USC Football: Trojans Miss Out On Top Transfer Portal DL

How much will this come back to bite them?

Your USC Trojans football program has missed out on adding a high-level defensive lineman via the NCAA's transfer portal.

Per Matt Zemek of Trojans Wire (USA Today), Lane Kiffin's Ole Miss Rebels landed one of the clubs USC had been most hoping to add to new defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn's defense, Texas A&M transfer Walter Nolen. Current Pac-12/future Big Ten arch nemesis Oregon also missed out, as Zemek notes, so it's not a total loss.

Nolen is a 6'5", 300-pound sophomore out of Tennessee, who had been considered the best remaining lineman in the transfer portal (via Hayes Fawcett of On3). Nolen was also the No. 1 recruit in his high school class at his position.

“This past month has been wild, but with the help of my family and closest friends I have come to the fact that my time in college station has come to an end. I want to thank the 12th man for taking a chance on a kid out of Memphis, TN," Nolen wrote in a statement released to Fawcett. "Thank you coach E for helping me grow in more ways than i ever thought."

"I want to thank all my brothers in the locker room, blood couldn’t make us closer. With that being said I would like to announce I will be attending the University of Ole Miss for my last 2 years of eligibility."

"I want to thank Oregon for taking a chance on me in the portal but I feel God has a different plan for me and my family.”

That said, it wasn't all bad news today on defense, as the club did add ex-Vanderbilt DL Nate Cliff.