Does USC stick with its youth on the offensive line, or turn back to the portal?
As spring ball draws to a close, USC’s most uncertain position group is its offensive line, a group of largely-untested youngsters who’ll be relied upon
Luca Evans (OC Register) — LOS ANGELES — When USC first began recruiting offensive tackle Tobias Raymond in the dawn of Lincoln Riley’s regime, he weighed all of 250 pounds. New offensive line coach Josh Henson saw clear potential in a 6-foot-7 frame and plucked the kid out of Ventura.
Raymond was a project, a tall kid who hadn’t garnered overwhelming buzz out of high school. But USC needed projects. When Riley and Henson first entered, the coffers of the Trojans’ O-line were close to empty. Three years later, just three linemen on the roster they inherited are still with the program.
The staff knew, Riley said, that Raymond would need at least a year of reps to seriously compete, a fairly underweight lineman entering the program.
As measured this spring, Raymond now weighs 315 pounds.
“It was just, a lot of eating,” Raymond said a couple weeks ago, with a shy grin.
Two years later, the frame is ready. But USC needs everything else ready, too. They need Raymond to provide genuine depth, and need fellow 2023 class-mates Elijah Paige and Alani Noa and Amos Talalele, and USC might even need true freshman Justin Tauanuu. After two years of attempting to develop offensive-line classes and plug temporary holes with transfers, USC is in a precarious position this spring with its offensive line, forced to either toss a life vest into the portal for another instant starter or entrust Miller Moss’ protection to a handful of largely-untested underclassmen.
In simple terms — there is not one single point of returning, tested strength at any point on USC’s offensive line, the program’s most glaring problem area as spring football winds to a close. The brightest spot comes at center, where former left tackle Jonah Monheim has taken up the mantle from Justin Dedich and Brett Neilon before him; Monheim has drawn glowing reviews from coaches and players alike this spring, after spending some time in the offseason training with Neilon.
“I’m super excited for him,” last year’s center Dedich said at USC’s Pro Day. “He’s going to be a beast center.”
Beyond Monheim (79), though, there’s a question mark at nearly every spot — and at the backups behind them.
Emmanuel Pregnon likely slots back in at left guard, a transfer who was serviceable last year. As presently constructed, right guard is shaping up as a battle between sophomore Noa, redshirt freshman Talalele and senior Gino Quinones, who is coming off a season-ending injury. Redshirt-freshman Paige, who took 36 snaps last year, is set to fill Monheim’s void at left tackle. Right tackle is so up in the air between Raymond and vet Mason Murphy that Henson tabbed Raymond as the leader for the job in late March, only for Riley to emphasize two weeks later that Murphy had taken the majority of reps with the starters.
“For right now, if we played today, he’d certainly be the starter, no question about it,” Riley said of Murphy, nearly identical to what Henson had said of Raymond two weeks earlier.
Freshman center Jason Zandamela’s transfer last week — the highest-ranked offensive lineman in the class of 2024 — only thins the number of bodies in the room. At the start of spring camp, Riley said the depth at USC’s tackle spots “was a little bit of a concern,” prompting the possibility the program might look to add talent in the spring transfer portal. In the wake of Zandamela’s departure, that possibility became certainty, USC simply needing help both at tackle and on the interior.
What they aim for, ultimately, will represent either a full commitment or a step back from the front-building philosophy Riley described in December: stockpile young talent, and slowly taper usage of the portal. After USC slotted in three transfers — Pregnon, Jarrett Kingston and Michael Tarquin — into starting roles on their line in 2023, the unit too often crumpled against a variety of defensive fronts. And Riley and Henson haven’t been shy this spring about driving a bus over the previous year’s approach.
“Last year, I felt like, at some spots, there was just disconnect where we couldn’t energize each other. And I’m not talking about me – I’m talking about the guys in the room,” Henson said in late March.
“I don’t know that we ever completely gelled as a unit,” Riley said a couple weeks later. “One, I think it starts with your older players. Your older guys, they have to play their best. They have to be great leaders. They have to set the tone. And I think at times last year, that did not necessarily happen all the time.”
It’s inevitable USC adds a name or two on the line this spring. But after Riley and Henson so thoroughly detailed last year’s shortcomings, USC will likely still look in large part to younger pieces to play key roles on the line. That could start with Raymond at right tackle. It will almost certainly start with Paige at left tackle, who had a fantastic game protecting Moss’ blind side in December’s Holiday Bowl.“
He’s kinda established himself as that guy at left tackle for us,” Moss said of Paige Tuesday, a wry smile creeping into his face. “I feel very safe back there with him.”
And no matter what movement occurs in the next two weeks, USC’s line will rely heavily on the youth movement, an inevitable step in the rebuild that can only be corrected by continued development.
“We’ve got young guys for our depth, so,” Henson said in late March, with the slight air of a man resigned to his hand. “It is what it is.”
ocregister.com
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The NCAA just announced a new transfer rule following a recent court ruling: all transferees will be immediately eligible to play, no matter how many times they transfer, as long as they are academically eligible. The Board will meet next week to formally approve the rule. This will take effect right away.
Transfer windows remain in place and require undergraduate athletes to enter their names in the portal at certain times (different for each sport) to be eligible to play immediately.
TCU Damonic Williams might be the NT LR is looking for in the Portal? Keep hoping Georgia lineman Mykel Williams wants out but that doesn’t seem to be happening.
After two years the projects the coaches have been working on should be ready. Riley’s offense was a different animal when he arrived. Helton had a plodding drag foot offensive scheme and Riley had a jet fuel move it offensive scheme. Helton’s projects were not ready for the change from terminology to assignments, they had to play catch up. Add to that, uncharacteristically bad conditioning at USC and we had a mess. The line finally showed some familiarity with the new coaches last season. If the unit gels this season, it will be the work of project players, which could… Read more »
Coach Riley has made impressive changes in all position coaches including a very promising D coordinator, but Riley stayed with Henson ( Nua too ) on the Oline. Of course it isnt like staying with Grinch, but it’s also slowly becoming problematic in USC’s upward trajectory, both in recruiting and player development. Will Riley be a slow learner again, like he was for Grinch? I’m thinking not, since he’s been getting very positive feedback on his recent coaching changes. Hopefully Henson can course correct this season, since the B10 is so trench oriented and Moss will be new.
And they couldn’t keep their best prospect, Jason Zandemela, for more than 3 months. He was projected a 2 year project but is now the 7th ranked player in the portal. I wonder the story is with him? After 2 years Riley better have some linemen ready to shine. The Big10 is not a 7 on 7 camp!
Following last season, Henson was always viewed as a coach to possibly move on from. But Riley clearly has a lot of confidence in him.
Since LR has seemingly made so many strong moves lately, I say he deserves the benefit of the doubt. ✌🏼
Based upon Riley’s impressive hires recently and his improved focus on strength and nutrition, he does deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Fanatic, we all hope Henson knows what he is doing and in shaping the players abilities to what LR needs to run his high powered offense. Only, it is what it is with the players he has to work with. In the beginning, LR was not going to recruit the best O-line players due to the state of what USC football was in thanks to Helton. Top HS players were not interested in a dying quail. PC built from scratch and Coaches Tom Davis & Golden Rule had to develop and did. It it took two years to do it.… Read more »
Hopefully, with our entry into the B1G, we will be able to attract more of the flyover country beasts in the future. Fingers crossed for this season, unfortunately