Where USC football heads into the spring game, transfer portal window

LOS ANGELES USC enters the final week of spring training, with the spring game on Saturday. Here are some thoughts on the Trojans from Week 4 of spring ball.

1. USC's defensive line has been in the news this week through the transfer portal. First, there was the Bear Alexander saga. USC was able to keep Alexander in the fold for now, but on Friday defensive lineman Isaiah Raikes, who transferred to the program in January after four seasons at Texas A&M, re-entered the portal after just a few months with the Trojans.

Listed at 6-foot-1 and 313 pounds, Raikes possessed the size USC needed along the defensive front, but he started just five games in four seasons at Texas A&M, so it was unclear what impact he would have this fall made for the Trojans. .

Lincoln Riley declined to discuss the details of Raike's transfer on Saturday afternoon.

“I'm not going to comment on it,” he said. Just one of the things we were all dealing with at the moment.

2. Raikes is one of two defensive line transfers USC added to the program during the winter portal. Nate Clifton was the other, and it seems like things have gone well so far with the transfer from Vanderbilt.

(He) had a great camp, Riley said. We are really very satisfied with Nate.

More responsibility will fall on the shoulders of Clifton, who will be one of several players to line up alongside Alexander along the inside of the defensive line. Clifton had 5.5 sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss at Vanderbilt in 2023.

3. Riley said the interior defensive line is one spot USC may address from a depth perspective in the transfer portal this spring.

He said the players the Trojans have in the interior have improved quickly, but they don't have as many bodies as they want. Elijah Hughes and Devan Thompkins will likely carry an even heavier burden in the meantime.

USC signed Alexander during the spring portal last year, but quality transfer defensive linemen are very difficult to find this time of year.

4. From Tuesday, the transfer portal will be open to all players for two weeks. Last week we had the unofficial number of USC scholarships at 82. The Trojans have since lost Raikes and freshman center Jason Zandamela. Defensive back TreQuon Fegans was removed from the roster and is also expected to enter the portal.

These steps will bring USC to 79 scholarships, with at least six scholarships available. Riley has emphasized the need to add offensive linemen and has said adding more defensive linemen is a possibility. It seems like receiver would be another spot at tackle, but also at running back.

5. Quarterback Miller Moss got the buzz going early in the week. When asked which defensive backs have stood out so far, he pointed to a true freshman.

Frankly, Marcelles Williams was great, Moss said. It's clearly a young child. He's still a high schooler, but he could definitely be playing cornerback with the best guys on our team right now. It was really good to see, and I'm excited for that kid. He has a very bright future.

On Thursday, safety/linebacker Anthony Beavers Jr. asked which safety measures stood out, but he couldn't resist also mentioning Williams.

Not much of a safety, but little Celle is doing his thing, Beavers said. Celle comes from a great football family. I played with the two other brothers (Max and Macen), so I think it's just to see how much he learned from them and implement it into his own game. I think he does a great job of grabbing everything and running on the ground.

Williams was a four-star signee in the 2024 recruiting cycle and ranked among the top 150 in his class. His older brother Max just ended his playing career at USC after five seasons. Riley said Williams has been involved with the program a lot because of Max, which has helped make his transition smooth.

Williams came in ready to compete in a deep corner group. He will be worth keeping an eye on during the spring game and training camp.

He has been unusually consistent for a true freshman, Riley said. Very stable. His bad plays aren't that bad, plus he's made some excellent plays. Recently had a very nice interception during a team period. Got a nice interception today in a scrimmage. So he also plays explosively. I'm impressed with how quickly he picked up our system.

6. The USC secondary is probably as deep and talented as it has been since Riley arrived. But he said he hasn't seen it at full strength yet.

Corner Jaylin Smith has been limited by injury in recent weeks. Corner John Humphrey recently underwent a surgical procedure and will miss the final week of spring ball, Riley said. Safety Zion Branch is also still recovering from a knee injury.

But Riley had high praise for one of the players who was always available: UCLA transfer safety Kamari Ramsey.

Kamari has been one of the steadiest players on the football team regardless of position, Riley said. Very excited by him.

Riley also said cornerback Jacobe Covington has made some nice strides. Covington and Prophet Brown played well as USC's starting cornerbacks during the Holiday Bowl.

Brown has been buried on the depth chart for his first three years on campus; the Holiday Bowl was one of the few opportunities he had gotten for extended playing time. Riley said Brown passed some people this spring and is in the mix at Nickel and Corner.

7. Luke Huard met the media for the first time this week as USC's quarterbacks coach. We wrote about the move and its significance for Riley earlier this spring.

Huard said Riley will still be hands-on with the quarterbacks, which shouldn't be a surprise. An even more interesting dynamic will be how that relationship plays out on the recruiting trail.

“I've helped with it in the past because there are certain times of the year when Coach Riley can't be on the road and can't evaluate,” Huard said Tuesday. So I've had a hand in that over the last few years since I've been here, and now that I'm obviously in the position that I'm in, that's going to be my sole focus in recruiting. A lot of communication. If I'm on the road and go to visit someone, I call them during my drive to the next stop. We always talked through different prospects.

One of the standout visitors at practice that morning was Corona (Calif.) Centennial quarterback Husan Longstreet, a four-star and the highest-rated signal caller in the class of 2025. Longstreet will make his college decision on Sunday. USC wasn't on the list of eight finalists that Longstreet released weeks ago, so it was interesting to see the high-profile quarterback on campus, especially since the Trojans have already signed five-star quarterback Julian Lewis for 2025.

Lewis recently set his summer visit schedule, per 247Sports: Hell visits Georgia, USC, Auburn and Colorado, all of which he also visited in the past month.

I'm not saying it will be Longstreet, but Riley may need some kind of insurance policy for this position.

8. In previous years, when more restrictions were in place, USC and Riley wanted to avoid the use of name, image and likeness capabilities in their high school recruiting efforts. In the wake of the Tennessee court ruling banning the NCAA from enforcing its NIL rules, the governing body is virtually powerless to prevent the use of NIL as an incentive in traditional recruiting.

Riley was asked Saturday if that has changed his perspective on how the program uses NIL in high school recruiting.

Yes, that's right, he said. You put aside personal feelings and you adapt to the rules they present to you and take every advantage you can, within what they say you can do. So yeah, we've certainly looked at it, had a lot of great conversations about it with our collective, and if that becomes kind of completely deregulated as it essentially is now, then we certainly want to use that to our advantage. It has generated a lot of great discussions as we want to make sure that children and their families can experience this place.

This place is hard to describe, man. You can tell people what you want over phone calls, Zoom calls, or in person, but until they see it, it's hard to really put into words what's involved in coming to USC. So yeah, it's been a great conversation so far. If that continues to be something we can do, it's something we'll benefit from.

This is the first cycle that USC has been willing to enter into NIL deals with high school recruits before they enroll. The Trojans class is currently ranked fourth nationally in the 247Sports Composite ratings. The spring game is generally a time when schools pick up their commitments in waves, so it will be a week before we can see if USC has any more additions to this class on the way.

(Photo: Darren Yamashita/USA Today)