This is getting old — and alarming — for USC football. The Trojans, who lost Isaiah Raikes to the transfer portal in the offseason and very clearly needed to build back a measure of lost depth on the defensive line, continue to swing and miss for transfer portal defensive tackles. Jay’Viar Suggs is the latest. He eliminated USC from his list, settling on a top four of Michigan, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and LSU. USC really doesn’t want Suggs to land at Michigan or LSU, two of the toughest opponents the Trojans will face on their 2024 schedule. The pickings in the transfer portal were already slim f ..read more

The USC football season might not be a resounding success, but it should be a lot better than 2023 because of D’Anton Lynn. The new defensive coordinator is clearly a lot more competent than Alex Grinch. Low bar? Yes. Still: Lynn has a humility and a big-picture perspective which should give USC football a huge upgrade over Grinch and the previous defensive coaching staff. USC analyst Josh Webb wrote this about Lynn: “UCLA safety Kenny Churchwell loved his approach and how Lynn prefers to ‘go slow’ and wants to make sure things are ‘perfect.’ For Churchwell, this was an opportunity to learn fr ..read more

Former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh joined Keyshawn Johnson on the All Facts No Brakes podcast to explain why USC football superstar Caleb Williams can lead the Chicago Bears to the postseason in Year 1. Housh later admitted that he was initially “uncertain” about the rookie quarterback, but he detailed how his meeting with the USC product changed his thoughts. Caleb Williams has already won over the city of Chicago. He went to a Chicago Cubs game with other members of the Chicago Bears. He drew a huge roar from the crowd when shown on the video screen. The Bears’ decis ..read more

Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Chestnut sat down with USC freshman All-American JuJu Watkins in a wide-ranging conversation. JuJu Watkins talked about her game, the growth of women’s basketball, the rise of women’s sports on a broader level, and her predictions for USC next season. Watkins was the top recruit in her high school class. Unsurprisingly, she burst onto the scene with the Trojans as a freshman. JuJu posted huge numbers in her first collegiate season: 27.1 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 3.3 APG, 40.1 FG%. JuJu Watkins has put USC women’s basketball back on the map. She led the Women of Troy to the Elite Eight ..read more

Where will former USC Trojans guard Isaiah Collier land in the 2024 NBA draft next month? In a fresh mock draft, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony projects Collier to slip to No. 11 on the board. “Collier is viewed as a polarizing prospect, with a wide draft range starting around the mid-lottery and extending throughout the first round,” Givony writes. “Few prospects share the shot-creation prowess, scoring instincts and star power Collier boasts, but his lack of scoring efficiency, nontraditional shooting mechanics and inconsistent defense make it difficult to gauge how prepared he is to impact winning ..read more

The Athletic’s NBA writer Mike Vorkunov talked to Rich Eisen Show guest host Tom Pelissero about a number of topics. One is how LeBron James’ future in the NBA will be intricately tied to his son, former USC Trojan Bronny James and his preparations for the upcoming NBA draft. It was believed for some time that LeBron James really wanted to play on the same roster with Bronny James, but according to a recent piece of reportage from Adrian Wojnarowski, that might be less of a priority right now, as LeBron Wire noted: “The younger James has made himself eligible for June’s draft, and there has be ..read more

The Green Bay Packers made some big changes with their running back room this offseason, letting Aaron Jones walk to the Minnesota Vikings in free agency, then bringing in Josh Jacobs on a four-year, $48 million deal and also taking MarShawn Lloyd from USC in the third round of the NFL draft. Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich was impressed with the speed displayed by third-round pick and former Trojan MarShawn Lloyd during the team’s two-day rookie minicamp this past weekend. Packers Wire has more on this and related developments with Lloyd in Green Bay: “I liked his speed ..read more

Tidal waves of skepticism are swamping the USC Trojans in the college football world. Post-spring college football rankings gathered from several prominent media outlets reflect a deep-set and pervasive doubt of USC and Lincoln Riley. The team at College Sports Wire gathered top-25 post-spring rankings from The Athletic, CBS Sports, ESPN, and USA TODAY Sports to present a composite top-25 leaderboard. In that top 25, USC is not even ranked. The Trojans are completely outside the top 25. Six Big Ten teams, however, are placed in the top 25. This means USC is viewed by four different media outl ..read more

USC basketball has a new sheriff in town. Eric Musselman has remade a roster which is not yet 100-percent finished. That roster could turn out to be very good, and if it does, Trojan fans will be happy. However, while seeing USC improve is priority number one, there is a concern among Trojan fans that UCLA might soar with its own remade roster. Trent Perry, a former USC commit, joined Mick Cronin and the Bruins on Wednesday. We now have a situation in which a former USC commit and a former USC player will be Bruins next season. Kobe Johnson transferred from USC to UCLA. He and Perry will be ha ..read more

The USC Trojans are being widely doubted before their 2024 college football season. Doubting USC is not unreasonable, given how badly the Trojans stumbled in 2023. USC does have a lot of questions to answer, and until those questions are answered in a satisfactory way, skepticism of Lincoln Riley is warranted. However, LSU is not in an appreciably better position than USC. The Tigers, like USC, failed to maximize a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback the past two seasons. They didn’t win a New Year’s Six bowl or capture a conference championship. They had a terrible defense, particularly in the ..read more