LOS ANGELES — On Early Signing Day in late December, when USC football coach Lincoln Riley strode to a podium inside Heritage Hall with bright eyes and a smile on his face, some of his first praises sung were of this recruiting class’ offensive line.
Building recruiting depth on the offensive front was a “focus point,” Riley said then, voice humming with pride on USC’s 2024 class. And it was a target in Riley’s rebuild of USC’s program as a whole, ever since he’d arrived in 2021, staring at a complete dearth of young talent among USC’s O-line reserves.
Just four months after that press conference, the main focus of that focus point is gone. On Thursday afternoon, On3 reported that freshman center Jason Zandamela was entering the transfer portal, news confirmed by Riley after USC’s spring practice later in the day. Suddenly, one of USC’s top-ranked commits in the class of 2024 – regardless of position – is exiting before spring football had even run its course, an inarguable blow to the depth and strength of the young group Riley so profusely praised in late December.
On Thursday, though, Riley shrugged off Zandamela’s importance to USC’s immediate future, emphasizing his confidence in returning lineman Jonah Monheim and Kilian O’Connor at center in 2024.
“Jason wasn’t a factor to play this year for us,” Riley said. “A good young player, but it’s, a long ways away from being ready to help us. So, yeah, we’ll certainly be looking into the portal, that hopefully – and we will – replace that spot, and off we go.”
Off we go. A hint of bravado crept into his words, a bravado that had swelled just a minute earlier, discussing player retention in the transfer portal era.
“I mean, it’s USC,” Riley said. “Like, you’re not going to beg people to be here. It’s just, I mean, for every guy that leaves, there’s going to be a line of 100 people that would die to take that spot in a heartbeat.”
Zandamela’s…
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