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USC Trojans Building Momentum As a Playoff Contender: Focused on 'Present Moment'

Despite two impressive wins to start the season, the USC Trojans aren't looking ahead, instead focused on resolving some of the issues they have faced early in the year.

Randall Sweet

Sep 7, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; USC Trojans tight end Lake McRee (87) runs the ball
Sep 7, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; USC Trojans tight end Lake McRee (87) runs the ball / Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images
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After a career year in 2023, USC Trojans' tight end Lake McRee is off to an even better start this season.

The redshirt junior notched five catches for 56 yards in Southern California's Week 1 victory over the LSU Tigers and tallied four more receptions for a career-high 81 yards in USC's 48-0 win over Utah State on Sept. 7.

While most observers likely didn't expect McRee to emerge as one of the Trojans' top receiving options, his quarterback said that he hasn't been surprised by the veteran's success this season.

“Lake and I are obviously really close off the field, spending some time together. Spent countless hours throwing together," quarterback Miller Moss said after the win. "So I think that you kind of see that when we play, you got to have a lot of trust and faith in him. And I think he's delivered in the way that I expected (him) to, the way that the offensive expected him to. Yeah, it's awesome. I think it really speaks to who he is as a person, as a player.”

McRee's impressive performance has helped USC get off to a hot start in 2024, giving Trojans' fans hope that the team could have College Football Playoff aspirations if it is able to get through a tough conference schedule.

USC Trojans tight end Lake McRee
Sep 1, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Southern California Trojans tight end Lake McRee (87) against the LSU Tigers at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Yet, despite the excitement of the USC faithful, McRee said that the Trojans are focused on improving in some of the areas they struggled against the Aggies. While most viewers may not see many problems in a nearly 50-point shutout victory, the Lake Travis (TX) product said that Southern California's skill position group made a few mistakes.

“I don't think we want to get caught up in where we can go. I think we're more focused on the present moment," McRee said. "There was a lot of stuff in the first half that we left out there, and we had to continue to climb. I think they had a pretty unique plan for us defensively, and we felt like we had answers for it. And I think the offensive line, I think that kind of that kind of showed itself in the balance that we have offensively. Really proud of those guys up front, but skill players myself included we got to clean some stuff up.”

A former three star prospcet in the 2021 recruiting class, McRee has racked up 52 catches for 596 yards and three touchdowns in his four-year USC career. After racking up a career-high 26 catches for 262 yards in 2023, McRee is on pace to easily surpass last year's total this season.

Southern California Trojans tight end Lake McRee
Sep 9, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans tight end Lake McRee (87) celebrates with Southern California Trojans wide receiver Dorian Singer (15) and wide receiver Tahj Washington (16) after scoring on a 1-yard touchdown reception against the Stanford Cardinal in the first half at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Currently ranked No. 13 in the nation, USC has a bye on Sept. 14 and will meet No. 10 Michigan in Ann Arbor on Sept. 21 for what should be another victory for the Trojans. The Wolverines were demolished by Texas 31-12 in Week 2, indicating that USC will have a good chance at improving to 3-0 in their next contest.

McRee has firmly established himself as a key piece of the Trojans' passing game in the first two weeks of the season.

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Randall Sweet

RANDALL SWEET

Randall Sweet is a Staff Writer for Sports Illustrated covering the Oklahoma Sooners, Oklahoma State Cowboys, USC Trojans, Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets. Since graduating from the University of Oklahoma in 2022 with a bachelor's degree in journalism, Randall has covered professional, collegiate and high school sports across the country as a credentialed media member. While in college, Randall wrote for the OU Daily and logged bylines in The Norman Transcript in addition to working with Sooner Sports Pad and OU Nightly. Following his time at OU, Randall served as the Communications Coordinator at Visit Oklahoma City before leaving to join the team at Sports Illustrated.

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