USC defensive lineman De'jon Benton not going through warmups

Lincoln Riley will be getting his Pac-12 career underway with USC on Saturday, traveling to face off against Stanford. In one of the better games of the night slate, the Trojans should be up for a good battle against the Cardinal. However, they could be doing so without defensive lineman De’jon Benton.

As USC goes through warmups, Benton was not seeing going through warmups. He was in a cast earlier in the week, meaning his exclusion should not come as a big surprise.

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

“I don’t see defensive lineman De’jon Benton going through early warmups, which probably should have been expected given he was in a cast earlier this week,” Antonio Morales of The Athletic said.

USC will enter Saturday night as over touchdown favorites, hoping to get the Riley era started in the right way within the conference. Not having Benton will hurt Alex Grinch’s defense no doubt.

De’jon Benton does not practice, seen in cast during the week

Following the 66-14 drubbing of Rice last week, the USC Trojans returned to the practice field to start preparations for Game 2 versus Stanford. Practice video and reports from reporters revealed that defensive tackle De’jon Benton wasn’t in pads on Tuesday and he is now sporting a cast on his left hand.

Benton, a 6-foot-2, 270-pound tackle, is coming off of his best game in three seasons at USC. Versus Rice, he posted five tackles, which is the most he’s had in a season, not just a single game. In 2021, he recorded stats in two games, two tackles versus Washington State and one against Colorado. In 2019, he had three tackles total and appeared in the team’s bowl game versus Iowa.

USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley hasn’t shared an update on Benton’s timetable for return as of Tuesday morning.