During his National Signing Day press conference Wednesday, USC coach Lincoln Riley noted that he and his staff had been "aggressive" in trying to add a veteran running back to its young corps of talent at the position.

Soon thereafter, Mississippi State transfer RB Jo'Quavious "Woody" Marks formally announced his move to the Trojans in a tweet.

Marks rushed for 1,883 yards and 22 TDs, with 1,225 yards and 5 TDs receiving, over the last four years. This season, he had 573 yards rushing (4.7 YPC), 167 receiving and 6 total TDs.

The 5-foot-10, 210-pound back has one year of eligibility remaining and joins a unit that will feature redshirt freshmen backs Quinten Joyner and A'Marion Peterson and incoming four-star freshman Bryan Jackson.

Joyner and Peterson combined for just 18 carries as true freshmen this season, though both possess significant upside, and Joyner already flashed his while turning his 16 carries int 124 yards (7.8 YPC) and a touchdown.

USC is losing veteran running backs MarShawn Lloyd and Austin Jones to the next level while Darwin Barlow entered the transfer portal.

"Certainly, running back is an area that we knew, especially with MarShawn going to the draft and Darwin Barlow transferring out, which we knew those were both very real possibilities, we were under the assumption that we were going to certainly be in the market for a transfer running back and we've been aggressive there," Riley said. "And so I’m excited about Quinten and A'Marion and their chance to play in this [bowl] game. Really excited about Bryan Jackson -- we targeted him a long time ago. But three freshmen that have limited experience, you certainly need to add an older guy or two into the mix, and so that's certainly been a priority as well."

Marks' best games this season came in Weeks 1-2, when he rushed for 127 yards and 2 TDs vs. SE Louisiana (with 4 catches for 59 yards) and 123 yards and a TD (plus 32 receiving yards) vs. Arizona.

USC also hosted South Carolina RB transfer Mario Anderson for a visit last week, but he announced his commitment to Memphis several days ago.

Marks is the second Mississippi State transfer USC added Wednesday, following cornerback DeCarlos Nicholson. USC football general manager Dave Emerick was at Mississippi State with both players.

USC has added six transfers overall this month, with those two joining long-snapper Hank Pepper (Michigan State), defensive end Nate Clifton (Vanderbilt), linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold (Oregon State) and safety Akili Arnold (Oregon State).