The Trojans kick off the final week of spring practice Tuesday, and while there are three sessions still to go we've learned plenty already over the last month.

Some has come from the limited media viewing periods at the start of practices, while the rest is parsing the comments of coach Lincoln Riley and players to discern what's real and what's standard spring praise.

With that said, here are the five players who in our eyes have boosted their stock the most this spring in terms of our own expectations of how we evaluated them a month ago vs. how we see them now.

Junior Christian Pierce has always generated that behind-the-scenes buzz as a player who could be on the cusp of making an impact, going back to when he made an interception in his first spring game back in 2023.

That buzz has never translated to much of a role on the defense to this point, as he's totaled 117 defensive snaps over the last two years (while playing a bigger role on special teams). Nearly a third of those snaps came in one game last season, and Pierce has a total of 9 tackles in his two years in the program.

But he's a legitimate breakout candidate now as a junior. Why do we believe that?

The praise from coach Lincoln Riley has gotten a little more emphatic, and Riley has talked about potentially finding a way to get star safety Kamari Ramsey, NC State transfer Bishop Fitzgerald and Pierce on the field together. We saw glimpses of that this spring with Ramsey working at nickel and Pierce and Fitzgerald at the safety spots.

"Pierce has been really good. He's been really good, which we weren't shocked -- he played more special teams reps last year than any player on the team. You could tell was starting to settle in defensively there at the end, so we expected it and I think that's happening right now," Riley said.

Riley added that Piere is an emerging leader on the defense and has "got some alpha-like qualities."

"He was our most impactful player on special teams last year and really has had a great offseason. I think he's primed to take a major role in the secondary," Riley said.

When USC brought in Fitzgerald as a redshirt senior after such a productive season at NC State last year, we figured he and Ramsey would command the majority of the safety snaps like Ramsey and Akili Arnold did last year, each rarely coming off the field when healthy.

I now think Pierce gets at least a rotational role and some steady work there regardless, with the potential for much more if the Trojans do decide Ramsey is a solution at nickel or, of course, if injury strikes at any point.