USC spring football thoughts: Where does Sam Huard fit at QB, who’s the No. 3 WR?

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LOS ANGELES — USC has knocked out three more practices through two weeks of the spring. Here’s what we learned about the Trojans as they continue to work toward the 2025 season.

1. Through six practices, Lincoln Riley can tell why quarterback Sam Huard was highly recruited.

“He’s very professional in his approach. He’s learned a lot of ball in his career,” Riley said. “He takes that knowledge in, he can process it quickly. He can go out there and operate. To me, it’s almost like if you were in the NFL and went and signed a 10-year veteran quarterback. … He has a talented arm, can really throw the ball, could really process.”

Huard is one of the most compelling individual stories at USC this spring. In the 2021 recruiting cycle, Huard was a five-star prospect. When he signed with Washington, he appeared to be the face of the Huskies’ future.

It never worked out that way. Then-Washington coach Jimmy Lake was fired less than a year after Huard signed with the program. Kalen DeBoer was hired and brought in Michael Penix Jr. to start. Huard, who was the third-string QB in 2022, transferred out of the program and landed at FCS Cal Poly with his former high school coach, Sheldon Cross, who was the Mustangs’ offensive coordinator. After a year at the FCS level, Huard transferred to Utah but didn’t play in 2024. Now, he’s at USC, playing for Riley and his uncle, quarterback coach Luke Huard.

“If you asked me coming out of high school, if this would be my college career, it would’ve been crazy to hear,” Sam Huard said. “But going back, I wouldn’t change a thing. If I had to go through all that to have this opportunity with a couple years left, I’d go do it again.”

Sam Huard spent two seasons at Washington, one at Cal Poly and one at Utah before transferring to USC. (Darren Yamashita / USA Today Sports via Imagn Images)

Huard said he’s thankful for all the places he has been, the coaches he has learned from and values the relationships he has built with teammates through the years. He has been around some good ones: DeBoer, Kyle Whittingham and now Riley.

The journey hasn’t been what he expected, but he’s grateful for where he is. This past offseason was his third time in the transfer portal. Huard said it was his first time entering the transfer market, not knowing what to expect.

But the opportunity to play in a system and with people he’s comfortable with — particularly his uncle — trumped all else.

“I think in today’s age of any situation, especially in the crazy era of college football we’re in, it’s important to be with people that know you, that know what you can do,” said Huard, who has two years of eligibility remaining. “Not many people know him better than me.”

2. It’ll be interesting to see where Huard lands on the depth chart. The assumption will be that he’ll be third behind Jayden Maiava, the projected starter, and five-star freshman Husan Longstreet.

Huard started a full season at Cal Poly and a game at Washington back in 2021, so he’s more experienced than Longstreet. But the freshman has the upside over Huard, and that likely will win out, but we’ll have to wait to learn if it does.

3. Wide receiver is an interesting position. Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane are a great duo at the top, but the Trojans have no obvious option to take the No. 3 role.

Battling for the spot, among others, will be Jay Fair or Prince Strachan, a transfer from Boise State. Redshirt freshman Xavier Jordan is a bit of a wild card. Jordan was a top-100 prospect in the 2024 recruiting cycle and the second-highest-rated player in USC’s recruiting class that year — behind defensive lineman Kameryn Fountain.

We didn’t hear much about Jordan last year and haven’t heard much about him this offseason, even though the competition for that complementary role seems pretty wide open.

Riley shed some light on where Jordan stands: “Yeah, he battled some injuries last year. Had some growing up to do. Feels like he’s starting to come out of that a little bit. He’s made some plays. He’s a very athletic, explosive kid who, no question, can help our football team on both football and special teams. He’s got to continue to grow up, continue to be consistent, but all the tools are there. He’s off to a good start. He’s made some plays early on this spring. He’s just got to keep going, but with our depth right now at receiver, it’s a great opportunity for him.”

4. On the injury front, Lemon is dealing with a hamstring issue that has prevented him from practicing fully, but Riley hopes he can return during the second half of the spring.

Center Kilian O’Connor, who was put on scholarship earlier this offseason, was injured during practice on Tuesday, but Riley said that O’Connor should be ready to go by the summer, and there’s an outside chance he could be ready by the end of spring.

Despite being a walk-on, O’Connor was the backup center the past two seasons and started in the Las Vegas Bowl victory vs. Texas A&M.

5. J’Onre Reed, a transfer from Syracuse, is the presumptive starter at center after he joined the program this offseason after starting 25 games at during the past two years. That came after a stop at Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College.

Here’s how Reed, a Houston native, outlined his decision to transfer to USC: “I didn’t want to go back to the South. I grew up in the South. So I knew the South. I got my Associate’s in the Midwest. I got my Bachelor’s on the East Coast. So I was like, ‘The West Coast seems like a place to get a Master’s, right?’ The next thing you know, I end up seeing USC in my DMs on Twitter. I said, ‘This can’t be who I think it is.’ It ended up being who it was.”

6. Reed is one of several additions USC made along the line of scrimmage this offseason. He seems like a safe bet to start at center while DJ Wingfield, a transfer from Purdue, could start at left guard.

And then there are defensive line transfers Keeshawn Silver (Kentucky) and Jamaal Jarrett (Georgia), who both weigh more than 330 pounds.

Those are bigger bodies than what USC possessed on the lines last year. While it doesn’t guarantee the Trojans are improved along the lines, it’s a difference.

“You definitely feel it (the size),” Riley said. “The gaps and the holes when you play really big teams, really strong teams, everything’s smaller and literally space is just taken up, and you kind of feel that right now with our guys. It’s a real battle at the line of scrimmage. And the same thing with our defensive line facing our O-line. It’s like not two featherweights going at it. This is like two big cats in the ring, you feel the punches of each one of them.”

7. There’s no pressure on them to play this year because USC has other options at tackle, but freshman offensive linemen Aaron Dunn and Alex Payne are worth tracking throughout the year. Dunn was the No. 165 overall prospect in the 2025 recruiting cycle and was committed to Utah before the Trojans flipped him in October.

A month later, USC flipped Payne, who was the No. 181 overall prospect, from North Carolina. For a program that has struggled to land blue-chip talent on the offensive line, signing Dunn and Payne was crucial.

The Trojans are set at left tackle with Elijah Paige. Right tackle could be Tobias Raymond, Justin Tauanuu or potentially a transfer. But Dunn and Payne represent the future at offensive tackle.

Their development is critical for the long term. Riley shared some early impressions of the two freshmen.

“Dunn’s very, very athletic, kind of like we thought,” Riley said. “We thought he was one of the more athletic guys that we signed, and you could see that right away. We’ve tried to work him a little bit at both positions. Payne’s done a nice job coming in and learning our stuff as well. He’s a strong kid, came from a really good program. Yeah, been pleased with what we’ve seen. It’s a battle right now with our defensive line. Those guys have not backed down and they’re going to continue to clean up stuff as we go, but they’re both off to a good start.”

(Top photo of Lincoln Riley: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)

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