Lincoln Riley Details Ethan White Situation, Need to Add Offensive Linemen
USC head coach Lincoln Riley spoke with the media Thursday morning to provide a wrap-up of the Trojans’ 2023 spring ball. One of the topics he touched on was the USC offensive line moving forward. Big news broke Wednesday when it was revealed that former Florida offensive lineman Ethan White would no longer be transferring to USC. White had announced his intention to move from Florida to USC back in January and the Trojans officially announced him as being added to the program on social media.
Riley said he didn’t wait to get too far into the details because he wanted to allow White the ability to announce his own news whenever he saw fit. But the USC head coach pointed to an injury as the reason behind the change of plans.
“I think unfortunately there’s an injury there that, best of my knowledge right now, I think the plan is kind of reevaluating if he’s going to play football futher,” Riley said. “There’s an injury situation that looks like it’s going to prevent him from playing further. And I let him take it from there.”
Riley said they were excited to get White when he initially announced his commitment. He would have been an obvious and tremendous fit at a left guard position. That spot was left open by the departure of All-American lineman Andrew Vorhees to the NFL. White was a Second-Team AP All-SEC performer last season. He has not been credited with allowing a sack in his college career, according to PFF.
“Certainly these things come up and we get it,” Riley said. “There’s football and then there’s also long-term health. And we understand guys have got to make those decisions and the best decisions for themselves.”
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USC Offensive Line Moving Forward
White’s situation effectively adds a second key, unexpected departure for the USC offensive line this offseason. It was known that USC would lose Vorhees, center Brett Neilon and tackle Bobby Haskins. But White not coming added to the impending transfer of tackle Courtland Ford is a big hit to the line.
“Two guys that you expected to be here that now aren’t going to be here,” Riley said. “That’s the nature of the beast now.”
Riley said the Trojans would go look at bringing “a guy or two” in via the transfer portal.
“There’s no question,” Riley said of adding more bodies.
USC is set to add four more true freshmen offensive linemen this summer in the 2023 recruiting class. But counting on freshmen lineman for key playing time or second-line depth isn’t the way to build a national championship contender.
“When you lose essentially two older guys that you expected to have on the roster and all of a sudden they’re not going to be there, that’s something that has to be addressed,” Riley said. “We’re going to try to get that addressed here in the next several weeks.”
