USC OL transfer Cooper Lovelace commits to Northwestern
Former USC Trojans offensive lineman Cooper Lovelace opted to find a new college football home this offseason, entering the transfer portal. On Tuesday, May 14, the former Trojan announced that he has a new home for the upcoming 2024 season within USC’s new conference home, the Big Ten, with the Northwestern Wildcats.
Lovelace made the announcement via social media, crediting his mother for knowing he would be a Wildcat since he was a toddler.
Lovelace originally joined USC just ahead of the 2022 season, coming in from Butler Community College. Over the past two seasons, he has played in a combined seven games for the Trojans at various spots throughout the offensive line.
Predicting the win total ceiling, floor for Northwestern in 2024
Northwestern was a surprise during the season last year after an offseason story could’ve very easily derailed it from the start. Instead, David Braun is now the full-fledged head coach after finding such success as the interim.
On Monday, On3’s Andy Staples and Cody Bellaire examined the Big Ten, including Northwestern, in regards to the ceilings and floors for the teams in the conference. As for the Wildcats, Staples credited Braun for his work under his unexpected circumstances from last year, even if it happened during the course of an easier schedule.
“Northwestern went 8-5 last year in David Braun’s first year. Obviously, the situation he got thrown into was terrible – they fire Pat Fitzgerald right before the season starts, he’s just basically drinking through the firehose the entire time,” Staples recalled.
“They were the tough-out,” said Staples. “They win six of eight in one-score games. If you look at their schedule, it was, much like the Rutgers one this year, not very challenging.”