USC Football: Trojans Players Gained Insane Amount of Muscle Mass This Offseason

Valentina Martinez | Aug 10, 2024

Dec 27, 2023; San Diego, CA, USA; USC Trojans wide receiver Ja'Kobi Lane (89) catches a touchdown pass over Louisville Cardinals defensive back Devin Neal (27) during the second half at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports / Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

The USC football team gained over 1,400 pounds of muscle this offseason, a testament to the Trojan strength and conditioning staff.

INSANE: USC’s football team gained over 1,400 POUNDS OF MUSCLE THIS OFFSEASON.

🤯🤯🤯

That’s one hell of a strength and conditioning staff.

(Via @Rivals) pic.twitter.com/H5NstbGknR

— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) August 8, 2024

The Trojans have a heavy task ahead of them as they enter their first season in the Big Ten conference. The competitive conference features elite football programs such as Michigan, Penn State, and Ohio State.

USC head coach Lincoln Riley is responsible for leading the program back to the top. Riley is entering his third year as the Trojans' coach after leaving Oklahoma.

Riley picked up the pieces of a program that failed to earn double-digit wins since 2017. With the help of Heisman winner Caleb Williams, Riley led the Trojans to a victory over Utah in the 2022 Pac-12 title game.

“People around the program before probably have a greater respect for that than the ones that just see USC out from a distance,” Riley told On3's Pete Nakos. “But we’re coming, we’re coming quickly.”

The program is currently in a rebuild phase which means USC is essentially still playing catch up to other established programs in the Big Ten.

“We are playing catch up,” the third-year head coach said. “We’re playing catch up in facilities. We’re playing catch up in NIL; we’re playing catch up in resources within the program. We’ve been playing catch up in damn near every way you can think.”

This year, the Trojans will open the season against LSU in Las Vegas. The Tigers are a daunting opponent for the Trojans' first game in a new conference.

USC is banking on recruitment to bolster the roster. The Trojans added safety Akili Arnold and linebacker Easton Mascarena-Arnold from Oregon State in order to revamp both sides of the ball.

The Trojans also held on to defensive tackle Bear Alexander who had considered transferring.

In 2023, the Trojans lost five of their last seven games after going 6-0 to start the season.

In a shocking move, Riley let go of defensive coordinator Alex Grinch with two games left in the 2023 season. The defensive woes showed as the unit allowed 34.4 points and 433 yards per game last year.

Riley then brought in UCLA's D'Anton Lynn to replace Grinch as defensive coordinator. Lynn also brought two key defensive stars with him from UCLA in John Humphrey and Kamari Ramsey.

Only time will tell if the Trojans have enough talent to make a name for themselves in the Big Ten.