Hi guys, Ben Parker from Stanford Rivals here. I'm also doing some transfer portal coverage for the Pac-12 this cycle. So, you'll see me around a bit over the next month or so.

Anyways, USC defensive lineman Jamar Sekona has entered the transfer portal. He wasn't a member of the team this past season as you guys already know, but I still felt like it was worth sharing the article in here anyways. You can read that here.

My friend Todd Overton Sanders saying it’s done deal…

I must have missed this yesterday.

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And here it is!

Three new names added, several others considered, some further shakeup in the rankings from the last time, etc.

Dive in and let me know what you think!

OFFENSE -- Snap count (PFF game grade)

QB Caleb Williams -- 70 (76.6)
LT Jonah Monheim -- 70 (68.3)
LG Emmanuel Pregnon -- 70 (61.1)
C Justin Dedich -- 70 (63.5)
RT Michael Tarquin -- 70 (55.5)
RG Mason Murphy -- 53 (45.9)
WR Tahj Washington -- 50 (66.1)
RB MarShawn Lloyd -- 48 (65.7)
TE Lake McRee -- 47 (57.2)
WR Brenden Rice -- 47 (73.4)
WR Kyron Hudson -- 42 (49.9)
WR Duce Robinson -- 22 (62.1)
WR Ja'Kobi Lane -- 22 (56.6)
RB Austin Jones -- 22 (55.7)
WR Zachariah Branch -- 19 (52.4)
RG Alani Noa -- 17 (35.7)
WR Mario Williams -- 13 (55.5)
WR Dorian Singer -- 7
TE Jude Wolfe -- 4
WR Michael Jackson III -- 3
RB Darwin Barlow -- 3
TE Carson Tabaracci -- 1

-That was Alani Noa's first OL action since the third game of the season.
-Kyron Hudson matched his season-high with 42 offensive snaps and has had at least 30 in four straight games, though it hasn't led to a ton of catches -- 0 vs. UCLA and just 3 for 19 yards total over the last three games.
-Not a good day for the OL overall: Jonah Monheim (2 pressures, including 1 sack), Emmanuel Pregnon (0 pressures), Justin Dedich 2 pressures/0 sacks), Mason Murphy (2 pressures/1 sack), Alani Noa (3 pressures/1 sack), Michael Tarquin (3 pressures/0 sacks).
-PFF counted 0 dropped passes for USC.
-Brenden Rice had 8 catches for 147 yards and a TD on a team-high 11 targets, while maintaining an average depth of target of 14.9 yards. He's tied for third in the country with 12 receiving touchdowns (tied for second in the conference behind Oregon's Troy Franklin).
-USC's running backs combined for just 23 yards and a TD on 14 carries.

DEFENSE

S Calen Bullock -- 77 (65.9)
CB Christian Roland-Wallace -- 77 (82.3)
NK Jaylin Smith -- 75 (72.0)
LB Mason Cobb -- 74 (56.6)
CB Domani Jackson -- 70 (64.9)
DT Bear Alexander -- 63 (75.9)
DE Solomon Byrd -- 48 (78.6)
DT Tyrone Taleni -- 45 (75.0)
LB Shane Lee -- 42 (73.7)
S Anthony Beavers -- 39 (67.4)
RUSH Jamil Muhammad -- 37 (68.6)
LB Eric Gentry -- 35 (67.2)
RUSH Romello Height -- 30 (59.9)
DE Jack Sullivan -- 29 (62.2)
S Bryson Shaw -- 25 (68.7)
DT Elijah Hughes -- 20 (80.5)
DT Kyon Barrs -- 14 (67.2)
S Max Williams -- 13 (56.6)
DT Stanley Ta'ufo'ou -- 12 (54.2)
RUSH Braylan Shelby -- 10 (72.2)
CB Makai Lemon -- 7
LB Tackett Curtis -- 3
DE Anthony Lucas -- 2

-This was the first time all season Tackett Curtis hadn't played double-digit snaps. Stanley Ta'ufo'ou also tied a season-low with his 12 snaps.
-Conversely, Anthony Beavers' 39 defensive snaps was a career-high. He hadn't played on defense since the third game. Beavers tied for the team lead with 6 tackles.
-Jack Sullivan's 29 defensive snaps was his second-most of the season and more than he played the last four games combined.
-USC had 11 total pressures -- not elite but better than the lowly 3 the Trojans were credited with last week. Jaylin Smith led the way with 3 pressures, followed by Bear Alexander (2), Solomon Byrd (2) and Mason Cobb, Jamil Muhammad, Shane Lee and Jack Sullivan. Smith, Byrd and Sullivan had sacks. Byrd is now tied with Jamil Muhammad for the team lead with 6 sacks.
-Cobb again led the team in missed tackles with 3 (there was a particularly egregious one on a TD that stands out in my mind), and USC missed 14 tackles overall: Elijah Hughes (2), Calen Bullock (2), Smith (2), Alexander, Beavers, Bryson Shaw and Byrd each with 1. Cobb now leads all players nationally with 26 missed tackles, per PFF.
-As for the cornerbacks, Christian Roland-Wallace allowed 2 catches for 8 yards on 5 targets with 2 pass breakups. Domani Jackson allowed 1 catch for 12 yards on 3 targets.

