When Raesjon Davis arrived in 2021, over the last gasps of the Clay Helton period at USC, the four-star linebacker from Santa Ana Mater Dei seemed like he may make a right away influence at a place the place USC desperately wanted it.
These stars by no means fairly aligned. However as different members of that final Helton class would depart in droves — 14 of 23 ended up transferring — Davis continued to bide his time, bouncing from one linebacker coach, one defensive coordinator to a different … and one other, hoping it might be totally different.
As a senior this season, Davis nonetheless wasn’t making the influence he hoped. So this week, he met with Lincoln Riley to debate sitting out the remainder of the season, in hopes that he’d protect his remaining season of eligibility and play as a redshirt senior.
Davis’ father, Rashad, confirmed to The Occasions that his hope is to not enter the switch portal, however to proceed working towards this season and return to USC subsequent season. Whether or not that’s the way it will occur stays to be seen.
Davis is the second Trojans defender to declare his intent to redshirt this season. Final week, former All-Pac-12 defensive sort out Bear Alexander opted to take a seat out the remainder of the season due to a dispute over his function.
The 2 conditions yielded completely totally different responses from Riley, who refused to take questions on Alexander final week. On Tuesday, he mentioned that USC had “said all we’ll say on [Alexander’s] situation.” However in Davis’ case, the coach mentioned he “can understand both sides” of his choice. Davis had performed simply 9 snaps on protection over 4 video games this season.
“You understand the push-pull,” Riley mentioned. “I mean, the kid really wants to play. But he also really wants the chance to play more defensively, too. And so yeah, we’ll watch it play out. Nothing is set in stone right now. That option is out there, but we’ll see how this, you know, season evolves and how it evolves for Raesjon.”
However with gamers now making redshirt choices at such an early juncture, Riley was clear that he feels there’s a greater manner. Like, say, giving gamers 5 years of eligibility and eliminating redshirts altogether.
“Play as much as you want or play as little as you want, and the only way you get an extra one is if you’ve had two season-ending injuries when you miss the whole season,” Riley mentioned. “I think it should be that plain and simple, and be done. And then no one would have to worry about this other crap, with how many games we played and all that. I understand why it’s there, but I still think it’s a little bit behind the times.”
With out Davis, USC can be much more shorthanded at inside linebacker, the place rising Trojans star Eric Gentry stays a query mark for Saturday after sustaining an undisclosed damage in opposition to Wisconsin.
Gentry, who leads USC in tackles this season, wasn’t at follow on Tuesday, and Riley deemed him “questionable” for the matchup with Minnesota.
And many others.
Riley mentioned that he doesn’t “know right now” who will begin at proper guard Saturday or “necessarily have a preference” between Amos Talalele or Alani Noa, who each cut up snaps at proper guard in opposition to Wisconsin. … USC security Akili Arnold can be questionable for Saturday’s sport after sitting out in opposition to Wisconsin with an undisclosed damage.
