Kobe Johnson, who has just transferred from USC basketball to UCLA, has lowered his ceiling with a difficult 2024 season for the Trojans. Maybe he can raise that ceiling with a strong 2025 campaign under Mick Cronin. We will see. For now, though, one obvious point of interest is if Johnson’s less-than-great 2024 campaign as a Trojan means he won’t crack the starting five at UCLA. Our friends at UCLA Wire talked to us about this. We think Kobe will be part of Cronin’s starting five in November: “Kobe Johnson did not have a strong 2024 season at USC, but yes, he will be a starter. Seniors who co ..read more

The USC basketball roster has just a few players. Eric Musselman knows he needs to collect a lot of transfers to fill out the 2024-2025 roster. He isn’t limiting his options. Reports from Wednesday indicate USC has reached out to elite transfers Aidan Mahaney of Saint Mary’s and Micah Parrish of San Diego State. These are high-end players who are being contacted by elite programs. Mahaney has been contacted by defending back-to-back national champion Connecticut and Dan Hurley, for instance. The big boys are going after these players, and Eric Musselman has thrown his hat into the ring. USC ha ..read more

Chris Simms and Ahmed Fareed of NBC Sports Sunday Night Football have noticed USC running back MarShawn Lloyd’s compact and sturdy frame. The analysts were impressed with Lloyd’s versatile running style and acceleration as the strengths of his game ahead of the 2024 NFL draft. MarShawn Lloyd will impress NFL draft evaluators for a few reasons. One is that he was the primary meal-ticket running back for USC in 2023. He got a lot of work and took a pounding, but remained consistent and a positive feature of the USC offense for several weeks. Second, Lloyd showed a fundamental combination of spee ..read more

Brenden Rice, son of NFL legend Jerry Rice, is almost ready to make a name for himself in the NFL. Several teams are intrigued by the top receiver prospect from USC football. Rice will find out where he’s going when the NFL draft kicks off in Detroit next Thursday night. One suitor for Rice will be the Detroit Lions, who are looking to add to their wide receiver core. The Lions need more depth after the departure of Josh Reynolds. On top of that, Jameson Williams remains a relative unknown. Rice, who caught passes from projected No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams at USC, is viewed as a middle-r ..read more

J.T. O’Sullivan is a former NFL quarterback, a well-traveled journeyman with several years of experience in the league. He performs film study of quarterbacks and is an in-demand analyst at this time of year, every year, before the NFL draft. J.T. O’Sullivan weighed in on USC’s Caleb Williams in the video below. O’Sullivan has also made comments about Caleb to other outlets, such as NBC Sports Chicago: “”It’s really impressive. The ball comes off of his hand as well as anybody I’ve seen on the college level. I’m a big fan of how Caleb plays,” O’Sullivan said. “He does a number of things well ..read more

Keyshawn Johnson, who made a name for himself at USC football and in the NFL, has created a lot of memories. Keyshawn, a proud, passionate and talkative Trojan, won two New Year’s bowl games at USC, the 1995 Cotton Bowl and then the 1996 Rose Bowl. He also won the Super Bowl, capturing the Lombardi Trophy with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII against Jerry Rice and the Oakland Raiders. If you look at Keyshawn Johnson’s career, he has a unique box set of achievements. He has won the Super Bowl, the Rose Bowl, and the Cotton Bowl. Not many people can claim all three of those accompl ..read more

The biggest and most obvious change in the USC football offense in 2024 is Miller Moss replacing Caleb Williams at quarterback. USC goes from a Heisman Trophy winner and likely No. 1 NFL draft pick to a guy who, though a beloved Trojan, has a lot to prove. Moss has to show he can carry one game and one performance at the Holiday Bowl into — and through — a full 2024 season. There’s no doubt that is the central storyline for the USC offense. However, it won’t be the only huge change. Quinten Joyner — according to Lincoln Riley — will likely be a big part of the 2024 Trojan offense. Why does thi ..read more

The USC Trojans are shopping for players in the spring transfer portal window. College football insiders think the Men of Troy have a realistic shot at Colorado cornerback Cormani McClain, who recently entered the portal. Buffaloes Wire has more on McClain: “Cormani McClain, the prized signing of Colorado football’s 2023 recruiting class, is entering the NCAA transfer portal, as first reported by On3’s Hayes Fawcett on Tuesday. “A former five-star prospect, McClain spent only one season with the Buffs, playing in nine games with four starts as a true freshman cornerback. The one-time Mia ..read more

Our friends at UCLA Wire wanted us to provide an inside read on Kobe Johnson, who left USC basketball and transferred across town to play for Mick Cronin in Westwood. Andy Enfield left USC, and Kobe Johnson used that development to switch college basketball programs and get one more year of college hoops before possibly going to the NBA in 2025. UCLA Wire asked us to identify what Kobe Johnson must improve in order to get more out of his game. The answer, as any USC fan knows all too well, isn’t that complicated: Johnson needs to work on his offense, particularly his shooting. He simply did n ..read more

The UCLA Bruins, not the USC Trojans, will have Kobe Johnson on their basketball roster next season. USC fans aren’t mad about this, if only because Kobe Johnson did not realize his potential this past season. USC endured a brutal campaign which began with very high expectations and ended with the crashing thud of failure. UCLA Wire asked us about an underappreciated aspect of Kobe Johnson’s game. This was our response: Kobe Johnson doesn’t hijack a team’s offense. He might not be that great a shooter or scorer, but at USC, he didn’t try to dominate the ball or take shots away from Boogie Ell ..read more