For the second weekend in a row, USC has a mix of transfer and HS targets on campus as the Trojans' staff tries to close the deal on more key additions for the 2024 roster.
And the official USC football Twitter account has already teased one yet-to-be-revealed commitment from the weekend.
The headliner this weekend is Kansas State transfer quarterback Will Howard, who received a visit from head coach Lincoln Riley in Manhattan, Kansas, earlier this month and now takes a close-up look at the Trojans program.
Howard posted on Instagram on Friday from his visit to the Coliseum.
The aforementioned Howard took over as the Wildcats' starting quarterback midway through his freshman (2020) and junior (2022) seasons while serving in a backup role in 2021. He was the full-time starter this season for an 8-4 Wildcats team.
For his career, including 27 starts, he's passed for 5,786 yards, 48 touchdowns and 25 interceptions, but this season was by far his best as he passed for 2,643 yards, 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Most notably, he passed for 327 yards, 4 TDs and 1 INT in a loss to Texas and had 3 TD passes vs. Troy, Missouri, TCU and Baylor. He only had multiple picks in one game.
Riley addressed how he's approaching the 2024 QB situation a couple weeks ago, with Caleb Williams presumed off to the NFL (Riley confirmed Williams will not play in the Holiday Bowl, but the QB has not officially announced his NFL draft declaration), leaving rising redshirt junior Miller Moss, redshirt freshman Malachi Nelson and former JUCO transfer Jake Jensen as the scholarship QBs on the roster.
"Specifically as quarterbacks, we’re looking at it. My goal right now is always to have multiple guys in the room that you feel like are starter-level guys that you feel like can really compete," Riley said. "... Yeah, we’re going to look in the portal at some quarterbacks, we’ll see how that thing unfolds. I like the guys that we have in the room, but I also – you always have a responsibility to the team to continue to look at potential people that could come in and make our room better and make our team better."
Howard isn't the only notable visitor on campus this weekend, though. Here's a look at some other key targets checking out the Trojans right now.
Oregon State DB Akili Arnold and LB Easton Mascarenas-Arnold were initially thought to be visiting Texas A&M this weekend, but our intel is that they instead rerouted to USC.
Akili Arnold had 60 tackles, 2 interceptions and 6 pass breakups this season for the Beavers, while Easton Mascarenas-Arnold led Oregon State with 107 tackles along with 6.5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks and 2 interceptions.
Both would fill major needs for the Trojans, who continue to remain unstable at linebacker despite adding to the position each of the past two years through the transfer portal and who have almost no proven starters in the secondary at this point (assuming safety Calen Bullock leaves for the NFL). Akili Arnold played both free safety and nickel for the Beavers this season.
