Tag: usc athletics

Isaiah Pola-Mao is thriving with the Las Vegas Raiders

Isaiah Pola-Mao went undrafted. Yet, he is carving out a solid NFL career. That’s a feel-good holiday story.

USC has had more than 500 players selected in the NFL draft. Yet, one of the better Trojans in the league this season is a player who was not drafted at all. Despite being a three-year starter and two-time team captain at USC, Trojan safety Isaiah Pola-Mao did not hear his name called in the 2022 NFL draft. Instead, he signed with the Las Vegas Raiders as an undrafted free agent.

Although he arrived with little fanfare, Pola-Mao made a strong impression in Vegas, making the team and appearing in 11 games as a rookie. His role has grown over the past two years, and he has seen action in every game thus far this season for Vegas.

The 2024 season has been Pola-Mao’s most productive one as a pro to date. Through 15 games, he ranks third on the team with 76 tackles, while also adding three passes defended and a sack.

Against the Jacksonville Jaguars last week, Pola-Mao had by far the best game of his NFL career thus far. He recorded 11 tackles and forced two fumbles in the Raiders’ 19-14 win. For his performance, Pola-Mao was named AFC defensive player of the week.

When Pola-Mao arrived at USC back in 2017, he did so with immense expectations due to him being the nephew of Trojan and NFL legend Troy Polamalu. Now, Pola-Mao is continuing to carry on his uncle’s football legacy.

Lincoln Riley announces offensive line updates before Las Vegas Bowl

There is a lot of reshuffling for an undermanned USC offensive line in the Las Vegas Bowl. Lincoln Riley announced which players will start.

When the USC Trojans take on Texas A&M Friday night in the Las Vegas Bowl, they will have two new starters along the offensive line.

At his pre-bowl press conference on Thursday, head coach Lincoln Riley confirmed that NFL-bound redshirt senior offensive lineman Jonah Monheim will opt out of the game. Redshirt sophomore Killian O’Connor will start in his place.

In addition, Riley announced that redshirt freshman Tobias Raymond will start at right tackle. Raymond will step in for redshirt junior Mason Murphy, who recently entered the transfer portal.

The Las Vegas Bowl will also mark the first game as offensive line coach for Zach Hanson. Hanson previously coached USC’s tight ends, but will move to offensive line following the departure of Josh Henson for Purdue.

Kickoff of the Las Vegas Bowl between USC and Texas A&M is set for 7:30 p.m. Pacific time Friday night. The game will air on ESPN television.

National media not very confident in USC heading into Las Vegas Bowl

It is hard for national media commentators to be bullish on USC and Lincoln Riley right now, and who can honestly blame them?

Heading into Friday night’s Las Vegas Bowl against Texas A&M, there are some major questions about the future of the USC football program.

After winning 11 games in Lincoln Riley’s first season in 2022, the Trojans are just 14-11 since the start of 2023. In addition, USC has lost more than 20 players to the transfer portal since the conclusion of the regular season, and recruiting, while certainly not awful, has been not nearly the level it was expected to be at when Riley was hired.

The national college football media has begun to take notice of the current state of the Trojans’ program. Leading up to the Las Vegas Bowl, several prominent media personalities have expressed skepticism over Lincoln Riley’s ability to be successful at USC.

During this weekend’s College GameDay show, the entire set picked the Aggies to beat the Trojans in Vegas. Several of the analysts questioned how motivated USC would be for the game given the disappointing season and the number of players in the transfer portal.

In addition, on his college football show “The Hard Count” last week, J.D. Pickell of On3 Sports questioned the investment level of the USC program under Riley.

“There are certain brands in college football, certain jobs in college football, where that logo requires a little bit more of you,” Pickell said. “USC is this way, Texas is this way. Alabama is this way.

“These big brands where, you don’t get to just wear the name tag. You gotta be all in. Being a USC Trojan has to be something you take pride in the moment your feet hit the floor in the morning.

“Because if you’re not going to be all the way bought in, guess what? You’re not going to have the success you want to have.

“The reason why it’s so frustrating, if you’re watching the pieces not totally fit properly for USC right now is like there’s no structural reason why USC can’t be a powerhouse on the West Coast.”

Fair or not, the national perception of Riley’s USC program right now is not very positive. It will be up to the head coach to repair this perception if he is serious about getting the Trojans back on track.

USC won’t be caught shorthanded on special teams in 2025

USC has restocked the cupboard on special teams. Can the Trojans now address their offensive line?

