Eric Gentry injury update: USC LB's status revealed vs. Minnesota

USC is expected to be without Eric Gentry for Saturday’s game against Minnesota, according to a report from Matt Zenitz. He suffered an injury last week against Wisconsin, throwing his status into jeopardy for this week’s matchup.

Gentry headed to the locker room on a cart as USC came back to defeat Wisconsin last time out. Lincoln Riley didn’t have an update on his status during his regular media availability, but it appears he won’t be able to go against Minnesota.

Gentry enters Week 6 as USC’s leading tackler, totaling 30 stops to go with two sacks. He also has a forced fumble and a fumble recovery to his name as a key piece of the Trojans’ defensive attack.

Riley didn’t provide much of an update on where things stand with Gentry or Akili Arnold, who got banged up against Michigan. Instead, he deferred to the availability report that will come out prior to kickoff.

“Yeah, ongoing with these guys,” Riley said. “We’re going to, you know, now that we put out an injury report, you know, there before the game, I’m probably just going to stick to that here at this point.”

As for the type of impact Eric has on the unit, Riley pointed out the way the game plan could change without him. While it won’t change “everything” about the way USC handles the Minnesota offense, the Trojans will still need more players to step up if he can’t go.

“Eric is, you know – he’s a very good player,” Riley said of Gentry. “It changes some things – certainly not everything. I mean there’s maybe a few things that, you know, we might not do with Eric not there. There’s maybe a few things, with the other skillsets out there, that we might do more.

“So, I mean, I’d still venture to say, you know, 80% to 90% of what we’re going to do, we’re probably going to do whether he’s there or not. We do have a lot of confidence in the other guys in those positions.”