What we learned about USC football this spring: A position-by-position analysis

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LOS ANGELES — USC put the finishing touches on spring practice on Saturday. Personnel wise, the Trojans have been selective in the transfer portal and haven’t suffered too much attrition.

As coach Lincoln Riley stated often over the past few weeks, the majority of the team USC will have this fall has been on the field this spring. With that in mind, let’s take a position-by-position look at what we learned about the Trojans this spring.

Quarterback

Redshirt junior Jayden Maiava started the final four games of last season and is the only quarterback on the roster who threw a pass for USC in 2024.

Therefore, it should’ve come as no surprise when Riley told reporters earlier this week that: “Jayden’s clearly the No. 1 quarterback right now.”

Maiava knows that he must clean up some of the decision-making miscues he displayed last year and the technical parts of his game. For what it’s worth, Riley said the QB has shown improvement in his decision-making over the past few weeks. We won’t gain a better grasp of his progress on the technical aspects until the fall.

Naturally, a lot of attention will be placed on five-star freshman Husan Longstreet, who has the potential to be the future of the position for USC. Longstreet has created some explosive plays this spring and has taken steps forward, but Riley said there are still some moments when he looks like a true freshman, meaning this summer will be critical for his growth.

Utah transfer and redshirt senior Sam Huard is likely to finish third in this race.

Running back

The depth at this group, which was set to equal past running back groups under Riley’s tenure, took a little hit when redshirt sophomore A’Marion Peterson entered the transfer portal.

Even with Peterson’s departure, USC should be fine here as the top three backs seem pretty settled: Junior college transfer and junior Waymond Jordan, New Mexico transfer and redshirt senior Eli Sanders and sophomore Bryan Jackson.

There was plenty of buzz among players about the explosiveness and speed of Jordan and Sanders. Their skillset should complement Jackson, who is a bigger back (6-foot, 232 pounds) that the Trojans haven’t really had the past few years.

Four-star Harry Dalton III will join the group this summer. Freshman Riley Wormley, a three-star signee in the 2025 recruiting class, arrived this winter.

Receiver

Juniors Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane have established themselves as the top two receivers on this team and should be one of the best 1-2 combos in the country.

The real question is who will step up and be the third receiver? There were no obvious candidates, but Boise State transfer Prince Strachan, a junior who caught 25 passes for 304 yards for the Broncos in 2024, appears to have elevated himself.

Makai Lemon is looking to build off of a strong sophomore season that saw him haul in 52 receptions for 764 yards. (Kirby Lee / USA Today Sports Imagn Images)

“You could tell every day, there’s a little more confidence in what we’re doing,” Riley said of Strachan. “Not necessarily like learning plays, but techniques and how we’re coaching the position. He’s starting to put it together and really shine. So, (I’ve) been proud of his progress.”

The Trojans signed three four-star wideouts in their 2025 recruiting class. Only one, Corey Simms, is enrolled for the spring. But Riley said Simms and redshirt freshman Xavier Jordan have done some good things within the past few weeks.

USC’s receiver depth has been whittled down over the past few weeks due to some bumps and bruises. It wasn’t a deep unit to begin with, so we’ll see if the staff targets a receiver during this portal window.

Tight end

Redshirt senior starter Lake McRee was shut down for the last week-plus of spring as a precaution. McRee has battled injuries the past couple of years. Redshirt junior Carson Tabaracci has also been limited this spring.

That’s allowed sophomore Walker Lyons to receive a significant amount of reps. Riley said Lyons was one of the more impressive players on the team during the last of spring ball. Even with McRee back in the fold later on, it’ll be interesting to see if Lyons receives more targets this fall. It is Lyons’ first real offseason as he was on a Mormon mission the past two offseasons.

Offensive line

Things seem pretty settled here. Redshirt sophomore Elijah Paige is locked in at left tackle. Same with junior Alani Noa at right guard. Redshirt senior transfers DJ Wingfield (Purdue) and J’Onre Reed (Syracuse) have established themselves at left guard and center, respectively.

From the outside looking in, the right tackle spot seems like a pressing question mark for USC. But Riley has expressed a lot of confidence in his options there, particularly redshirt sophomore Tobias Raymond, whom Riley said had established himself as one of the team’s best offensive linemen this spring.

That makes Raymond the front runner to start at right tackle, but Riley also likes redshirt freshman Justin Tauanuu, who played a decent amount in the Las Vegas Bowl. The summer will be a critical time to develop and identify who will be next up at tackle beyond those three, Riley said.

Defensive line

With plenty of options, USC’s rotation should be pretty deep. It’ll be impossible to know exactly what it’ll look like because two key players were either out (senior Anthony Lucas) or limited (redshirt senior Keeshawn Silver) for the entirety or a good portion of the spring.

Lucas, Silver, Jamaal Jarrett (redshirt sophomore), Kameryn Fountain (Sophomore), Jahkeem Stewart (freshman), Devan Thompkins (redshirt junior), Braylan Shelby (junior), Kobe Pepe (redshirt senior) and Jide Abasiri (sophomore) all figure to be the main rotation pieces.

Stewart was a four-star and top-50 prospect in the 2025 recruiting cycle. He’s the highest-rated defensive lineman to sign with USC during Riley’s tenure. Expectations will be high for him this year.

“His natural ability is very apparent,” Riley said. “Pretty impressive to see with him being really a year younger than all these guys, the fact he physically can go out here and hold his own with anybody, That’s pretty hard to do when you should be a junior in high school right now.”

Linebacker

This is USC’s thinnest position group. Redshirt senior Eric Gentry is in his fourth season with the program and is a safe bet to start, but he’s missed multiple games because of injury in two of his three seasons with the program. But the Trojans accounted for that this spring by adding Penn State linebacker transfer Ta’Mere Robinson. He was one of several linebackers the Trojans targeted in the portal.

Eric Gentry will most likely start for USC, but can he stay healthy in 2025? (Kirby Lee / USA Today Sports Imagn Images)

It’ll be intriguing to see how he fits into this rotation. Sophomore Desman Stephens II is the favorite to start next to Gentry.

Redshirt freshman Jadyn Walker has the potential to be a wild card in this group.

“No question. He’s going to help this football team a lot,” said Riley, who also said Walker had a “fantastic” spring and will play a big role on the defense.

Defensive back

There are still a lot of moving pieces here. Safety seems to be where USC is deepest in the secondary. Redshirt junior Kamari Ramsey is the best player on defense and is probably the only locked-in starter.

Redshirt senior and NC State transfer Bishop Fitzgerald is the favorite to start next to Ramsey. Junior Christian Pierce was a bit banged up to finish spring, but he should find his way onto the field this fall. Riley said there’s a possibility USC plays with three safeties at times this season.

The Trojans also added Notre Dame transfer Kennedy Urlacher to this group during this portal cycle as well.

The corner positions are wide open. It’s assumed San Jose State transfer DJ Harvey, a redshirt senior, will start, but he’ll have some competition from redshirt senior DeCarlos Nicholson and redshirt freshman Marcelles Williams. There are some promising young options there as well.

Nickel is undecided as well. Redshirt senior Prophet Brown has played there the most, but Ramsey could line up there at times, and USC will give some of its younger players, such as redshirt freshman Isaiah Rubin and true freshmen Alex Graham and James Johnson, a look there as well.

(Top photo of Jayden Maiava: Jordon Kelly / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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