The USC Trojans labored for many years under several burdensome realities. In the Clay Helton reign of error, one of the more onerous dimensions of the USC football experience was the fact that the Trojans just didn’t put a lot of players into the first two days of the NFL draft.
Pete Carroll’s USC rosters placed a lot of draft picks on Day 2, in the second and third rounds. USC stuffed the top 100 with several picks. The program was a major presence in the first half of the draft and the upper tier of the full draft class. That vanished under Helton.
USC is still digging out from the rubble of the Helton era, and as we move farther away from that dark time, the Trojans can begin to see the light.
This year’s NFL draft will once again involve few USC players being picked in the top 100. Andrew Vorhees would have been a clear top-100 pick had he not injured himself at the NFL combine, but even if he had been relatively healthy, it’s not as though USC was going to occupy a large percentage of the draft board on Day 2 (Friday). Tuli Tuipulotu is the only Trojan likely to be a Day 2 selection, following Jordan Addison’s likely Day 1 draft spot. The depth of the Carroll era on draft night has still not returned.
The good news: It should soon return.
You have seen USC build more depth in recruiting and especially the transfer portal. In Year 2 of the Lincoln Riley era, players are clearly bigger and thicker than they were a year ago. The restoration of USC football will, in the course of time, lead to deeper and more substantial draft classes — maybe not in 2024, but certainly by 2025.
The days of deep USC draft classes aren’t here, but they soon will be once again.
[mm-video type=video id=01gz1fqf2mwekx41kmdr playlist_id=none player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gz1fqf2mwekx41kmdr/01gz1fqf2mwekx41kmdr-7c1e3df93a0cbfcfb63405413d60f241.jpg]
[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=696090909]