Any other questions?

Official visit from the three-star LB from Michigan ...

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We'll keep adding to the list ...

Thoughts?

A lot of names that have been tossed out there elsewhere, and discussed on the board here, but maybe a couple surprises.

Only 3 of us (?) selected Ugly.
Think about that: The passion and optimism all of you have! Love it.

@jcbraam 36-28. Ugly
@trojan_a_1 31-28. Ugly
@Kylerkeener 42-31. Ugly

The longer it goes, the stronger I get.
I want that Starbucks card.

F-ing joke!!!

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Javian Osborne is one of the best nationally for the 2026 cycle and the Trojans are a major early contender in his recruitment. Story coming tomorrow but Osborne spoke highly of the Trojans' program shortly after running for 200 yards and 2 TDs in a playoff victory in Texas.

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Trump "engaged in an insurrection," judge says, but should remain on Colorado ballot

In the third failed attempt to keep Trump off a state's ballot in just over a week, Colorado judge Sarah Wallace issued a scathing ruling yesterday that the disgraced ex-president “actively primed the anger of his extremist supporters,” and “acted with the specific intent to incite political violence and direct it at the Capitol... and that the First Amendment does not protect Trump’s speech." And since the 14th amendment says, "No person shall... hold any office... [who] shall have engaged in insurrection," the judge has decided... that Trump can stay on the ballot. Apparently Trump was not only above the law at the time, but above the constitution as well due to a little known but oft employed technicality whereby some judges are too chicken shit to hold powerful men accountable for their crimes.

With all the talk of only a few plays away from a different season, the reality is this team was legitimately 2 plays away from not even being bowl eligible.

Converted 2 point conversion by Zona and Cal - literally 2 plays, and this team is 5-7 and the same record as Helton’s worst year. It honestly feels like we were 5-7 this year.

To take it farther, a few more plays and even ASU and Colo could have been losses. There’s no way around it, this was an absolute train wreck of a season.

Yes or no?

The 2023 Trojan defense was an absolute joke.

I’d like to see the following players stay:

DL - Alexander, Lucas, Hughes, Lafitte, and Thompkins

RUSH/OLB - Height, Shelby, Percy, Greene

ILB - Curtis, Madden

CB - Jackson, Wright

S - Pierce, Branch, Fegans

The rest of the player should be told to leave. If Cobb, Gentry, Shaw or Williams suit up for the Trojans next year I may never root for the Trojans again.

The 16 that I identified to stay are not All American caliber… with the exception of maybe Alexander. Needless to say, unless some serious talent is brought in, our defense may be worse in 2024.

A real D1 team probably has 40 defensive players on their roster. Im hoping for a very busy portal season defensively.

Also, the kicker Lynch needs to be removed from the team immediately. There has to be kickers in D-II and D-III who are better.

Building from the outside in will continue here and not change until Coach Lincoln Riley leaves.

And that's it. He can give a rip what happens now to this program or team. His money is already in the dang bank regardless of performance. He knows he can keep blasting diarrhea out of his ass and it won't matter because he is RICH. How else do you explain how he literally turned a Ferrari into a Pinto. Just unbelievable how he's tanked our program so fast.

"Well, we've improved there this year. We've got, I think the No. 1 punt return team in the country. Eddie's done a nice job for us all year. We missed a couple of kicks today, which obviously were the one kick out of bounds, we missed the field goal, so those were obviously some big plays against us. But yeah, I evaluate everything at the end of the year. We've made some improvements. I'm not saying it's been perfect, but that will be part of the evaluation just like every other part of the program."

How many of our decent players are going to hit the transfer portal because they dont wont to be any part of this mess anymore? My guess is we are going to be losing a fair amount of players to the transfer portal. The program is a complete trainwreck.

This is by far worst than Helton era. Back then I at least saw players fighting for wins and really trying hard despite Helton's shortcomings. What I am seeing now is not even football. They have somehow turned this into a disgusting, mindless, apathetic, heartless, soft, display of something they want to call Trojan football but it's such a wannabe, fake version of it, that I am truly embarrassed. Need a complete RESET and unfortunately we are stuck with Riley now that he's been exposed as the frickin fraud that he is. What sucks is that Pete Carroll's teams would have curb-stomped every single opponent we lost to this year and that speaks to how shyty we've become. There is absolutely nothing to look forward to next season.

Can’t be a better tone than now.

Thanks for everything!