Josh Henson deserves major credit for quickly rebuilding USC's OL depth
USC offensive line coach Josh Henson has proven himself as a strong closer whether it be in attracting high-profile transfers or reeling in high school prospects.
Henson delivered yet again this weekend as the Trojans landed a commitment from four-star Rivals250 center Jason Zandamela, who announced the news Tuesday a few days after telling the coaching staff during his official visit.
Zandamela, who is ranked the No. 2 center and No. 248 overall national prospect, is the Trojans' third OL commit so far in this 2024 class, joining three-stars Hayden Treter (Englewood, Colorado) and Manasse Itete (Modesto, California).
Listed at 6-foot-3, 286 pounds, he held more than 30 offers and had narrowed his recruitment to a top 5 of USC, Oklahoma, Florida State, Georgia and Miami and was supposed to take an official visit to Tallahassee, Florida, next week. The Seminoles made a strong late push to sway him, but his decision was made.
And it's the latest proof that Lincoln Riley and the Trojans hit big on the hiring of Henson.
"I just love the bond Coach Henson has with the O-line room. I love how Coach Crab (Zach Crabtree) also has a great bond with the O-line room,” Zandamela told Rivals previously of what pushed USC to the top of his list.
That's been a common refrain from OL commits over the last year and a half.
RELATED: Rivals250 C Jason Zandamela talks USC commitment decision
Which goes back to the point — whatever Henson is pitching to recruits is landing in a big way.
He signed five high school OL prospects in the 2023 class (plus a late JUCO addition at the end of the 2022 cycle) and has the three commits so far for 2024.
Zandamela, who is originally from Mozambique and now lives in Clearwater, Florida, is the second-highest-ranked prospect out of those nine, behind 2023 four-star tackle Elijah Paige.
Add in the transfers Henson has brought into his unit — since graduated starting left tackle Bobby Haskins last year, and three projected starters this year in Florida OT transfer Michael Tarquin, Washington State OG Jarrett Kingston and Wyoming OG Emmanuel Pregnon — and that’s 13 additions in a little more than a year and a half.
There was a reason Riley gave Henson the offensive coordinator title to help lure him away from Texas A&M, where he had also loaded up on big OL classes year after year.
What was once an area of great concern in terms of depth now looks well set up for the future.
Projecting OL prospects can be unpredictable, and the only way to ensure a program has what it needs there is to give itself a lot of chances to hit and succeed on the development side.
A couple years ago, the Trojans were forced to start two redshirt freshmen at the tackle spots with minimal depth behind them, and what this new staff was handed upon arrival was a problem years in the making.
Let's start there ...
USC brought in only two offensive line prospects in the 2019 recruiting class in four-star Jason Rodriguez, who never became a Saturday contributor in his four years in the program (before transferring to Nevada after this spring) and three-star Gino Quinones, who saw his first action last year while making a couple starts at guard. The 2020 recruiting class included six offensive linemen (five three-stars and four-star Jonah Monheim), but half of that group has since left the program and only Monheim has proven to be a full-time starter (at right tackle), while Andrew Milek has emerged as a second-team guard who is part of USC’s top 8 linemen for 2023. (Courtland Ford started for a season and a half at left tackle before falling down the depth chart and transferring out this spring).
The Trojans signed three OL in the 2021 class and two have already left the program, with projected second-team tackle Mason Murphy the only hit from that group.
And JUCO guard Cooper Lovelace was the only OL addition in the 2022 transition class — along with the transfer Haskins, who has since graduated — that Riley and staff had to scramble together late upon arriving at USC while inheriting no OL commits from the previous staff.
So that’s four recruiting cycles that have produced one enduring starter (Monheim), three more who project as top reserves this year (Murphy, Quinones and Milek), the still developing Lovelace and fourth-year tackle Andres Dewerk.
The Trojans were only able to do what they did last year thanks to a pair of sixth-year seniors from way back in the 2017 recruiting class in Andrew Vorhees and Brett Neilon, a fifth-year senior from the 2018 cycle in Justin Dedich, the transfer Haskins and Monheim, the one gem from the last four recruiting hauls. With Vorhees and Neilon gone, USC had to patchwork the line for 2023 with the aforementioned transfers Tarquin, Kingston and Pregnon.
Two conclusions can be drawn from that reality — USC wasn’t landing the caliber of HS OL prospects needed but also that there is a significant miss rate in general when projecting talent in the trenches.
That’s why it’s essential to have plenty of options there, first and foremost, so a program isn’t annually dependent on relief from the transfer portal like USC has been in recent years.
In just one and a half recruiting cycles, Henson has delivered those needed numbers — along with compelling empirical evidence from last season that he gets the most out of his group.
Now his chief task is developing that fresh foundation for the future.
In Murphy, the four-star Rivals250 freshman Paige, three-star freshman Tobias Raymond and 2024 three-star commits Treter and Itete, the Trojans have a couple tackles who should be ready to step into bigger roles in the near future and several intriguing talents to develop for down the road. In Milek, Lovelace and three-star freshmen Alani Noa and Amos Talalele there is more promising depth at guard than the program has seen in a while. And in three-star freshman Micah Banuelos and the newest commit Zandamela, there is young talent again at center.
And USC might not be done adding talent up front just yet.
Four-star offensive tackle Makai Saina, out of Texas, also took an official visit with the Trojans this weekend, and USC remains a top contender for three-star Isaiah Garcia, out of Utah, who visited earlier this month.
However those chips fall, it’s already been a dramatic makeover of the offensive line depth chart in short order for Henson and Riley.
And an essential one, with the reality that USC could potentially be looking to replace four starters (Dedich and Kingston for sure, plus maybe Monheim and Tarquin) after this coming season.
Considering that there's also no reason for the Trojans to stop mining proven OL starters from the transfer portal -- they just ideally won't be as desperately reliant on it in future years -- and the once worrisome offensive line should now be among the many reasons to be confident in the direction of the program moving forward.