The USC Trojans lost a few key players to the NCAA transfer portal this week. While five-star quarterback Malachi Nelson made the biggest headlines, the team also lost five-star cornerback Domani Jackson and linebacker Tackett Curtis. And head coach Lincoln Riley was asked about those departures during a press conference this week.
While Lincoln Riley was reluctant to get into the specifics of each departure, he acknowledged that transfers are a part of college football that he now has to deal with.
“I’m not gonna get into guys’ individual situations. Everybody kind of has their own reasons for wanting to look around. And at the end of the day, you’ve gotta respect it. You have those conversations, and then you go,” Lincoln Riley said. “And the reality is, for us, having people that are dying to be here at USC, that are dying to be USC Trojans, is first and foremost.”
Riley did seem to indicate that the transfers might have been due in part to the departure of former defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, who was fired during the season.
“We’ve talked about it with these guys — look, we’re in a really unique place right now. We’re going to have almost six weeks since we’ve played a game. We’re having, obviously, not just one small change on the defensive staff, but a pretty large change, obviously,” Riley said. “And then we’re kind of caught in this period where transfer portal and NIL have gone up a level in terms of the craziness and the impact on it more than ever before.
“So it’s just going to be part of it when you have the changes that we’ve had. And it’s going to be part of it when you have the huge chunk of time like we have. So my energy goes into the people that are here.”
We’ll have to see where those players land.
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