Entering this year, the biggest concern for the USC football team -- well, certainly at least for Trojans fans -- was the depth at offensive tackle, both for the present and the future.

That's why USC had brought in Virginia grad transfer Bobby Haskins last December to help fortify the depth chart along with returning redshirt sophomores Courtland Ford and Jonah Monheim.

But Haskins would only be here for a year, Ford and Monheim still had plenty to prove and many thought the latter's future to be on the interior of the line eventually. There wasn't much else to project into 2023 at the tackle spots beyond the still very raw potential of redshirt freshman Mason Murphy, who had fractured his foot last fall while losing a valuable season of development on the practice field.

Well, Murphy has made up for that lost time and then some, and his impressive emergence is one of the most significant developments for the Trojans in the broader picture.

Murphy has now started consecutive games at right and left tackle, respectively, drawing praise from coach Lincoln Riley and teammates while looking like he can already be inked in as a starter for next season on one side or the other.

"He's done pretty well considering his first two starts are at different positions. Pretty impressive for a younger guy to be able to do it. I would certainly give some of that credit to some of the experienced guys that he's had an opportunity to play next to. That's absolutely, I think, been a factor. But he's done well, he's played well, he's limited the mental mistakes and you certainly see his talent out there," Riley said Thursday. "He's talented enough that his good plays look pretty good and even when he's out of position his athleticism shows up and he's able to at times get himself out of some bad positions. So needless to say we've been impressed.

"For us to have the confidence in him to do that back-to-back weeks in his first two starts shows I think the confidence that's building in him. ... It's been cool to see him start to take off."

With five offensive linemen committed in this 2023 recruiting class, including four-star offensive tackle Elijah Paige, the future is starting to look a little less hazy -- and concerning -- up front for the Trojans.

But especially hearing the way Riley and others have talked about Murphy, the highest-ranked offensive lineman USC has signed since Justin Dedich way back in the 2018 recruiting class.