’re used to being on the college football field and really talented players are somewhat the norm, he’s a little bit different in the way he moves and also his strength. He had a great year for us last year, especially as a returner. [He] was one of the most dominant returners in the country, if not the most.”

Riley is now ready for Branch to step up as a sophomore and become the receiving threat he was at Bishop Gorman High School before joining the Trojans.

“Yeah, we’ve really challenged him this year to become a bigger part and a more consistent part of our offense. That is really going to be part of his evolution. He had some really good moments for us offensively last year, but he wasn’t as impactful as he was on special teams. And certainly, I think he’s growing as a receiver, as a ball carrier, understanding offenses, understanding route running, understanding defenses, how we’re trying to attack people. There’s just a maturity and a growth process that we’ve really pushed him on, and I think he’s handled it well. We’ve got a really talented group of receivers there that got a chance to showcase their skills in the bowl game”

The talented, young wide receivers Riley referred to: Duce Robinson, Ja’Kobi Lane, and Makai Lemon, who joined USC’s 2023 recruiting class alongside Branch. Last season, Branch tallied 31 receptions for 320 yards and two touchdowns. Riley and Trojan fans are optimistic that wide receivers coach Dennis Simmons can facilitate a sophomore leap, a common phenomenon among elite talents. Branch adding wide receiver to his All-American pedigree would significantly aid first-year starting quarterback Miller Moss and the Trojan offense in their first year in the Big Ten.

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Makai Lemon helped the whole USC coaching staff heading into 2024

Makai Lemon made Lincoln Riley’s life easier.

Makai Lemon played well for USC in the Holiday Bowl against Louisville. He obviously gave Lincoln Riley a lot of fresh confidence in his ability to play the wide receiver spot. He just as clearly gave Riley the belief that USC’s receiver room will be good in 2024, as the Trojans move into the Big Ten.

Beyond all of that, however, Lemon did something especially important: He did away with the idea that he should be used on the defensive side of the ball. The Trojan coaching staff flirted with that idea. Now we shouldn’t have to entertain it any longer.

Makai Lemon, in short, solved a roster position dilemma for the Trojans. If there was any doubt about where to plug in Lemon, that debate is over. It’s gone. USC can easily pencil Lemon’s name in at wide receiver. This opens a spot on defense in the secondary. The Trojans can now get after the task of filling that spot either in the transfer portal or the recruiting trail, and they can also allocate their NIL resources accordingly.

Thank you, Makai Lemon, for clearing things up.

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