Lincoln Riley Gives Alarming Locker Room Update as USC Forced Into Tough Transfer Portal Announcement

Lincoln Riley is facing a situation in the Trojans locker room. The program will be wrapping up spring ball in the coming days and has just completed its 10 practice. However, a few names from the roster were missing. The list includes players who are new and expected to see more action in 2025, along with one senior who’d look to continue putting in his worth for his last. There’s something in the air that seems to have knocked these players down.

Now Lincoln Riley’s already facing a make-or-break season. In his three years here, his career trajectory has taken a hit. That 7-6 score has the potential to be changed to better numbers. At spring camp, as he readies his team to improve that number, he will be lacking a few players on the offensive side because of health issues. Makai Lemon, who is expected to join Ja’Kobi Lane as WR, has been unavailable due to an injury. Then there’s center Killian O’Connor, who has constantly been prone to injuries in his career. Three more names join the list.

At a press conference after USC’s 10 spring practice, Lincoln Riley broke the news. WR Xavier Jordan is down with illness, and so is cornerback Braylon Conlee. “We’ve got something running through the locker room,” Riley said. Also, TE Lake McRee has been completely sidelined for the rest of spring practice.

“We’re going to shut Lake down for the rest of spring, got a lot of good work on him,” Riley informed. “We’re going to kind of shut him down, let the body calm down. He had just a couple little small things he was dealing with throughout and kind of pushed through.” McRee had suffered a brutal injury to the knee in the Big 10 opener game.

Jordan is yet to see game action, being benched the whole of last season. Conlee, on the other hand, made one appearance and recorded 1 tackle. Both will be competing for playing time in the 2025 season. McRee, however, is the best TE USC has. He is the oldest player on the Trojans’ O-line and will be playing his last year by forgoing the draft this year. He’s been a constant presence in the offense for the last four seasons. That’s why losing him for the rest of spring practice can pose a little trouble for Riley.

But that’s not all the news the HC had for us. With the opening of the spring portal, Riley has already lost a player. He’s already lost 21 players to the first one. This loss comes from a key room that needed to fill in the shoes of Woody Marks. Is there more to follow?

Lincoln Riley loses redshirt DB to portal

Riley announced that RB Lorenzo Cowan will be leaving the Trojans. He did not see any action in 2024 and, like Jordan and Conlee, was also going to compete for playing time. Cowan is a three-star recruit and was ranked the No. 57 Edge by On3. In high school, he produced 76 tackles, 8 PBUs, and 1 forced fumble in his senior year. However, Cowan seems to be moving on, probably because he thought of making better use of his available years of eligibility.

This decision might be impacting Cowan more than Riley. The former is part of an intensely crowded RB class in the transfer portal. His stats and rankings make it difficult for Cowan to stand out in that crowd. But he did have offers from top programs while he was being recruited. Riley himself had worked hard to flip Cowan from Kentucky. Also, the HC was appreciative of the RB in the spring practice. “Zo Cowan has had a really nice spring camp up to this point. One of the guys, along with Tobias, that we actually pointed out to the team, in the team meeting yesterday, as two guys that you kind of feel have really taken a jump right now. Real proud of their development,” Riley said last week.

However, the rest of the RB room looks good to go for Lincoln Riley. He is really excited about this room, which has the potential to become one of his strengths on the roster. After losing Quinton Joyner—his hopeful replacement for Marks— to the portal, Riley also did not sit back. He brought Eli Sanders and Waymond Jordan to USC. Together with sophomore Bryan Jackson, it looks like the trio can produce some serious games on the field this season. However, the allure of the portal and alternative opportunities continues to beckon. Is Riley slated to lose more players? Is it something more than just the air in USC? We’ll have to wait and find out.