Ryan Kartje (LA Times)  —  Emmanuel Pregnon woke up Friday morning convinced that, no matter the pain, he was going to play through it that night.

He might have been the only one. Lincoln Riley deemed the Trojans’ left guard “doubtful” for the meeting with Rutgers with a leg injury that had limited him all week. But really, given the aches and pains he was dealing with, no one was expecting Pregnon to give it a go. No one, apparently, but Pregnon himself.

The last year had changed, in many ways, how he framed that sort of thinking in the first place. Truth is the senior lineman approached football entirely differently than the player who had transferred from Wyoming in early 2023.

He was in better shape, having taken his strength training more seriously in the offseason. But the changes with Pregnon went deeper than that. His mindset changed. His energy was different. Now Pregnon approached every situation, he said, with a clean slate. And with that came a mental toughness he hadn’t known before, one that had helped turn him into arguably USC’s most dependable lineman this season.

“No matter how hard you hurt,” Pregnon said, “you’ve got to push yourself to keep going in life.

“I feel like … football’s a game of life, and it’s just a testament to how you’re supposed to attack life as well.”

That may not have been the case a year earlier. But Friday night, Pregnon kept thinking he would play until he was suddenly warming up and cleared to go. And even with an injured leg limiting his mobility, Pregnon still managed to put together one of his best games yet at USC. According to Pro Football Focus, it was the best run-blocking performance by a Trojans lineman this season.

“It ain’t nothing,” he said. “I believe you gotta get the job done, however and whatever it takes. That’s what I did.”

Led in part by Pregnon, USC’s offensive line has stabilized in recent weeks, allowing just five pressures against Rutgers.

After the game, with the team gathered, Riley took a moment to recognize how Pregnon had reached that point.

“I don’t know that he would have been in shape or been as mentally tough [last year] to not just play but play well, and he kind of went in there like it was nothing,” Riley said. “Like, I’m just going to find a way to overcome it. It was just cool to see, man.”

By the time the final whistle sounded, an aching Pregnon was asked to brandish the sword and lead the USC band, an honor often bestowed upon the game’s most critical player. But as Pregnon set out to climb the ladder, he worried he might not make it.

“I was pacing myself,” Pregnon said. “I was just making sure I got up there safely.”

The adrenaline had worn off. Now he could feel every step.

“I thought I was gonna fall through that thing,” Pregnon joked.

But he made it to the top eventually, where the band was waiting to serenade him for his toughness, a small token in the moment to recognize changes that, for Pregnon, had been many months in the making.

He stood, tall, on a bad leg, after a game against the Scarlet Knights not allowing a single pressure. It was the peak of Pregnon’s two-year ascendance at USC since his transfer.

He lifted the sword high, a big smile stretched across his face.

Defensive injuries

After being down most of its starting secondary against Rutgers, the group’s status remains in question ahead of USC’s trip to Washington.

Safety Kamari Ramsey and cornerbacks Jacobe Covington, Greedy Vance and Jaylin Smith all missed last week with undisclosed injuries, and none of the four were full participants at practice as of Tuesday.

“I don’t know that we’ll get all of them back,” Riley said, “but obviously when you have that many at one position, getting anybody would be very, very helpful. I don’t believe any of them are out long-term.”

Its defensive line could also be without a key starter as defensive tackle Nate Clifton didn’t practice Tuesday. He left USC’s win over Rutgers after just five snaps and left with a protective boot on his foot.

And true freshman Marcelles Williams, once a darling of USC’s fall and spring camps, isn’t “available right now” with injury, as Riley put it Tuesday.

USC survived against Rutgers as a number of backups stepped up. Still, they surrendered a 313-yard game to Scarlet Knights quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis, who came in averaging sub-200 a game on the year. If none of that quartet are healthy, and down Williams, it will be tough to hold up against a much-more-potent Washington attack on Saturday.

The Huskies rank fifth in the Big Ten in passing offense.

Less accessible

USC has closed practice to reporters for the remainder of this season, reversing course this week on its media policy midway through a frustrating campaign.

Reporters could observe about 15 minutes of stretching and individual drills at the start of practice.

Riley said USC’s practice itinerary was adjusted last week, removing media from practice due to a compressed schedule ahead of a Friday night game.

“We liked how our team responded and handled it,” Riley said. “So with that, we’re continuing forward with a lot of the things we did last week. It just didn’t make sense to have it, honestly.”

latimes.com

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