First, he seemed out the door to the NFL. Then, he locked into returning for his final season. And now ...

USC's best offensive lineman, left guard Emmanuel Pregnon, is headed to the transfer portal, looking to play out his final season of eligibility elsewhere.

Pregnon had initially accepted an invitation to play in the East-West Shrine Game, which is a showcase for players who are entering the NFL draft to get evaluated by scouts and general managers.

Then, USC offensive line coach Zach Hanson (promoted from tight ends coach last month) revealed during bowl preparations that Pregnon was actually returning for his final season in 2025.

"Yeah, the plan is for him to come back and come get better this year, which will be awesome. Excited to have him back," Hanson said then. "Made tremendous strides this last year, looking for him to do the same this upcoming year and get that NFL draft grade up and hopefully get drafted high in the draft next year."

It was presumed then that USC made a significant financial investment in Pregnon and safety Kamari Ramsey -- who also put off the NFL to announce his return for next season -- to get the two cornerstones to stay for another year.

The timing of Pregnon's announcement, coming after he played in USC's Las Vegas Bowl win over Texas A&M last week, would seem to suggest another school is willing to pay him a lot more to play out his eligibility there.

Such is college football in 2025 ...

Whatever the impetus for his departure, losing Pregnon is a massive blow for the Trojans.

He led all USC offensive players with 882 snaps played this season and tied with center Jonah Monheim for the fewest pressures allowed on the team (14) while allowing no sacks and committing just one penalty. He had the highest PFF pass-blocking grade (73.3) and overall season grade (71.8) of any USC lineman.

Pregnon spent two seasons at USC after transferring in from Wyoming.

The Trojans now have to replace three starting offensive linemen in Pregnon, Monheim (out of eligibility, off to NFL) and right tackle Mason Murphy (portal) while returning only rising redshirt sophomores Elijah Paige at left tackle and Alani Noa at right guard.

Walk-on center Kilian O'Connor, redshirt freshman right tackle Tobias Raymond and true freshman left tackle Justin Tauanuu got their first true extensive action in the bowl game last week. Otherwise, USC has no experience returning beyond on the offensive line beyond the two starters.

Look for the Trojans to be aggressive in trying to address those needs in the transfer portal, though it sure seems the price for top talent at the position is ... costly.

Overall, USC has had 20 scholarship players enter the transfer portal over the last month.