USC pounces on Oregon State’s instability, lands All-Pac-12 transfer linebacker

The USC Trojans hadn’t made many pickups in the transfer portal heading into Saturday. Now, they might be gaining real momentum in changing and upgrading their 2024 roster.

USC landed a commitment from Oregon State transfer linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold on Saturday. With Oregon State being demoted to a program with a Mountain West schedule and reduced television exposure, coach Jonathan Smith did the quick math and realized he needed a new job at Michigan State in the Big Ten. Smith will make more money and have a chance to compete for the College Football Playoff at Michigan State. His chances of doing that in Corvallis were slim to none with the death of the Pac-12 and Oregon State’s loss of leverage in national college football.

Oregon State is uniquely vulnerable to transfer portal losses, given that players who entered the program with legitimate dreams of a Pac-12 championship and a Rose Bowl appearance no longer have that same opportunity. Sure enough, some prominent Beaver players are hitting the portal.

USC just picked up one. Easton Mascarenas-Arnold gives the Trojans a quality linebacker. The star performer gets to work under new linebacker coach Matt Entz. USC’s upgrade on its defensive staff should enable its defensive talent to thrive a whole lot more than what we saw (and didn’t see) in 2023 under Alex Grinch and the previous defensive coaching staff.

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Story originally appeared on Trojans Wire


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/usc-pounces-oregon-state-instability-151432376.html

Author : Trojans Wire

Publish date : 2023-12-17 15:14:32

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