LOS ANGELES -- It's that time of the year: Bowl Season.
LOS ANGELES -- It's that time of the year: Bowl Season.
2025 is no different for the USC Trojans, as on December 30, they have a date for San Antonio, Texas, to participate in the Valero Alamo Bowl against the TCU Horned Frogs. This bowl game will signify the fourth straight bowl appearance under Head Coach Lincoln Riley, with the latest bowl win coming last year as the Trojans defeated Texas A&M in the Las Vegas Bowl.
On Monday afternoon, after the conclusion of USC's practice, coach Riley spoke to the media and immediately revealed a portion of player availability, which was not to be taken as an individual announcement for the players that were listed.
The Trojans that are not scheduled to play are as follows: Kamari Ramsey, Makai Lemon, Ja'Kobi Lane, Lake McRee, and Eric Gentry.
Those who are injured but are pushing to play the Alamo Bowl game: Anthony Lucas and Bishop Fitzgerald.
Those who are entirely ruled out of the Alamo Bowl game due to undergoing surgery: Elijah Paige, Kilian O'Connor, and Jahkeem Stewart.
After coach Riley revealed player availability for the Alamo Bowl, he shifted gears and dove deep into the contributions that Stewart provided for the team throughout the 2025 campaign, despite dealing with a nagging foot injury for the majority of his first year. Riley revealed that the freshman defensive lineman had been dealing with a stress fracture in his foot and ultimately underwent surgery.
"Jahkeem had surgery the day after the UCLA game," coach Riley said. "Played the entire season with a stress fracture in his foot, [Stewart] showed incredible toughness. Pretty remarkable, and was able to hold off the surgery the entire year and obviously play."
Despite not being at 100%, Riley praised Stewart's contributions and toughness to push back the needed surgery on his foot and still found ways to be productive. Stewart finished his freshman campaign with 18 total tackles and 7.5 tackles for a loss, which ultimately earned him a Freshman All-American honor.
The future is bright for the Trojans following the Alamo Bowl, especially with securing the No.1 recruiting class for 2026, a point of interest that Riley provided insight on, as 32 of the 35 signees will enroll at USC in January and are eligible to participate in the 2026 Spring Camp. With a large number of the new class about to break down the door, there have been difficult roster moves that have been made over the last couple of days, Riley stated.
"We've had to make a lot of decisions, and that's kind of part of it," Riley said. "Some of the decisions we had to make were knowing what we have coming in, and when you sign as many as we did, you have to make some tough decisions."
Category: General Sports
