USC Trojans offensive lineman Emmanuel Pregnon (70) celebrates the Trojans win over UCLA Bruins at Rose Bowl. (Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images)
USC has seen a number of players enter the NCAA transfer portal this offseason but there might not be one that hurts the 2025 Trojans as much as what happened Friday when starting left guard Emmanuel Pregnon entered.
It’s been a wild ride regarding Pregnon over the past few weeks. Late in the year, he accepted an invite to the East-West Shrine Bowl, which seemed to be an announcement that he would be entering the NFL Draft. Then leading up to the bowl game, new offensive line coach Zach Hanson indicated Pregnon would instead play in the Trojans’ bowl game and return to USC for the 2025 season.
“Excited to have him back,” Hanson said at the time of Pregnon. “Made tremendous strides this last year. Looking for him to do the same this upcoming year and get that NFL Draft grade up, and hopefully go get drafted high in the draft next year.”
Now, Pregnon is in the NCAA transfer portal and leaves an absolutely gaping hole in the middle of the USC offensive line when paired with starting center Jonah Monheim exhausting his eligibility.
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With Pregnon back, USC would have had a locked-down left side of the offensive line. Left tackle Elijah Paige is set to return for his second year as a starter and third in the program. And Pregnon would have served as a third-year starter for the Trojans after coming over from Wyoming ahead of the 2023 season.
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We’ll see what kind of effort USC makes to bring Pregnon back, but he likely becomes one of the more coveted linemen in the portal now.
And USC’s offensive line takes another hit this offseason. It lost position coach Josh Henson to Purdue and replaced him with former USC tight ends coach Zach Hanson. Starting right tackle Mason Murphy entered the portal and is now at Auburn. Backup offensive guard Amos Talalele made his way to Kansas State via the portal. Backup center and guard Gino Quinones is at Fresno State. Backup offensive tackle Kalolo Ta’aga is now at Utah. The Trojans signed several promising freshmen along the line in the 2025 recruiting class but none appear likely to step in and play in their first season.
