FOOTBALL

USC Morning Buzz: Offensive Line Prospects Wanted

I’m hearing USC coaches are scouring the transfer portal for offensive line prospects, including FCS schools.

One of the questions going into spring practice will be how Lincoln Riley handles offensive tackles Courtland Ford and Jonah Monheim? Ford didn’t play the last two games because he was hurt and Monheim lost his starting job midway through the season.

Even if Andrew Vorhees (who went from the doghouse to All-American) stays at left tackle, USC is going to have issues at the tackle spots barring some quality reinforcements.

So USC is trying to bring in 2-3 tackle prospects.

  • Former USC player Abdul-Malik McClain pleaded not guilty to federal charges alleging he orchestrated a scheme that fraudulently sought hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-related unemployment benefits.
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42 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Offensive Line Prospects Wanted”

  1. In 2020, Texas A&M had the best average yards per rush and allowed the fewest sacks in the SEC. Henson’s offensive line came to be known as the “maroon goons”.

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      1. Now if we could only get that entire Texas A&M offensive line into the portal headed out West we will really be on to something.

        Liked by 5 people

  2. All of the imbecile coaches after Pete Carroll ignored the importance of offensive linemen, and now the program is suffering. After Lane Kiffin, and Steve Sarkisian attended the University of Nick Saban for a few years, they got a good understanding of what the benefits are of controlling the line of scrimmage. Clay Helton will never understand the basic fundamentals of football, so look for Georgia Southern to resemble what we witnessed at USC the last six years.

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    1. No, Bill –the problems at Georgia Southern will be 100 times worse.
      At USC Clay had top level QB’s and receivers —and he was getting blown out. I really don’t like to even think about what’s gonna happen to Helton at Georgia Southern without 5 star players to bail him out….
      #..GeorgiaSouthern’sGoofy-EyedAthleticDirectorIsFinishedToo…

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      2. Ha! [If I could contract that kind of selective amnesia I’d consider myself blessed]…
        #It’dMakeForAGreatTwilightZoneEpisode

        Liked by 1 person

    2. BB… which is kinda strange being the son of an OLine coach [maybe he was either adopted or wasn’t really daddy’s boy (nudge, nudge, wink wink)]

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    3. CH better learn fast about how to run the ball. Georgia Southern is usually in the top 10 in rushing offense. They run the ball. Going back to 2014, they only had 2 bad seasons. One year they were 24th in the nation rushing the football and one year 29th. Those were their 2 bad years(24th and 29th in the nation is not that bad). All the other years they were in the top 10 and two years they led the nation in rushing. Like I said, down there they run the football. So if I was CH I would start calling coaches around the country and talking to them about how to run the football.

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  3. The group of players who received pandemic-related aid claiming they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars as trainers and tutors represents the last in a very long line of probable scams which went down during the Helton years —- hope the ongoing investigation comes to Helton’s door…and any institutional penalties attach to Georgia Southern for hiring him without asking him to explain why he knew so little about his walk -on’s and/or scholarship players’ federal aid requests ….

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  4. Offensive Linemen don’t have to be 5* they just need to be smart and strong with a workmanlike attitude. Coach them up and your short yardage and red zone issues will disappear. He will probably begin to recruit high level high school O linemen in 2023. There’s plenty of O line talent on the west coast, I believe USC pushes the no O linemen theory because they have poor O line play. I think Stanford is known for physical offensive lines as well as Utah. You gotta recruit ‘‘em and coach ‘em

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    2. There are a lot of 3 star sleepers out there. You just have to have enough of those off the field analysts who know what they are looking for when they watch film. That’s part of building a championship program. Tom Brady was begging to come to SC back in the 1990’s. He made 4 unofficial trips to USC to try to get them to give him a scholarship. Mike Riley(who was USC’s offensive co-ordinator under John Robinson) begged Robinson to give him a scholarship. But JR was convinced that this kid didn’t have the natural ability to play at the Pac-8 level. Instead, he gave out 2 scholarships to QB’s that year……QB’s who never saw the field much in their SC career. Brady finally gave up and landed eventually at Michigan.

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      1. ….and Brady struggled to convince the Wolverines to let him on the field. Drew Henson was a highly ranked recruit, and the fans and coaches pushed Henson over Tommy.

