Over the past 48 hours, the USC Trojans have learned that the Transfer Portal givesth, and the Transfer Portal taketh away. On Monday, it was announced that both five-star DB Domani Jackson and four-star LB Tackett Curtis plan to enter the transfer portal.
Just last night, five-star QB Malachi Nelson entered the portal.
The Trojans had their fair share of players enter the portal once it opened on December 4, but outside of five-star running back Raleek Brown, there were not many big names. That certainly changed over the past 48 hours.
2024 USC Trojans Transfer Portal Tracker
Domani Jackson Hits The Portal
Jackson certainly had his struggles this season, but at such a young age, his ceiling is still very high. It would have been fun to see him develop under D’Anton Lynn and new secondary coach Doug Belk, but instead, he will take his talents to a new program.
He finished the season with 25 tackles and 3 passes defended. PFF gave him an overall season grade of 60.7. He missed 7 total tackles which was good enough for 17.1%, and in 31 passes thrown his way, he gave up 20 receptions, a clip of 64.5%.
Tacket Curtis Hits The Portal
Tackett Curtis was a true freshman this year who surprised a lot of people by winning the starting ILB job after fall camp. He had his ups and downs but the team seemed really invested in him as the future of the linebacking corps.
When former NDSU Head Coach Matt Entz was hired as linebackers coach last week, he surely brought with him a change in philosophy, which could have pushed Curtis to the portal. The signing of Easton Mascarenas-Arnold also pointed to signs of lost playing time for Curtis. He finished the season with a 44.5 overall grade, according to PFF. He had a missed tackling percentage of 24.5% and gave up a receiving percentage of 87.5.
Losing both of these players is a tough blow to the defense, but with the new staff coming in, we knew there would be quite a bit of change. I wouldn’t be shocked if a few more defensive players enter the portal in the coming days.