Lincoln Riley comments on freshman OL Jason Zandamela's transfer decision
USC still has another week of spring practice after this, but transfer portal season waits for nothing.
On Thursday, four-star freshman offensive lineman Jason Zandamela -- one of USC's highest-rated recruits rom the 2024 class -- intends to enter the transfer portal when it opens April 16.
Zandamela was the highest-ranked of USC's five offensive line signees and had enrolled early to go through spring practice. He was not spotted at practice Thursday afternoon after the report of his transfer intentions.
Zandamela was the No. 1-ranked center in the 2024 recruiting class and projected to be USC's long-term answer at the position starting possibly in 2025, but he would have been behind redshirt senior Jonah Monheim, who moved from tackle to center, this season.
Head coach Lincoln Riley addressed Zandamela's decision after practice.
"I don’t want to speak for him, but he’s got a very unique background and that played a large part in this," Riley said.
Zandamela is from Mozambique, Africa, and moved to the United States in 2020. He was living in Clearwater, Florida, and had strongly considered Florida State along with USC and other schools.
Riley said Zandamela wasn't likely to contribute as a true freshman and that he is confident in the Trojans' depth at center with Monheim and backup Kilian O'Connor, while noting USC would look to replace Zandamela's spot in the transfer portal.
"I feel good -- Jonah and Kilian were way, way ahead. Jason wasn't a factor to play this year for us. A good young player but a long ways away from being ready to help us," Riley said. "So yeah, we'll certainly be looking into the portal and we will replace that spot, and off we go."
Riley was further asked about the challenge of having to try to convince players to stay in the transfer portal era, and he countered that it's not his place to necessarily try to change the mind of a player who doesn't feel USC is the right fit for them.
"Every kid is different in this age. Every set of parents is different -- you understand that. It's just part of what we deal with now," he said. "So I don't get too overly emotional one way or another when we have a guy that's thinking about moving on. This is not going to be the right fit for every single player -- we get that. This is a special place, it's a hard place -- you can't make somebody fit here, and that's OK. That's not a problem. It's just for us on our continuous journey to find the best team and find the right fit and that's what we're going to keep doing."
Asked if he spends more time now than in past years on player retention, he expounded further on the thought.
“I wouldn’t say as much convincing. I think, you’re having conversations sometimes a little bit earlier, like we’re – past year, maybe these would have happened more completely after the spring. With the transfer portal, you find yourself having some more big-picture conversations with these guys to discuss what you see in them as a coach, what you see potentially their role being both now and in the future, and at the end of the day, I mean, it’s USC. Like, you’re not going to beg people to be here," Riley said. "It’s just, I mean, for every guy that leaves, there’s going to be a line of 100 people that would die to take that spot in a heartbeat. So, we certainly want to do a good job retaining, and part of that is evaluation, (something) twice, but we understand it’s not going to be 100% all the time. We wish those guys the best, and on to the next.”