USC's offensive line outlook for 2025 got a little more complicated when former two-year starting left guard Emmanuel Pregnon, arguably the Trojans' top offensive lineman last season, reversed course on plans to return to the program and instead transferred to Oregon in January.
That left three starting spots to fill along with center (as Jonah Monheim heads off to the NFL) and right tackle (with Mason Murphy also transferring out, to Auburn).
And speaking Monday on Trojans Live a day before the start of spring practice, coach Lincoln Riley made it clear that how exactly USC fills those spots remains very unsettled.
Of course, Riley meant that in a positive context -- that the Trojans have versatile options -- but one could fairly take a more skeptical view and wonder if the unit will be as solid as it became down the stretch of last season.
"You could look at it right now and you could probably come up with 20 different potential lineups on how this would play, and so I think for coach [Zach] Hanson and all of us that will be a big part of spring is starting to figure out, all right, where are we going to start these guys?" Riley said. "You know, [Elijah] Paige at left tackle obviously makes a lot of sense, Alani Noa I thought at the end of the year was probably our best offensive lineman last year, I think he really played well, and so obviously you pencil him in at guard. After that, we've got a lot of versatile pieces.
'[Purdue transfer DJ] Wingfield can play multiple spots, Justin Tauanuu can play multiple spots, it will be interesting to see how it plays out after that -- Tobias Raymond can play multiple spots. Kilian [O'Connor], we were super impressed with how he came and played in the bowl win over A&M. J'Onre Reed, who we brought in [from Syracuse], we feel like can play multiple spots. So it will definitely be interesting, and there's some pretty intriguing young guys -- a couple of the young offensive linemen that came in here mid-term have been some of the more impressive guys so far in workouts. So, excited to see them, excited to see guys like Micah Banuelos, who is now going to get his first real crack at it and is healthy and it's like, this is a great opportunity that you've got to be ready to take advantage of.
"So there's a lot, there's a lot to work with, very difficult to predict how it's going to play out. We are absolutely going to move these guys around this spring, kind of see how they fit. Makai Saina, another guy I would put in that group, where does he end up? He's really athletic. So, yeah, excited for the competition and depth that we have, but very difficult to predict how it's all going to shake out."
With that, let's delve deeper into the unit with our thoughts on the USC offensive line as spring practice opens Tuesday ...
1. What we know ...
While there are always underrated gems and players who develop beyond the projection of the recruiting rankings, star ratings really do seem to matter quite a bit when it comes to offensive line talent.
The best offensive linemen USC has developed and produced the last handful of years were not surprisingly some of the highest-ranked recruits the program has landed in that time -- OT Austin Jackson (No. 77 overall national prospect in the 2017 class), OG Andrew Vorhees (No. 237 in 2017), OG/C Jonah Monheim (a four-star in the 2020 class just outside the Rivals250) and now incumbent left tackle Elijah Paige (No. 172 in the 2023 class).
Paige started a bit rough last season but he learned from those mistakes and only got better and better as the fall progressed.
After giving up 19 quarterback pressures and 2 sacks over the first six games, per PFF, Paige allowed 9 pressures and 0 sacks over the final seven games.
For as unsettled as USC's offensive line may be, the Trojans are set at left tackle and that's a strong place to start.
As Riley noted, Alani Noa was also solid last season, allowing 15 pressures and 1 sack in his first year as a starter at right guard. With Pregnon gone, it may make sense to shift him to the left side, and based on Riley's comments we'd expect the Trojans to at least take a look at that this spring.
Again, as Riley pretty well spelled out in his comments, the extent of what we know is that Paige will be at left tackle come the fall and Noa will be at one of the guard spots.
The rest ...