As we have stated here in the past, USC’s best player in 2024 played on neither offense or defense, but special teams. Eddie Czaplicki, who won the Ray Guy Award as the top punter in the nation, was the Trojans’ top player in 2024, alongside Woody Marks. However, with both Czaplicki and starting kicker Michael Lantz out of eligibility after the Las Vegas Bowl, the Trojans will need to find replacements at both positions.

In recent days, they took a major step towards doing such with the addition of UNLV transfer kicker Caden Chittenden. With the Rebels this past season, Chittenden was named the Mountain West Freshman of the Year on special teams, making 24 of his 30 field goal attempts.

This comes a week after the Trojans earned a commitment from one of the nation’s top high school punter recruits in Will Weisberg. Wesiberg comes to USC from nearby Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California.

Replacing Lantz and Czaplicki’s production will be an incredibly tough challenge. But with the additions of Chittenden and Weisberg, the Trojans hope they will at least be able to maintain a high level of play at both positions.

Carson Palmer’s relationship with Pete Carroll is deeper than ever

Carson Palmer is all-in on becoming a football coach, and Pete Carroll is with him every step of the way to lend support. This is a feel-good Christmas story.

More than half a decade after retiring from the NFL, former USC quarterback Carson Palmer is officially back in the world of football. As you know, Palmer was named the head coach at Santa Margarita Catholic High School in Orange County. Palmer is an alum of Santa Margarita, having starred there in the 1990s. After graduating, Palmer went on to USC, where he played for five seasons. As a senior in 2002, Palmer won the Heisman Trophy under Pete Carroll while leading the Trojans to an 11-2 record and an Orange Bowl victory over Iowa.

Palmer was selected with the first overall pick in the 2003 NFL draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. He would go on to spend 15 years in the NFL with the Bengals, Oakland Raiders, and Arizona Cardinals. Palmer was named to three Pro Bowls during his pro career. His best season in the league came in 2015, when he threw for 4,671 yards and 35 touchdowns and led Arizona to the NFC Championship Game.

He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2021.

Palmer evolved as a quarterback under Pete Carroll, so as the newly-minted coach of a high school program, you had better believe he has turned to Carroll for some advice, as a recent Los Angeles Times story reported:

“I talk to him often and he’s given me little tidbits that I hadn’t even thought about when I first went to him with this,” Palmer said. “He’s an open book and so vulnerable with the mistakes he made, so open with the things he’s shared. I’ve gotten a ton of stuff from him that I love.”

Said Carroll: “It’s always a thrill for me when guys call in and have new challenges coming up and they want to talk about it. I’m honored to help and I give him everything I’ve got.”

If you want to feel good this Christmas, the story of Carson Palmer embracing coaching, and Pete Carroll throwing his full support to his former player, is sure to make Trojans of all ages feel warm and fuzzy.

USC comes to Las Vegas for a business trip, not a Christmas vacation

It’s all business for USC in Vegas. The pleasure will come from winning the bowl game against Texas A&M.

Four months ago, USC football kicked off its season with a victory over LSU in Las Vegas. Now, the Trojans are officially back in Sin City.

USC has arrived in Las Vegas ahead of the Las Vegas Bowl matchup with Texas A&M. The team will spend the week in town, engaging in pre-bowl activities leading up to Friday night’s game.

Highlights of the team’s Monday included handing out holiday meal kits to families in need and visiting Fremont Street. In addition, USC head coach Lincoln Riley and Texas A&M head coach Mike Eli attended a bowl kickoff event together with a view of the famous Bellagio fountains.

One notable attendance of the pre-bowl festivities was five-star quarterback signed Husan Longstreet. While Longstreet is not eligible to play in the game itself, he has been practicing with the team during their preparation period leading up to the game. Longstreet was previously committed to A&M, which spices up this game even though the quarterback isn’t playing in it.

Kickoff of the Las Vegas Bowl between USC and Texas A&M is set for Friday night at 10:30 p.m Eastern time, 7:30 Pacific, on ESPN.

Honors roll in for Juju Watkins after USC takes down UConn

JuJu Watkins played like a superstar against UConn and was richly rewarded for her performance.

On Saturday night, the USC women’s basketball team earned a statement victory over UConn on the road. Following the performance, accolades and recognition have begun to come in for the Trojans. At the center of it all has been star sophomore guard Juju Watkins.

On Monday, Watkins was named the Big Ten Player of the Week. On Tuesday, she followed that up by earning national player of the week honors from both the AP and USBWA.

It was Watkins’ second time this season earning both honors. It is obviously still very early with the vast majority of conference play yet to be played, but at this point, she is widely considered the favorite to win Big Ten player of the year.

