Speaking at Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis on Wednesday, USC coach Lincoln Riley was asked how he felt about the offensive line depth after not landing an offensive tackle through the transfer portal as hoped.
"Yeah, stay tuned. Stay tuned. It's not over yet," Riley said.
Indeed, later that day JUCO offensive lineman Erwin Taomi, who spent one year at Hancock College in Santa Maria, California. Listed at 6-foot-5, 355 pounds, Taomi attended St. Joseph High School.
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USC's starting offensive line is mostly set, save for one position battle that will ensue at right guard between veteran Gino Quinones and second-year lineman Alani Noa. With redshirt freshman Elijah Paige at left tackle, returning starter Emmanuel Pregnon at left guard, redshirt senior Jonah Monheim sliding from tackle to center and redshirt junior Mason Murphy at right tackle, the rest of the starting five is set.
The concern for the Trojans is the abject lack of experienced depth, with no other linemen with any notable college experience.
How Taomi ultimately helps with that will be learned in time -- the last JUCO OL the Trojans took was Cooper Lovelace, who spent two seasons in the program without any significant playing time before transferring out this offseason -- but USC needed to add depth somehow, someway.
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