USC’s countdown to kickoff keeps rolling, and the No. 54 belongs to a linebacker who gave the Trojans stability through one of the program’s most turbulent stretches: Chris Galippo.
USC is set to open its 2026 football season on August 29, when the Trojans host San Jose State at the Coliseum. In the lead-up to kickoff, the Trojans are spotlighting a notable player for each jersey number, and Galippo fits the bill for 54.
Galippo was at USC from 2007 through 2011. His first season got off to a promising start, but it was cut short after he appeared in three games as a true freshman in 2007 before a back injury and season-ending surgery forced him to redshirt. He returned four games into the 2008 season and went on to become a key part of the linebacker group over the next four years.
By 2009, Galippo had earned national attention as a redshirt sophomore, when he was a semifinalist for the Butkus Award and received All-Pac-10 honorable mention.
What stands out most about his USC run, though, is the decision he made when the program was changing around him. Early in his time in Cardinal and Gold, Galippo looked like the next big Trojans linebacker under Pete Carroll.
Then Carroll left for the NFL in 2010, and the NCAA handed USC severe sanctions. Upperclassmen were allowed to transfer without penalty, long before the transfer portal made that kind of movement routine.
Galippo stayed.
He never piled up the eye-popping numbers that some of the linebackers before him did, but his consistency and veteran presence mattered. In 2011, he helped steady USC through to a 10-2 season and a top-10 finish in the AP Poll.
After his college career, Galippo signed with the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent after the 2012 NFL Draft, but he was waived before training camp began. Later, he worked as a television announcer for high school football games in Southern California.
According to his LinkedIn page, Galippo now works as an associate planner for the City of Riverside, California.
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