With buzz and assumptions mounting, USC coach Lincoln Riley officially confirmed Thursday that Florida offensive line transfer Ethan White will not be joining the Trojans this summer as planned.
White, a starter at offensive guard for Florida last season, entered the transfer portal and committed to USC in late January. Riley said an injury concern is why the situation has since changed.
"Ethan, I think unfortunately there's an injury there that to the best of my knowledge right now I think the plan is kind of reevaluating if he's going to play football further. That's kind of the chief reason that were in this," Riley said. "I don't want to take any announcement or take away his ability to communicate it on his own terms, but there's an injury situation that looks like it's going to prevent him from playing further and I'll let him take it from there.
"Obviously, we were excited to get him. It's football -- certainly these things come up and we get it. There's football and there's also long-term health, and we understand guys have got to make those decisions and the best decisions for themselves. So, disappointed for that, but again, that's unfortunately part of this game."
It had looked entering the spring like the Trojans were going to be in a comfortable spot with depth and experience along the offensive line despite losing three starters from last season.
But missing out on White now spotlights the Trojans' thin depth at guard, and offensive tackle Courtland Ford -- who made 12 starts and played in 20 games the last three seasons -- entered the transfer portal last week.
Riley confirmed he'd like to add one or two offensive linemen through this post-spring transfer period as a result.
USC is hosting Houston OL transfer Cam'Ron Johnson -- a full-time starter at left guard the last two seasons for the Cougars -- this week, as he has said he's focused on the Trojans and Missouri as his top options. And on Wednesday, the Trojans offered Wyoming OG transfer Emmanuel Pregnon, a starter at right guard last fall who has racked up a lot of interest from bigger programs this month.
"With Courtland on his way out, certainly got two guys that you expected to be here that now aren't going to be here -- of course, that's the nature of the beast now. So, yeah, we're certainly going to look at bringing a guy or two in here, there's no question," Riley said. "It's an important position, obviously. We're bringing in some freshmen that we're really excited about, but also those guys are true freshmen. When you lose essentially two older guys that you're expecting to have on the roster and all of a sudden they're not going to be there, it's certainly something that has to be addressed and we're going to try to get it addressed here in the next several weeks."
White had started at left guard the last two seasons for Florida and committed to the Trojans after his former Gators' teammate Michael Tarquin had made the same decision. USC also landed Washington State starting OL Jarrett Kingston as another transfer.
With Tarquin manning left tackle most of the spring (after starting at right tackle for the Gators), sixth-year senior Justin Dedich taking over at center, Kingston sliding in at right guard and returning starter Jonah Monheim playing mostly right tackle this spring, that left guard spot was the only real question.
Gino Quinones, who made two starts at guard last season (one at left, one at right), looked to get most of the first team reps there this spring while redshirt junior Andrew Milek and former JUCO transfer Cooper Lovelace the second-team guards.
Riley complimented Lovelace's play in the spring game and had earlier lauded Quinones and Milek's growth this spring.
"Two other guys I would mention that really to me have stood out would be Gino Quinones -- he's had a fantastic spring, he's really taken advantage of some of these guys being out and an opportunity to really grow and another guy who started for us in the bowl game and did some nice things and I think has been building on it," Riley said last week. "And then I've been real pleased with Andrew Milek. Another guy that I think has really got a shot to help this football team. He was our backup center last year, but he's played a little bit more guard right now this spring, which has been a good move for him -- very, very physical player."
In fact, it was Riley's Trojans Live radio appearance last week that provided the first hint that White may not be part of the plans anymore, as he talked about looking forward to adding the Trojans' four incoming freshmen OL to the mix this summer without mentioning White.
Tarquin was then asked about his former Gators teammate a few days later and gave very short responses that further fueled questions about White's status.
As for Ford, he didn't figure to be in line for a first-team role after starting at left tackle in 2021 and splitting LT reps with the now-graduated Bobby Haskins for the first half of last season. It would have been a competition between Ford and redshirt sophomore Mason Murphy as to who was next in line at either of the tackle spots, with Kingston (a starter at LT for Washington State last year) another option to slide over and true freshman Elijah Paige showing potential as he transitions to the college level.
Despite the losses, Riley expressed confidence about the OL depth during that Trojans Live appearance last week.
"I think the depth is going to be great and you're going to add four talented freshmen to the mix obviously here in June," Riley said.
