USC found plenty of standout performances in its win over Fresno State, and a few young players kept pushing their way into the spotlight.
Freshman receiver Trent Mosley was right back at it. After exploding in his college debut against San Jose State with seven catches for 118 yards and a touchdown, he followed up Friday night with four receptions for 104 yards and two more scores in the first half alone. One of those touchdowns covered 68 yards, giving the Trojans the kind of big-play punch they were missing in the opener.
Mosley’s fast start is turning heads inside the program, but it’s not exactly shocking the people around him. He drew praise all spring and kept earning it in fall camp, and the Santa Margarita (Calif.) product is already making a strong early case for Big Ten Freshman of the Year with three touchdowns in two games.
“It was very impressive, but it was not unexpected. He does Trent stuff.
He gives me glimpses of Makai Lemon every day,” said sophomore receiver Corey Simms.
The freshman impact didn’t stop there. Kayden Dixon-Wyatt, another Trinity League product, grabbed a team-high six passes for 102 yards, giving quarterback Jayden Maiava yet another reliable target. Maiava spread the ball around with ease, finishing 23-of-25 for 349 yards and three touchdowns.
On defense, nickel Kennedy Urlacher flipped the script after a rough outing last week. He made his mark with a perfectly timed edge blitz that produced a forced fumble on Fresno State quarterback Jayden Mandal. Later in the second quarter, he came flying downhill again on the same kind of pressure and forced a safety.
Alex Graham delivered a similar kind of disruption at nickel. USC defensive coordinator Gary Patterson kept dialing up pressure, and Graham responded with a safety of his own in the third quarter while also helping against the run near the line of scrimmage. Isaiah Rubin added a sack from the nickel spot as well.
The nickel role is a major one in Patterson’s defense, and USC got production from all three players who handled it Friday night.
Defensive tackle Jide Abasiri also kept making life difficult for Fresno State. He followed up his strong showing against San Jose State with another active night in the backfield, and while the stat sheet won’t capture everything he did, his pressure mattered on both of the safeties forced by Urlacher and Graham.
In Other News...
USC's Rout Put New Draft Attention On More Than One Trojan
USCs blowout of Fresno State at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum drew more than attention from the scoreboard. NFL scouts from five franchises were in the building, turning a September game into another reminder that the Trojans are still a weekly stop on the pro personnel circuit. With former USC names already scattered across the league, the presence of those evaluators added a little extra weight to a rout that otherwise could have been just another easy win.
The most visible reasons were on the field. Quarterback Jayden Maiava continued to give scouts a look at how he handles an offense under little pressure, while defensive players Jide Abasiri and Kennedy Urlacher also stood out in the kind of game where evaluators are often looking for who keeps competing after the outcome is settled. For USC, the broader takeaway is familiar: when the Trojans play well, the NFL tends to show up, and not just for the obvious headliners. [Read more 🡒]
USC Freshman Is Giving Lincoln Riley A New Receiver Problem
USCs 2-0 start has already included a welcome bonus for Lincoln Riley: a freshman receiver who looks ready for more than a depth-chart cameo. Trent Mosley has been one of the early bright spots for the Trojans, making his presence felt right away with key catches, yardage, and touchdowns that have helped him stand out in the opening weeks of the season.
For Riley, that kind of emergence creates the sort of good problem coaches like to have and opponents hate to solve. Mosleys production has quickly raised expectations for what he can mean in the offense moving forward, and it also adds another layer to a USC passing game that already had enough weapons to keep defenses busy. [Read more 🡒]
Lincoln Riley Sees Real USC Progress Fans Will Still Debate
A shutout in the Coliseum tends to quiet a lot of noise, and USCs 39-0 win over Fresno State on Sept. 4 gave Lincoln Riley plenty to point to after a game that looked cleaner in nearly every phase. The Trojans were sharper with their preparation, more consistent in execution and much more comfortable than they were a week earlier, which mattered as much as the scoreboard for a coach still trying to establish a standard early in the season.
Lincoln Riley liked what he saw from the offense and the back end of the defense, and he made it clear the improvement was not just about piling up a lopsided result. Even with the decisive victory, USC still has details to sort out, and the question for fans is whether this was the first real step forward or simply the kind of early-season performance that needs to be repeated before anyone fully buys in. [Read more 🡒]