        Flash forward, and Riley was at the Chargers (I think) and wanted to draft Brady but was over-ruled by the “GREAT” Bobby Beathard.
        Ryan Leaf just wasn’t panning out for the Chargers…

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  5. John F Wolcott,

    Never in my wildest dreams do I want to forget about Helton, Hackett, Swann, Haden, or Sark. They helped bring SC down. With that, if you don’t remember and don’t remind the AD the problems, then history will repeat itself.

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    1. I hear you loud and clear, pasadenatrojan, although I was dealing with fantasy in my ability to forget the Helton 7-year curse he placed on SC

      BTW, are you the only one who posts on both blogs?

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    1. The portal is going to have lots more guys enter in the next two months. Haskins seems like a guy that would start opposite Voorhees. I haven’t heard anything about him after his visit here.

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      1. Nick Figueroa is a JC transfer. There have been others. Kiffin had a few O-Linemen from JC although I think they turned out to be busts.

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  8. After watching the portal there is just not much in the way of real talent coming in and offensive linemen are pursued by EVERYBODY. If Riley can land one we will have an improvement. This rebuild is going to take a bit of a while it appears with seeing minor improvements next season and some bigger one in year two. Year three we should be atop the fearsome PAC12,

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    1. They have an easy schedule next year. That should help them win 10 or 11 games next year(including the bowl game). If they can do that, it will be a sign to the recruits that SC is back.

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  9. You have to ask yourself what you want…….Do you want a football team that goes 9-4 and wins the weak Pac-12, 3 or 4 years out of every 5 years and finishes between #9 and #15 in the polls every year…..or do you want a team that gets to the playoffs on a regular basis and seriously challenges for the NC every year?
    To get into the Ohio State, Alabama, and Georgia class you have to change the culture and start getting 4 and 5 star O and D linemen.
    So far he hasn’t done that. But, surely, Lincoln Riley knows that this is what it will take. That’s why he reached for the sky in hiring an O-Line coach. Building a program that will challenge the Ohio States and Bama’s of the world will not happen overnight.
    The 4 and 5 star O and D linemen have to be convinced that they will be developed to prepare them for the next level at SC. I’m not sure they are right now. When that happens, they will start coming. We won’t challenge for the NC until they start coming to SC. You win or lose games on the LOS.
    I’m pretty confident that Riley has the skills and a past history as a proven winner to do that. I never had that confidence in CH. Patience, everyone…..give the man half a chance.

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    1. Riley didnt have an o-line coach until now, but USC might have been the reason some top o-line recruits didnt sign in early signing period. We still have a chance at Devon Campbell, Connerly and Ernest Greene, although I think Greene is a real longshot or maybe not even a chance.

      Riley’s strategy is on target. He will bring in transfers to fill the needs for the next 2 years and will recruit only 5 and top 4 star athletes out of high school. That is much smarter than filling up with a whole lot of 3 star high schoolers that will be at the university for 4 or more years.

      This is roster management 101 and Riley is doing it right

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      1. Local guy Greene pretty locked in on Georgia. He might’ve already signed with them, but not being announced until January all-star game. He’d be much better off at home with Josh Henson.

        Liked by 2 people

      3. I’d say that we definitely have a chance with Connerly. Although we are not predicted to get him(supposedly, it is between Michigan and Washington), getting this new O-Line coach may have changed things somewhat. He must have some interest in SC. He has visited SC 6 times. Only one of them was an official visit. The other 5 times he paid for on his own.

        Liked by 2 people

    1. Enjoyable video, to be sure, but if Scott were to rate it he’d be disappointed in the lack of celebration after every play. Furthermore Scott would decry the shots of Pete Ceasar in the video, USC shouldn’t have a coach enjoying the game.
      Thanks all the same.

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    2. Auburn was rated #1 in the nation in just about every preseason poll and their season opener(against SC) was in Auburn. SC went down there and dominated them in their own house. Their offense only got beyond the 50 yard line twice in the whole game…..an absolute thrashing.

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  12. There would be silver lining to the McClain story if he can prove someone used his name and I.D. information. The problem is after the initial investigation, he made the offhand comment – “Man that lady’s a bitch!” He is now in line behind But McCoy in the Title IX office.

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    1. Likely true.
      The “B” word is officially off-limits forever.

      Heck, I hear that the folks announcing the Westminster Kennel Club dog show at Madison Square Gardens are having to come up with a new word for “female dog.” Good luck

      Liked by 1 person

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