Luca Evans (OC Register) —  LAS VEGAS — He pumped his fist so violently his mouthpiece came askew, a split second after securing the Las Vegas Bowl in his well-weathered hands. And then, as if struck from the heavens, Kyle Ford fell to his knees.

The emotions, from six grueling years in this life, came bubbling to the surface. And USC’s eldest statesman, bowing in a child’s pose, let himself feel.

The two knee surgeries.

The years watching fellow receivers – watching his friends – pass him by.

The ill-fated transfer to UCLA, and the transfer back to USC, and the moments he questioned whether he even wanted to play this game anymore.

It had all led here, Ford’s last snap of college football taking him into the end zone in Allegiant Stadium with the game-winning touchdown over Texas A&M, six grueling years vindicated.

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“This is just a testament,” the reflective 24-year-old said, long after USC’s 35-31 victory over Texas A&M on Friday night, “to how hard I think I’ve worked, and persevered through it.”

He had come back to USC in the offseason from across town, spending another year in a loaded receivers’ room fighting for frustratingly precious snaps. His shining moment came Friday in a Lincoln Riley offense that had been thinned by transfer portal movement.

Sure, as Ford said postgame: USC would have loved to still have Zachariah Branch. And Kyron Hudson. And Duce Robinson. But the lack of weapons, ultimately, led to a slew of hyper-centralized targets for a group of primary USC receivers – a kind of tighter rotation that Ford affirmed postgame gave Riley’s offense more of a rhythm, and could serve as a blueprint heading into 2025.

“Like, everybody thinks, ‘Oh, some guys are leaving. Oh no, the world’s crashing down,’” Ford said. “No. We got guys that step up.”

He made his mark in his final game in a Trojans jersey, grabbing six passes for 59 yards and that touchdown in the night’s final seconds. So, too, did USC’s dynamic sophomore combination of Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane, the remaining holdovers from an explosive group of 2023 receiver recruits.

Lemon has cemented himself, for months, as USC’s go-to receiver and general playmaker in Riley’s offense, finishing with 45 catches for 682 yards across his last eight games and racking up 146 all-purpose yards Friday. His retention was arguably the most important, at any position, of USC’s offseason – matched, perhaps, only by Lane’s, who continued to establish himself Friday night as a true game-breaker like few in college football.

The bubbly 6-foot-4 receiver seemed all but set to depart USC in the offseason, after posting a series of cryptic tweets following quarterback Miller Moss’ benching in early November. In a since-deleted post, Lane wrote “(Expletive) nooooo” to a fan asking if he would miss Riley. Improbably, in a development necessitating one or both sides to swallow some pride, Lane has remained a Trojan – and finished his season with two straight three-touchdown games.

All told, amid benchings and rotational reps in 2024, Lane somehow racked up 12 touchdowns on just 43 catches, with Lemon leading USC in catches (52) and yards (764).

“They’ve done a great job,” Riley said of the two sophomores after Friday’s win. “They have. They stepped up, made a lot of plays. So, proud of them.”

“I think we have a lot of pillars coming back – Ja’Kobi and Makai are going to be pillars,” the head coach continued, before pointing to several others on the roster.

USC still has an obvious need to add receiver depth amid the departures of Branch, Hudson and Robinson; Lane, Lemon and Ford played a respective 69, 64 and 57 of a total 74 snaps on Friday. But riding the three in the second half produced a kind of consistency that had at times eluded Riley’s offense in 2024.

And it was felt most significantly, above all, by Ford, after a career like few others in USC history. He redshirted his freshman year in 2019, after setbacks from an ACL tear suffered as a five-star recruit at Orange Lutheran High. He tore his other ACL a year later amid the COVID-shortened 2020 season. He transferred to UCLA in search of an opportunity he had never quite found at USC, and didn’t find it as a Bruin, either.

It had been a trying year in 2024, battling with Lane and Lemon and a host of now-transferred wideouts for snaps and finishing sixth on the team with 24 receptions for 317 yards. But that frustration was nothing, as Ford put it postgame, compared to what he’d already experienced.

“I came to terms with it,” Ford said. “Like, I’m happy with the man I am, and the way I grew as a person, aside from football.”

And he gave USC the moment of a trying season Friday night, walking away in glory from a receiver room that suddenly looks simplified entering 2025.