There seems to be some confusion as to why WR Velus Jones and CB Greg Johnson entered the NCAA transfer portal last week, only a few days before the beginning of spring practice, and what exactly is going on with LB Hunter Echols. As I reported last Thursday, three players were considering quitting the team after seeing where they stood on the depth chart. These were the three. I've been able to gather a bit more intel over the past 48 hours.
Jones, as you might expect, was listed behind Amon-Ra St. Brown. VJ wasn't a full-time starter last season, but he took the field before ASB in most games. St. Brown did start the final three games, however, and it was evident to any objective viewer who the better player was and how things were trending heading into 2019. But what I've learned in 16 years of doing this is that players are often the last to see things rationally, especially when it's concerning their standing on a team. Whether Jones was going to start or not, he likely would have played a ton in this offense. Perhaps Jones wasn't confident in winning time, and his trump card was the ability to leave after this spring as a grad transfer.
The Trojans have now lost four of the six receivers that they signed in 2016. I've explained several times that they only needed 3-4 in that cycle. Over-recruiting not only stunted their individual development and made it harder to move up the depth chart, but it also left USC vulnerable to multiple receivers being on track to transfer as graduates at the same time, which is exactly what happened. USC now has just five scholarship WRs available for spring, with John Jackson III joining the team after grayshirting.
The story behind Johnson’s departure is he surprisingly saw himself listed behind Dominic Davis at one of the outside corner spots. This was unlikely to hold, as Davis was at the bottom of the depth chart last year in what was his second season playing DB. He also wasn't even practicing outside much; he's been at nickel. Davis was listed first, though, because Johnson's academics aren't in order, so the staff wanted to begin preparing for the possibility of him being unavailable. What a catch-22. Johnson otherwise had a clear path to winning a starting job in the fall. This spring, USC will have just four scholarship cornerbacks at its disposal -- Max Williams is still rehabbing a torn ACL -- to man three spots.
And then there's Echols, who was upset about being listed behind Eli'jah Winston at SAM linebacker. With Porter Gustin gone and Christian Rector positioned at defensive end, the redshirt sophomore Echols didn't expect to find himself below the redshirt freshman Winston at outside linebacker. He initially quit the team and asked for his release papers, thus initiating the process of entering the transfer portal. (A school has two business days to enter a player's name into the portal.) After follow-up conversations with Clay Helton and Joe DeForest, Echols decided to remain at USC.
It's probably a good time to elaborate a bit on the transfer portal. I've written on it before but I still see questions about it, which is understandable since it's only a few months old. (I still remember it took some time to make sense of blueshirting.) Hopefully I can effectively explain what it is and isn't. The portal is simply an online database that essentially makes all teams aware of what players have been granted their release. (It's not available to the general public or media.)
The process to transfer isn't any different, but the existence of an organized system obviously makes it more inviting for players to make themselves available and easier for teams to recruit them. Entering the portal does not mean you must transfer and there is no deadline for when a player must take action. Moreover, just because a player isn't in the portal doesn't restrict them from transferring; it's not a prerequisite. Being released from your scholarship is, and even then there are some players who obtain that and still don't transfer. Chuma Edoga is one example that I know of.
Finally, I've seen some consternation over USC having a pre-spring depth chart. USC always has a pre-spring (and pre-training camp) depth chart. They just aren’t revealed publicly. The team used to release a post-spring depth chart but stopped doing so during Helton's first season (2016). The more pressing issue is players reacting so strongly to where they're listed before spring practice has even begun. This particular depth chart couldn't be less important. Without pointing fingers at either side, the defections are emblematic of the deficiency in culture that Lynn Swann alluded to after the season and that Helton is trying to change.
Jones, as you might expect, was listed behind Amon-Ra St. Brown. VJ wasn't a full-time starter last season, but he took the field before ASB in most games. St. Brown did start the final three games, however, and it was evident to any objective viewer who the better player was and how things were trending heading into 2019. But what I've learned in 16 years of doing this is that players are often the last to see things rationally, especially when it's concerning their standing on a team. Whether Jones was going to start or not, he likely would have played a ton in this offense. Perhaps Jones wasn't confident in winning time, and his trump card was the ability to leave after this spring as a grad transfer.
The Trojans have now lost four of the six receivers that they signed in 2016. I've explained several times that they only needed 3-4 in that cycle. Over-recruiting not only stunted their individual development and made it harder to move up the depth chart, but it also left USC vulnerable to multiple receivers being on track to transfer as graduates at the same time, which is exactly what happened. USC now has just five scholarship WRs available for spring, with John Jackson III joining the team after grayshirting.
The story behind Johnson’s departure is he surprisingly saw himself listed behind Dominic Davis at one of the outside corner spots. This was unlikely to hold, as Davis was at the bottom of the depth chart last year in what was his second season playing DB. He also wasn't even practicing outside much; he's been at nickel. Davis was listed first, though, because Johnson's academics aren't in order, so the staff wanted to begin preparing for the possibility of him being unavailable. What a catch-22. Johnson otherwise had a clear path to winning a starting job in the fall. This spring, USC will have just four scholarship cornerbacks at its disposal -- Max Williams is still rehabbing a torn ACL -- to man three spots.
And then there's Echols, who was upset about being listed behind Eli'jah Winston at SAM linebacker. With Porter Gustin gone and Christian Rector positioned at defensive end, the redshirt sophomore Echols didn't expect to find himself below the redshirt freshman Winston at outside linebacker. He initially quit the team and asked for his release papers, thus initiating the process of entering the transfer portal. (A school has two business days to enter a player's name into the portal.) After follow-up conversations with Clay Helton and Joe DeForest, Echols decided to remain at USC.
It's probably a good time to elaborate a bit on the transfer portal. I've written on it before but I still see questions about it, which is understandable since it's only a few months old. (I still remember it took some time to make sense of blueshirting.) Hopefully I can effectively explain what it is and isn't. The portal is simply an online database that essentially makes all teams aware of what players have been granted their release. (It's not available to the general public or media.)
The process to transfer isn't any different, but the existence of an organized system obviously makes it more inviting for players to make themselves available and easier for teams to recruit them. Entering the portal does not mean you must transfer and there is no deadline for when a player must take action. Moreover, just because a player isn't in the portal doesn't restrict them from transferring; it's not a prerequisite. Being released from your scholarship is, and even then there are some players who obtain that and still don't transfer. Chuma Edoga is one example that I know of.
Finally, I've seen some consternation over USC having a pre-spring depth chart. USC always has a pre-spring (and pre-training camp) depth chart. They just aren’t revealed publicly. The team used to release a post-spring depth chart but stopped doing so during Helton's first season (2016). The more pressing issue is players reacting so strongly to where they're listed before spring practice has even begun. This particular depth chart couldn't be less important. Without pointing fingers at either side, the defections are emblematic of the deficiency in culture that Lynn Swann alluded to after the season and that Helton is trying to change.
