It's no mystery why linebacker Eric Gentry decided to enter the transfer portal despite a productive freshman season at Arizona State last year. Many Sun Devils exited with the program in turmoil, with assistants resigning under the cloud of an NCAA investigation.

As for how he found his way across the Pac-12 South to USC, well, Gentry summed it up succinctly.

"Somewhere to start history at, somewhere there was already history at. I seen what they had going," he said last week, giving his first interview since arriving at USC this summer.

"There was a lot of things at ASU that I just wanted to start somewhere new and go somewhere that was different. I think that was about it, just trying to go somewhere to start somewhere new."

Fittingly, that largely sums up what the Trojans are trying to do as well -- start over and make new history at a storied program.