Lincoln Riley has wanted to reduce USC's reliance on the transfer portal to plug roster holes, and he seemed pretty certain that the Trojans were going to be notably less active in the portal than in past springs.

In the end, it was pretty status quo compared to last year. After bringing in 15 total transfers last year, including five after the spring, the Trojans bring in 16 transfers this year, including four in this spring window -- safety Kennedy Urlacher (Notre Dame), linebacker Ta'Mere Robinson (Penn State), wide receiver Zacharyus Williams (Utah) cornerback Chasen Johnson (UCF).

I think the coaching staff was intent on adding a linebacker and then the rest was going to depend on opportunity -- not chasing a need, per se.

And notably all four additions are more than one-year band-aids on the depth chart (in contrast to Greedy Vance, Gavin Meyer, Kyle Ford and Charles Ross as four of the five spring additions a year ago). Instead, they're all intriguing upside talents with untapped potential and multiple years of eligibility left.

So even if the transfer numbers are much the same as last year, the approach does feel very different indeed.

Let's break down each of the four additions and then grade how the Trojans handled the spring transfer portal window overall ...

The rising sophomore played in 14 games with Notre Dame last fall and finished with 12 tackles (7 solo), a tackle for loss and fumble recovery.

Urlacher, who is the son of longtime Chicago Bears and NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher, mostly played on special teams during his freshman season but did log 65 defensive snaps as well, lining up a free safety, strong safety, nickel and he played 25 snaps in the box.

USC is top-heavy at safety with Kamari Ramsey, Bishop Fitzgerald and Christian Pierce all expected to figure in prominently this coming season, but the rest of the unit is young and unproven (with redshirt freshman Jarvis Boatwright departing to the transfer portal this spring). It made sense to add at this spot, and getting a former four-star prospect with some notable experience and three years of eligibility remaining felt like the perfect fit.