With the victory over UConn, the Trojans also rose to No. 4 in the AP Poll. The three teams ahead of USC are No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 South Carolina, and No. 3 Notre Dame.

With their nonconference slate complete, the Women of Troy will now gear up for the heart of their Big Ten schedule. Up next is a matchup with No. 23 Michigan at Galen Center on Sunday night.

USC’s player problem is bigger than just the transfer portal

When players transfer out of USC, it stings, but if the player never really plays well for USC, that’s not a portal problem. Other factors are at work.

Two years after his departure from USC football, C.J. Williams went back to the transfer portal once again. A four-star wide receiver in the class of 2022, Williams was one of Lincoln Riley’s first big recruiting wins upon his arrival in Los Angeles. After a freshman season in which he caught just four passes for 34 yards, however, Williams elected to enter the transfer portal.

Williams landed at Wisconsin, where he spent the past two seasons. In two years with the Badgers, he caught 31 passes for 396 yards and two touchdowns. With his team’s season now over, Williams recently announced that he will be entering the transfer portal for a second time.

This past September, Williams returned to the Coliseum with Wisconsin. He caught one pass for 15 yards against the Trojans in a 38-21 loss. Now, Williams is back in the transfer portal once again. With one year of eligibility remaining, he will look to find a landing spot that will allow him to finally showcase why he was such a highly-touted recruit coming out of high school three years ago.

The story of C.J. Williams brings up the important point that while a lot of highly-rated football players have transferred out of USC, what’s arguably worse is that most of those players never really played like elite players when the Trojans and Lincoln Riley had them.

Either these players aren’t being evaluated well when USC considers which players to add, or the players aren’t being coached well enough once they get into the program. In Williams’ case, his lack of production at Wisconsin suggests this was more of an evaluation problem than a development problem, but either way, USC can’t be making deficient decisions which lead to washouts.

Jury is still out on how much transfer portal losses will hurt USC

The overall net effect of various losses in the transfer portal is an unresolved question. Can Zach Hanson and other staffers make up the difference?

Over the past month, USC football has endured a lot of losses in the transfer portal. Among them, former USC defensive lineman Sam Greene committed to Kentucky. As it turns out, he will not be the only Trojan headed to an SEC school next season. Joining him in the South next season will be former USC offensive lineman Mason Murphy. After appearing in every game for the Trojans over the past three seasons, Murphy recently announced he will play his final season of college football at Auburn.

The Tigers will host the Wildcats on November 1 next season. After going up against each other in practice the best two seasons, Murphy and Greene will have a chance to battle it out in game action.

The loss of Murphy is a notable one for an offensive line that struggled mightily at times in 2024. Although USC shuffled several different O-line rotations, Murphy remained a constant, starting all 12 games at right tackle.

Having to rebuild the unit will present a major challenge for new offensive line coach Zach Hanson. However, Hanson did get some very good news when he learned that offensive guard Emmanuel Pregnon will be returning for his final season of eligibility in 2025.

Losing Mason Murphy could be seen as a deficit for USC, but given that Murphy made some key mistakes in 2024, the jury is still out on how severe a loss this actually is. If Zach Hanson can build a better offensive line in the transfer portal and do things Josh Henson could not, USC might still come out ahead. Much remains to be seen about the final composition of the 2025 USC offensive line.

USC women’s basketball assistant coach leaves for WNBA job

USC women’s basketball is losing a coaching staff member, but for the best possible reason: a WNBA head coaching job. This builds the USC brand.

Less than 48 hours after a statement victory, the USC women’s basketball program lost a member of its coaching staff, but for the best possible reason. On Monday, USC assistant Chris Koclanes was officially named the head coach of the WNBA’s Dallas Wings. He will take over a team that finished with the second-worst record in the league this past season at 9-31.

Koclanes was in his second season on Lindsay Gottlieb’s USC staff. Prior to that, he served as an assistant coach in the WNBA with both the Connecticut Sun and the Los Angeles Sparks.

“We are thrilled for Chris to be named the new head coach of the Dallas Wings,” Gottlieb said in a statement. “Chris has a unique ability to see the game, break down the game, and then transfer that knowledge to players in clear and relatable ways. He’s a true teacher with the ability to connect with people.

“Chris came to us from the [WNBA] and immediately brought a new and important element to our staff and players. He’s been a huge part of our growth trajectory at USC, and now we are proud and excited to see him lead the Wings.”

Although Koclanes will take over a significant rebuild, he does have one thing going for him: Dallas recently won the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft Lottery. UConn star Paige Bueckers is widely projected as the top selection in next Spring’s draft.