While USC fans have certainly come to embrace the riches of the transfer portal as Lincoln Riley and staff have utilized it aggressively the last two cycles to plug glaring holes and bring in immediate veteran help, it perhaps needs further restating as to just how much it's changed recruiting.

While there was some frustration that the Trojans finished 11th in the 2023 Rivals recruiting rankings (with the potential to still move up if they land five-star tight end Duce Robinson with his delayed decision), that's really only half the reality.

The program yet again reeled in a wealth of talent from the portal, and there's simply no separating the two components anymore -- recruiting in 2023 and beyond is a combination of high school prospects plus transfer additions. They need not be evaluated independently because that's not how the staff approaches it.

Defensive coordinator Alex Grinch explained this head-on back in December.

"The main thing as we evaluate guys, we're telling high school guys when we're recruiting, we're basically evaluating them against every guy that we think we can get in the transfer portal. You're not being evaluated against, in this particular case, the '23 class [or] '24 class," Grinch said. "... We are basically looking at it through the lens of, do we think this individual can help us. For instance, the '23 class that we just signed, can they help us in the '23 season. Can they add to the roster that we have through development over the next eight months to field a quality football team on a national level? Is the answer yes? Then we want to invite them into the program. ... And beyond that, you're going to add guys that might have history somewhere else."

Combine that No. 11-ranked 2023 recruiting class that USC signed with the 12 transfer additions (there will be more after the spring) -- which was generally regarded as one of the top transfer hauls in the country -- and voila, an overall influx of talent that would surely rank well within the top 10 and perhaps closer to the top 5 nationally.

To that point, much of USC's 2023 potential hinges on those transfers -- same as it did last year. So with spring practice less than two weeks away, let's break down our ranking of the most impactful transfer additions for 2023.

We do so knowing full well this list is sure to spur disagreement and alternate opinions, which we'll discuss at length on our Trojan Talk board.

Noe: This is not a straight ranking of raw talent, as we factored in position need, path to a starting job/major role, etc. And we reshuffled the top of this list several times before settling on the final version. The point being, the Trojans brought in a lot of potentially very impactful additions so this was a difficult task!

In losing three starters along the offensive line, USC absolutely needed to find some immediate answers through the portal, which can be a challenge at that position as just about every team in the country would like more offensive line help. Well, not only did the Trojans land three notable offensive line transfers, they got about the best they could have hoped for in Kingston, who was exceptional for Washington State while starting at left tackle last season and left guard in 2021 (plus four starts in 2020).

In nine games last season before an injury, Kingston played 398 pass-blocking snaps without allowing a single sack. Per PFF, he allowed 15 total pressures. Over 516 pass protection snaps at guard in 2021, he allowed 2 sacks (19 total pressures). For perspective, USC's left tackles last season (a combination of Bobby Haskins, Courtland Ford and Mason Murphy) allowed 3 sacks and 38 pressures, per PFF.

Granted, the eye test doesn't always align with the PFF stats, so they don't tell the full story, but it's a useful reference point to factor into a broader evaluation. Overall, Kingston earned the third-best pass-blocking grade (80.9) among Pac-12 tackles, according to PFF. (USC's Jonah Monheim was tops in the conference in that category at 85.1.)

To find a two-year starting Power 5 offensive lineman with those kind of numbers in the transfer portal is rare.

The Trojans have some real depth and options to mix and match up front with Kingston, redshirt juniors Courtland Ford and Jonah Monheim and Florida transfer Michael Tarquin all options for the two tackle spots, so it's too early to make any firm assumptions, but we're projecting Kingston as USC's starting left tackle protecting the blindside for Heisman winner Caleb Williams, which puts him atop our rankings here.