Trojan football is preparing for another slew of transfers

While the spring game featured some terrific incoming transfers, USC anticipates more before long…

Adam Grosbard (OC Register)  —  Watching the USC spring game on Saturday, it was impossible to escape the influence of transfers on Lincoln Riley’s first roster in Los Angeles.

Former Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams threw a pair of touchdowns to former Oklahoma receiver Mario Williams. And former Washington receiver Terrell Bynum was on the first-team offense. And former Oregon and Stanford running backs Travis Dye and Austin Jones were getting the lion’s share of carries. And former Alabama linebacker Shane Lee led the team in tackles. And former Auburn defensive end Romello Height came off the edge for a sack.

But if you think the wave of veteran players from other schools ended when spring ball started last month, you have another thing coming for you this summer.

For the past two months, Riley has repeatedly crowned his USC team “one of the most unique rosters” both in the history of the program and college football. With all the roster turnover that follows any coaching change, Riley and his staff have aggressively taken advantage of the new phenomenon of the transfer portal, adding 13 players with college experience to the roster prior to spring football.

Some, like Caleb Williams, Lee and cornerback Mekhi Blackmon, have come over with a clear path to a starting job. Others, like defensive lineman Tyrone Taleni, seemed like depth additions at the time but impressed the coaches enough in the spring to earn consideration for larger roles when the season comes around.

But Riley’s roster construction is far from complete for the 2022 season.

USC had around 70 scholarship players for spring camp. The NCAA limit for a college football roster is 85. So there are a lot of spots for the Trojans to fill between now and August.

Following the spring game, Riley spoke about how he views this process of filling out the roster after laying the foundation with this camp.

“The team, all of us, everybody is very aware we need to add some roster spots. It’s obvious, there’s no two ways about it,” Riley said. “They’re going to be vetted by our staff. They’re going to be vetted by our current players. We’re looking for guys who are going to come in and add to that culture.”

Riley has been clear that there is no position he would not add to at this point, at least from a depth perspective. Even with Williams and Miller Moss in place at quarterback, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to add a third scholarship player at that position in case of injuries.

At other positions, the needs are more clear. USC had a walk-on at second-team right tackle on Saturday. The Trojans were down to four healthy cornerbacks by the end of spring and only had four edge rushers for all of camp.

“There’s not a position on defense where we wouldn’t entertain the opportunity, at minimum in the name of competition and in other scenarios an opportunity to see the field right away,” defensive coordinator Alex Grinch said last week. “It’s an opportunity that wasn’t presented to us in years past, so we’ll be active.”

The activity began already on Sunday with the commitment of former Ohio State safety Bryson Shaw. The 6-foot, 195-pound junior started 12 games for the Buckeyes in 2021 while finishing third on the team with 59 tackles and will have two years of eligibility remaining at USC.

He won’t be the last transfer to join the Trojans. The only questions are who else, and how quickly do they follow Shaw to Los Angeles?

ocregister.com

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