NT Ishmael Sopsher is 16th USC scholarship player in the transfer portal
Ishmael Sopsher was mostly a hypothetical figure during his one year in the USC football program.
He was the subject of questions and what-ifs to the Trojans coaching staff almost weekly. As in, what could Sopsher mean to the interior of the defensive line when he was ready to play? How large of a role could he take on at the razor thin nose tackle position? When will he see the field? Etc.
Ultimately, Sopsher played only one game for USC -- 8 snaps vs. Notre Dame -- and is now back in the transfer portal a little more than a year after arriving as a transfer from Alabama.
Sopsher was sidelined from before his first practice at USC, undergoing surgery for compartment syndrome in his leg. He missed all of spring practice and was limited in practice through fall camp and the early part of the season. He was working on rebuilding his cardio, was the answer given to questions about his status.
Then he played briefly vs. Notre Dame, another round of questions came about how he could build on that experience moving forward ... and then he never played again.
By that point, interim head coach Donte Williams had shut down any flow of intel on injuries, so no substantive answer was ever given about his status the rest of the way.
And now he'll be moving on. USC has already taken in two defensive tackle transfers to try to bolster the depth inside, in TCU's Earl Barquet and Kansas State Tyrone Taleni.
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Meanwhile, Sopsher becomes the 16th scholarship player from USC to enter the transfer portal since the end of the season with no sign of the exodus slowing down.
As a refresher, here's the list:
DT Jake Lichtenstein (landed at Miami)
OLB Hunter Echols (Arizona)
OLB Juliano Falaniko
S Chase Williams
LB Raymond Scott
QB Kedon Slovis (Pitt)
K Parker Lewis
OL Liam Douglass
RB Kenan Christon
WR Joseph Manjack (Houston)
OL Casey Collier
QB Jaxson Dart
TE Michael Trigg
WR Bru McCoy
CB Jayden Williams
NT Ishmael Sopsher