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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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