USC football breakdown: How the Trojans look at the skill positions

LOS ANGELES — In the middle of USC’s season, as Makai Lemon’s father Michael attested, Lincoln Riley pulled freshman receiver Lemon in for a meeting with a proposition: How would he like to try playing cornerback?

And not try, exactly, because Lemon had played both ways during a standout high school career at Los Alamitos High. But it was a surprise because Lemon, as Michael said in December, had gone into training camp as solely a receiver. He did no work as a cornerback. He did no backpedaling drills. It was a midseason pivot based purely out of need, with USC’s secondary depleted by injuries amid a defensive plunge, and so the freshman found himself working with the DBs and taking productive snaps at corner in final regular-season games against Oregon and UCLA.

“I said, ‘Hey, that’s the reason why you played both ways in high school,’” Michael said he told his son.

But as the portal came and winds of change swept through the program, Lemon rejoined a thinned receiving corps for the Holiday Bowl in San Diego and made a quick statement: He belonged as a pass-catcher moving forward. In the first quarter, he reeled in a slant from Miller Moss and took off for a tumbling 40-yard gain over the middle of the field; early in the second quarter, he leaped and came down with a 35-yard laser from Moss on a seam route.

“Anytime I step on the field, I’m just trying to ball,” Lemon said in November.

And Lemon – and the rest of a promising young receiver room that was about a season away from a true breakout – did dazzle in San Diego, creating a clear position of strength in USC’s program rebuild moving forward that’s been built not by quick transfer-portal fixes but strong recruiting. Zachariah Branch was USC’s first freshman All-American as a returner, and showed glimpses of stardom in space in different formations on offense; 6-foot-6 Duce Robinson has the speed and height to become a major outside threat; Ja’Kobi Lane impressed more than anyone in the Holiday Bowl, straight plucking one touchdown grab over a defender’s head in the end zone.

It’s a tantalizing mix of offensive weapons, extending to the backfield and tight end positions. It’s also noticeably bereft of proven snaps and production, extending to the running back spot, where a pair of unproven backs sit behind Mississippi State transfer Jo’Quavious “Woody” Marks. But Riley expressed clear faith in the talent already within those rooms on Signing Day – meaning the fate of USC’s offense in its first Big Ten season will likely be in the hands of sophomore stardom.

Here’s a full breakdown of USC’s skill positions entering spring practice, the second in a six-part series examining the post-portal outlook for every part of the roster. 

Running back

Returning: Fr. Quinten Joyner, Fr. A’Marion Peterson

Arriving: Sr. Jo’Quavious Marks (transfer, Mississippi State), 2024’s Bryan Jackson (McKinney, Texas)

Departing: Jr. MarShawn Lloyd (draft), Sr. Austin Jones (draft), Sr. Darwin Barlow (transfer, unknown), Jr. Matt Colombo (transfer, University of San Diego)

Wide receiver

Returning: Fr. Zachariah Branch, Soph. Kyron Hudson, Fr.  Duce Robinson, Fr. Makai Lemon, Fr. Ja’Kobi Lane

Arriving: Sr. Jaden Richardson (transfer, Tufts), 2024’s Xavier Jordan (Sierra Canyon High)

Departing: Sr. Brenden Rice (draft), Jr. Mario Williams (transfer, unknown), Jr. Michael Jackson III (transfer, Georgia), Soph. Raleek Brown (transfer, ASU), Jr. Dorian Singer (transfer, unknown), Sr. Tahj Washington (draft)

Tight end

Returning: Fr. Carson Tabaracci, Soph. Lake McRee, Fr. Kade Eldridge

Arriving: 2024’s Joey Olsen (Lake Oswego, Ore.), 2024’s Walter Matthews (Hiram, Georgia)

Departing: Sr. Jude Wolfe (transfer, San Diego State)

Top questions

• Is Marks the fill-in for Lloyd at RB1, or a complement to youth? On paper, Marks and Lloyd have exceedingly similar profiles: 5-foot-9 to 5-10, 210 pounds, transfers from SEC schools, plenty of speed and some success but never a true breakout at previous stops. Marks, though, has perhaps shone most notably as a receiver, hauling in 83 balls at Mississippi State in 2021. It’s possible that Marks could be used more in an early-down and checkdown-type role, with Joyner and the 240-pound Jackson as late-down complements.

• Is this the year USC finally utilizes its tight ends in the passing game? The last time a tight end was a true major part of USC’s passing game was … maybe Anthony McCoy in 2009? For some at-times lighthearted chatter about USC’s avoidance of tight ends through the air the past couple of years, Lincoln Riley’s offenses at Oklahoma did involve tight ends as more than blockers, with players like Austin Stogner in 2020. Olsen’s coach at Lakeridge, Spencer Phillips, told the Southern California News Group that based on conversations with Riley, USC’s plans for Olsen in the passing game are “different than what you see now” among the tight end group; with the improving Lake McRee and 6-foot-7 incoming freshman Walter Matthews also in the mix, spring practice will provide a glimpse if they’ll be a consistent target in 2024.

The group X-factor

Most of the faces in USC’s receiver room are X-factors, including Tufts transfer Jaden Richardson. But the stage has been set most of all for the returning Kyron Hudson, who seized a starting job to open 2023 after a star-making fall camp and never found a breakout. He’s now the veteran of an extremely young core, with two years of experience catching passes from Moss, and he could make for a sure-handed security blanket in 2024.