Get to know five-star DT, USC marquee transfer addition Bear Alexander

Bear Alexander isn't totally clear on all the details, but he suggests he might have made the first call to USC once he was in the transfer portal, making it less of a recruitment and more of a declaration that he was ready to become a Trojan.

"I think so, or my dad did. We didn't take a visit nowhere else so we already knew we was going to LA," Alexander said Thursday while meeting with local media for the first time since his post-spring transfer from Georgia.

Alexander was ranked the No. 2 defensive tackle and the No. 9 overall national prospect in the 2022 recruiting class, out of IMG Academy in Florida but formerly from Texas.

He was the Trojans' marquee addition this summer -- a much-ballyhooed young talent at USC's most pressing position of need, who happened to play 171 defensive snaps for the national champion Bulldogs as a true freshman and who had eyes only for Lincoln Riley's program out West.

It rarely works out that easily.

So it's no surprise Alexander has been one of the most talked about Trojans all summer before even putting the pads on for his first practice.

"I think the size, the speed, the athleticism, you check a lot of boxes with a player like that," defensive coordinator Alex Grinch said.

Ask others within the program about him, and it's generally some combination of overlapping adjectives like those.

"Super explosive guy, he's got some hop to him," defensive lineman Jack Sullivan said.

"He's an aggressive guy, good feet and I'm just excited what he's going to bring to the team," fellow defensive lineman Kyon Barrs added.

"His feet, he's quick, a lot quicker than I expected. He's strong, violent. I'm excited to have him and Kyon in front of me taking up those blocks," linebacker Mason Cobb offered.

"You talk about the size and strength and just kind of the power that he adds to the middle of your defense ...," Riley said.

"Size, explosiveness on the field is pretty impressive," defensive line coach Shaun Nua echoed. "But like everyone else, [he has to build] the mindset, the maturity part, learning how the handle the day-to-day operations type of stuff. But he's a phenomenal young man, I'm so excited he's part of our team."

Alexander is indeed only a true sophomore, but that's not going to temper the expectations of a fan base that has long bemoaned why USC no longer attracts those type of elite interior defensive line prospects out of high school.

Which, again, makes it all the more incredible that the Trojans didn't even have to endure a protracted recruiting battle to land one of the biggest names to hit the transfer portal this spring.

"Yeah, Lincoln Riley, no question. Of course, it was 'SC for me. It wasn't much of a thought," Alexander said. "I was talking to Coach Riley, just being recruited by him at Oklahoma, I knew it was safe ... It's a relationship that I [had] already developed and it picked up pretty quickly, man. 'I'm coming.' 'No, you're not.' 'I'm coming for real -- I'm serious.'"

What was USC's recruiting pitch, he was asked ...

"It wasn't much of a pitch. Like I said, I knew I was coming here. It was kind of a no-brainer," Alexander said.

He also revealed that he was once silently committed to Riley and Co. at Oklahoma before ultimately choosing Georgia, due to the success the Bulldogs and coach Kirby Smart were having with their defensive linemen (and defense in general).

"Kirby had it on fire over there," he said.

So why the change now, after getting on the field as a true freshman, racking up a couple sacks and even playing 16 snaps in the College Football Playoff semifinals and 14 in the national championship victory over TCU?

"Just a change of scenery, a new setting, just putting myself in a more uncomfortable position and just being able to go out here and hunt this year," Alexander said. "... I was looking for a new setting and I just felt like it was [a] more significant amount of snaps over here."

When asked the same question again later by a different reporter, he reiterated, "Just more significant snaps and being a first, second, third-down player."

Alexander not only arrives with outsized outside expectations but also significant goals of his own for his first season as a Trojan.

"I think they allow defensive linemen to get loose here. We're going to vertical penetrate and we're going to hunt," he said. "Double-digit sacks, sophomore All-American. Of course, there's a lot of personal goals, but team success equals individual success."

Reporters have only been allowed to attend the opening of one practice so far, the first one back on Friday, and Alexander was not a full participant. Grinch had acknowledged previously that the 6-foot-3, 300-pound defensive tackle was a little "banged up" but would "quickly be healthy."

Riley reaffirmed after that practice that Alexander's injury was not considered serious.

"Just a very minor soft tissue -- not quite ready to go full speed yet but very close. We don't expect it to be long," he said. "I'm excited about him. It's been exciting watching him in the offseason. I've cautioned people kind of like I did with Caleb and some of the other guys when they transferred in here at a similar age, he's still very young. He's had a good experience for the amount of time he's been in college, but he's not been in college very long. He's not played just a million competitive reps yet, so he's certainly still growing and learning, but yeah, you can tell just the size, the mass, the physicality combined with the athleticism in the middle of the defense, I mean, hard to imagine him not being a real factor.

"Obviously, we'll be eager to get him full go and get him out here where he can participate fully."

Meanwhile, that learning process has been ongoing for Alexander since he arrived this summer.

He noted how quarterback Caleb Williams (who he texted with during his portal process), wide receiver Mario Williams and cornerback Domani Jackson have been among the players who immediately made him feel at home in the program, while Sullivan has been helping him pick up the defense.

"We're learning the scheme, it's new terminology, so we're just taking it one day at a time," Alexander said.

In regard to the experience he got last year, he was pleased with his performance while getting "thrown in the fire early" but he expects much more this fall.

Ultimately, he knows what he was brought here to do -- or, rather, what he chose to come here to do.

"Being disruptive, going out here causing havoc, and hopefully getting off the field and allowing Caleb to do what he do," Alexander said.