Luca Evans (OC Register)  —  LOS ANGELES — Elijah Paige went viral by no doing of his own. No finger lifted on his part. He was simply, well, big. 

On Wednesday, the USC left tackle strolled out from the ramp out of John McKay Center for spring practice, gently resting his left paw – as is tradition – upon the hilt of the Trojan sword adorning the walkway. Within hours, thanks to a video of said stroll posted by 247Sports’ Chris Trevino, Paige’s name amassed thousands of likes on Twitter. He towered over a staffer walking alongside him, every bit of 6-foot-7, and even former NFL punter-turned-ESPN analyst Pat McAfee sounded off in bewilderment.

“This has to be an AI edit.. is that an 8′ tall man?” McAfee quote-tweeted.

The size is very much real. It always has been. The 320-pound Paige came out of high school at 6-6, and any measurable height somehow undermines the true gangle of his limbs, with long legs that seem to simply grow forever until his torso begins.

The intensity in his game, though, which has made him USC’s unquestioned starting left tackle entering the fall – that’s come more slowly, a steady growth in his confidence coming across the last year. It’s easy to forget he’s still just a redshirt freshman, offensive line coach Josh Henson chuckled Thursday.

Perhaps, in part, because of that seemingly 8-foot-ish frame. Perhaps because of his sudden importance to USC’s roster, a youngster with exactly one college football game under his belt of more than 20-plus snaps. Perhaps, most of all, because of the leaps Paige has made in maturity, after emerging with a fury from a humbling year of development as a true freshman.

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By early November of last year, Paige was working as USC’s backup left tackle, amid a crowded depth of youngsters vying for reps. But his progression had simply stalled, Henson said, and Paige agreed. Coaches questioned whether he was far along enough to even travel on road trips, and the kid might have been a giant but his physical presence wasn’t quite ready. Henson and head coach Lincoln Riley came up with a solution: Send him to work with the scout team.

He needed to be tougher. He needed to compete, and more consistently. He needed to be “in a little bit of a war,” as Riley put it.

“We just said, ‘This kid needs to go down there and get beat up a little bit,’” Riley reflected Wednesday.

At the time, 2023 starting left tackle Jonah Monheim reflected, Paige felt it was a demotion. It was hard to see it as anything but. It hurt, Paige reflected while sitting at a table at USC’s preseason media day in late July.

Monheim, now the center lynchpin of USC’s line and the group’s unquestioned sage, tried to help the young man see past it.

“You don’t know at the time, you don’t know right now,” Monheim told Paige, the freshman remembered, “but it’s going to help you.”

When Paige first arrived at USC, Monheim would sit and watch film with him for hours. This was a different form of advice, no longer concerned with schematics or game-planning or working in reads within USC’s offense. This was about sheer survival, Paige thrown in for 50 or 60 or 70 snaps a practice against a defensive line “trying to bully you,” as Henson put it.

He had to fight, because there was simply no other choice. It would make Paige. Or it would break him. And in football, where you couldn’t simply stroll to a local park for some pickup reps, it was the best thing for Paige, Riley said.

“My mentality was a little bit different,” Paige said. “You go on the scout team, you’ve got to give it your all every play or you’re going to get – it’s not going to end well.”

It ended well. Paige lost some days. He won others, more and more, until USC got to December and coaches saw a new kid standing in for two-deep reps at left tackle.

Dang, Riley recalled thinking, this guy looks a lot different than the last time he was on this field.

He was a universal standout in the Holiday Bowl against Louisville, staying firm to Miller Moss’ blind side. And he enters 2024 as one of the most important pieces on USC’s roster, dubbed their starting left tackle immediately upon entry to a physical Big Ten, a massive freshman but still only a freshman.

But Paige has put on 10 pounds this offseason, too, amid a program-wide weight transformation. He’s been beat up before, too, for weeks, down in the trenches of USC’s scout group, a defining moment for his young career.

“I definitely do have that confidence in myself,” Paige said firmly at USC’s preseason media day. “I know that I’m ready.”

He’s still developing, Henson reflected Thursday. Still learning. But the talent isn’t in question.

“And Pat McAfee thinks he’s huge,” Henson smirked. “So.”

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