Report: USC football to host offensive lineman transfer for official visit
The second transfer portal window opened on Saturday and the USC football staff is already hot on the recruiting trail.
According to a report from On3.com's Scott Schrader, Houston offensive lineman transfer Cam'Ron Johnson is set to take an official visit to USC. With offensive tackle Courtland Ford entering the transfer portal last week, the Trojans have a clear need on the line.
Due to a lack of offensive line depth, USC didn't field two traditional teams for its spring game on Saturday. Instead Lincoln Riley chose to have the offense play the defense.
As a red shirt sophomore at Houston, Johnson earned first-team All-American Athletic Conference honors playing exclusively as a left guard. Johnson started all 13 games for Houston last season allowing just one sack. In his red shirt freshman season, Johnson played in all 13 of Houston's games at left guard.
Johnson enrolled in college in 2019, so this upcoming season will be his fifth year of college football. The one concern with Johnson and USC is that the Trojans most likely won't be able to offer the guard a guaranteed starting role.
Right now, USC's projected starting offensive line unit for the fall is Florida transfer Michael Tarquin at left tackle, Florida transfer Ethan White at left guard, Justin Dedich at center, Washington State transfer Jarrett Kingston at right guard and Jonah Monheim at right tackle.
The USC staff has a track record of moving transfer linemen away from their primary positions at their old school, so Johnson may project to play at a different spot for the Trojans.
USC is probably best stocked at left guard right now. This spring with White not being on campus yet, Gino Quinones took first team reps at the position. He showed last year that he's capable of contributing during the season. Kingston and Dedich can also play left guard.
Mason Murphy, Andres Dewerk, Cooper Lovelace and Andrew Milek will provide further upperclassmen offensive line depth for USC next season. The Trojans will also have five true freshmen offensive linemen on its roster in Elijah Paige, Tobias Raymond, Amos Talalele, Micah Banuelos and Alani Noa.
