TrojanSports - USC Football Notes: TE Lake McRee's growth, Carson Tabaracci's new position
A look at the Trojans' tight end position.
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The is not a more unsettled position on the USC roster right now than tight end.
Malcolm Epps is gone, into the transfer portal. Veteran Jude Wolfe is out this spring due to an undisclosed injury after missing most of last season following foot surgery. Five-star signee Duce Robinson may or may not actually play tight end once he gets here. Four-star signee Walker Lyons doesn't arrive until 2024 as he pursues an LDS mission for the next year. Three-star signee Kade Eldridge arrives in the summer. And redshirt freshman Carson Tabaracci just switched to the position from inside linebacker this spring.
The one known commodity there is redshirt sophomore Lake McRee, who had just 10 catches for 106 yards and 2 touchdowns last fall but is generating some very positive buzz this spring.
"He was still learning what we do offensively too, but you could see things clicking a lot faster toward the end of the year -- the technique and fundamental things that we were doing and blocking and route running," USC TEs coach Zach Hanson said Tuesday of McRee. "... Coming into spring we knew that he was going to take that next jump too because he was more locked in, he knew the offense, he knew what to expect."
Said head coach Lincoln Riley: "Lake has been awesome. Lake is playing at a high level. He’s really improved. He’s improved physically. What he did last year for us was impressive, especially considering all the time he missed. The fact that he’s had some consistent offseason work and physical work under his belt, we’ve been able to do a little more with him this spring, which is expected. So he’s been really good."
McRee's best game last season was vs. Notre Dame late in the year when he had 2 catches for 37 yards.
Building off Hanson's comments, McRee said much of last season for him was about learning the nuances of the H-back role in Riley's offense. Per PFF, McRee lined up as an inline tight end on 196 snaps, as a blocker out of the backfield on 25 snaps, in the slot on 17 snaps and out wide on 10 snaps.
"I just got more comfortable with it throughout the season," McRee said. "It was pretty new to me at the beginning of the year, and I was able to kind of get better at it throughout the year. This spring has [allowed] me to get even more comfortable with it so I'll be in a good spot when we get to the fall."
McRee has flashed playmaker potential since his freshman season as three-star tight end out of Texas who was still growing into the position as a former high school quarterback. He has pretty reliable hands and plays with a physical tenacity that is belied by his general soft-spoken manner.
He's generally received steady positive praise from both the former coaching staff that recruited him to USC and the current regime, and he credits that to a consistent approach to everything he's doing.
"I just work hard and I'll always work hard. I show all my teammates that. I think I just want to kind of imprint myself as a dude that no matter what the circumstances or the situation is, I'm just going to put my head down and work. And I feel like through winter training and spring, they've started to see that," McRee said.
Carson Tabaracci settling into new home at TE
One of the more interesting roster changes entering spring was Tabaracci's move from inside linebacker to tight end.
Tabaracci, who sat out last season due to a back injury after transferring in from Utah, had been a highly-coveted linebacker recruit for the previous Trojans staff before he initially chose the in-state Utes out of high school.
But while Tabaracci was recovering from back surgery, the Trojans' linebacker depth chart continued to evolve.
Top-100 national prospect Tackett Curtis was one of the top ILB recruits in the country and one of the Trojans' most significant wins in the 2023 recruiting class. Mason Cobb transferred in after putting up big numbers at Oklahoma State last year. Starting linebackers Eric Gentry and Shane Lee returned, former top-100 prospect Raesjon Davis is trying to show the coaches he deserves a bigger role.
So the staff had a proposition for Tabaracci ...
"We brought him in originally obviously on the defensive side. We knew he had obviously played both in high school, had started to play both at Utah, and so yeah, as this has evolved and we've finally been able to see him do some things physically really for the first time, we had a talk with him early this semester just looking at the depth charts, saying, 'Hey, you may have a pretty good opportunity offensively,' and he was all for it,'" coach Lincoln Riley said Tuesday.
"I think it's deep down where he wanted to play as well, so yeah, he's come into a good situation. He's getting a lot of reps, he's getting a look and his skill set is good for it -- he's a physical kid, he catches the ball well. For missing as much as he has and kind of first time in our offense and really first time doing this much load physically, he's handled it well."
Tabaracci said he was already planning to work at both linebacker and tight end this spring, but instead he's made the full transition.
"It's been a little bit of a change, it's been a lot of fun. I feel like I've got a lot of natural skills on offense. Just try to utilize that, learn and grow," he said this week. "I just love offense. I feel like it's maybe a little bit more natural for me. I've played it a lot more, so yeah, I have a blast on that side of the ball. ... I feel like I'm picking it up pretty quick."
At 6-foot-2, 225 pounds, Tabaracci fits more of that multi-purpose H-back mold -- part fullback, part pass-catcher.
"He’s done a nice job. He really has. He’s got a cool skill set for that," Riley said. "I don’t think there’s any question that he’s going to have the ability to make an impact."
