Tag: Mason Murphy

USC’s Mason Murphy would start at right tackle if season began today

Mason Murphy must continue to develop for this USC offensive line to come together.

Mason Murphy faces a defining season at USC. Trojans Wire asked Lincoln Riley about how the right side of the USC offensive line is shaping up in spring camp.  Everyone expects the left side and center to be set with veteran Jonah Monheim moving inside to center.  Emmanuel Pregnon will remain the left guard. Elijah Paige, coming off that solid start in the Holiday Bowl, is penciled in at left tackle. Murphy fits in elsewhere.

Here’s how Riley answered our question about the right side of the 2024 USC offensive front:

“The right side, we’re working Alani (Noa), we’re working Amos (Talalele). When Gino (Quinones) gets back, we’ll certainly work Gino some at the guard position,” Riley told us. “Right tackle it’s mostly (Mason) Murphy. (He) has taken the majority of the reps with the ones right now. If we play today, he would certainly be the starter, no question about it.”

Being the starter and playing at the expected standard, however, are two different things. One thing to watch for as spring ball continues: Are guys being projected as starters because they are dominating on the field, or more because their competitors for jobs aren’t performing as well as hoped? The reason for certain guys being elevated above others needs to be the product of positive — not negative — developments. That’s something to monitor as spring practices continue.

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, and Ducks Wire. Follow our newest sites, UW Huskies Wire and UCLA Wire.

Lincoln Riley challenges veterans on USC offensive line to step up in 2024

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.

The hope was to slide Justin Dedich over from right guard to center in 2023 and bring in players from the portal. It began to fall apart when second-team All-SEC selection Ethan White, who transferred from Florida, suffered an injury which kept him from joining USC. He medically retired before he arrived on campus.

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.

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, and Ducks Wire. Follow our newest sites, UW Huskies Wire and UCLA Wire.