Could Bear Alexander be the Final Piece of an Impressive USC Off-season Defensive Line Makeover?
USC is hosting a major visitor this weekend in former Georgia defensive lineman Bear Alexander. Alexander arrived on Friday for a April 21-23 official visit with Lincoln Riley and the Trojans.
The 6-foot-3, 305-pound defensive lineman is a huge target for USC and the top uncommitted player available in the transfer portal. Per On3 Alexander’s the No. 17 overall player and No. 1 defensive lineman to go into the portal this offseason.
Alexander finished his true freshman season as a role player along the Georgia defensive line. He made an impact in the national championship game, finishing with two tackles for loss, including a sack.
Last season Alexander saw action in 12 games. He had nine total tackles, including two sacks. He signed with Georgia as the nation’s No. 43 overall prospect and No. 7 defensive lineman in the 2022 recruiting class.
USC is moving quickly here. Alexander told On3 this past Saturday that he planned to enter the transfer portal. His name officially appeared early this week. From the time news broke that he would go into the portal, USC emerged as a potential landing spot, alongside Texas. The Longhorns recently landed a commitment from Minnesota defensive tackle transfer Trill Carter.
Based on what we’re hearing, USC will be hard to beat with signing Alexander. Typically commitments come fairly quickly. Most recruiting processes for transfers last less than two weeks.
Later today we hope to have more details on where things stand with USC and Alexander. So, stay tuned at WeAreSC. But we’ll provide a brief breakdown of what USC’s defensive line makeover looks like. USC added Jack Sullivan, Anthony Lucas, Kyon Barrs and we’ll include true freshman Sam Greene in this article. Greene will get significant reps this season.
USC’s front seven will be vastly improved regardless of who’s added, but a player of Alexander’s potential would make the offseason retooling of the USC defense appear to be a roaring success. Only time will tell, but check back later for THE LATEST on Bear Alexander.
Off-season USC Defensive Line Makeover
JACK SULLIVAN
USC defenders Anthony Lucas (6), Raesjon Davis (9) and Jack Sullivan (99) during a drill at a Trojans’ practice (Erik McKinney/WeAreSC)
Former Purdue Boilermakers DE Jack Sullivan committed to USC according to USC in January. At the time Sullivan was the ninth transfer commit the early offseason for Lincoln Riley and the Trojans.
USC is also hoping to lure former 5-Star DL Anthony Lucas who took and official visit this weekend.
Sullivan joined the Boilermakers in 2018 and has played the last four seasons with Purdue where he accumulated 86 tackles, seven pass breakups, a forced fumble, and 9.5 career sacks.
The 6-5 and 275 pound defensive lineman played high school football at Plainfield East high school in Illinois, where he was a three-star prospect. He was the No. 1235 overall recruit in the 2018 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.
For many of the defensive players coming to USC this offseason, the focus outside the program is on how much better they can make the Trojans’ defense this fall. Those players will be asked to plug holes, provide starting reps and produce big numbers. But while fans focus on what Sullivan and the other transfers can do for the Trojans, it was interesting to listen to him discuss his own motivations for making the move.
Sullivan said coming out to USC represented a dream opportunity for him, with personal and team goals aligning perfectly.
Personally, Sullivan has his sights set on the NFL after this season. He knows he has one season remaining to boost himself as far up draft boards as possible. Sullivan said he didn’t know much about USC defensive line coach Shaun Nua when he coached at Michigan and Sullivan was in the same conference at Purdue. But when Sullivan began digging into his credentials and the players Nua has coached, he was blown away.
ANTHONY LUCAS – TEXAS A&M
USC lineman Anthony Lucas walks to a spring practice session for the Trojans (Daniel Villagomez/WeAreSC)
There was no question last year that the most impactful and important transfer to come to USC was quarterback Caleb Williams. He took over as a team leader immediately and it was evident early that the Trojans would go as far as Williams could take them.
This offseason, there isn’t an obvious choice as the transfer who will have the most immediate and influential impact. But it’s likely defensive lineman Anthony Lucas would get a significant number of votes if players, coaches and fans were polled.
The 6-foot-5, 295-pound Lucas is going to be a factor along the defensive line for USC as an edge defender. USC head coach Lincoln Riley called Lucas “intriguing” and “exciting” when discussing the lineman who is entering his second college season. Riley said he is a “unique athlete” for a player of that size.
Making a Home With the Trojans
Lucas said finding a school close to his home in Arizona was a factor. But it wasn’t the deciding one. Life after football as a USC graduate is pretty good. Based on what he’s seen so far, life playing football for USC right now is even better.
“I can see how the team and the coaches’ interactions are really different than some spots that might not have that dynamic or are on the way to being a championship team,” Lucas said when asked about the USC program in just one year under Lincoln Riley. “You can see the environment is different and the tone in which everybody takes their things and how seriously everything is taken is just different.”
Lucas plans to play baseball for the Trojans next spring. He’s a corner infielder and also pitches. But it’s not just athletics that drew him to USC.
“This is USC,” Lucas said. “A degree here means everything. You can get your foot in the door anywhere.”
But that culture Riley, his coaches and last year’s roster worked so hard to build was the ultimate selling point.
“Seeing the environment and the culture they have,” Lucas said. “I just wanted to come be part of it.”
KYON BARRS – ARIZONA
Kyon Barrs started all 12 games in the middle of the defensive line for the Arizona Wildcats in 2022. He finished the year with 39 tackles, including 4.5 for loss.
A deeper dive into his PFF grades show a little cause for concern when it comes to his performance last season. Barrs earned a 57.7 grade in overall defense, which would have placed him No. 25 among USC defenders. His run defense grade of 61.9 would have been good for No. 18 among the Trojans. And his pass rush grade of 57.3 would have been No. 23. His tackle grade of 59.1 would have been No. 13.
Interestingly, his grades mostly fall short of those posted last year by Stanley Ta’ufo’ou, a player he’s expected to compete with this spring.
Ta’ufo’ou edged Barrs in overall defense (60.7 to 57.7), run defense (68.0 to 61.9) and tackling (63.0 to 59.1). Barrs earned a slightly better pass rush grade (57.3 to 55.2).
It was a pretty significant step backward for Barrs, who turned in a very strong 2021 season on his way to being named a second-team All-Pac-12 performer. Had Barrs duplicated those 2021 grades, he would have finished No. 7 in defense, No. 8 in run defense, No. 11 in tackling and No. 5 in pass rush.
In four seasons with the Wildcats, Barrs collected 102 tackles, including 12.5 for loss and five sacks, in 38 games. Half of his career sacks came in one game against Cal in 2021.
A Dream Come True
Barrs, who attended Murrieta Mesa High School, said after practice last week that he grew up a USC fan.
“This is my dream school,” he said. “It feels great. It feels like a dream come true.”
There’s likely a comfort level for Barrs at USC because of his familiarity with the place. He also came to USC with two teammates from Arizona in wide receiver Dorian Singer and cornerback Christian Roland-Wallace. Barrs said the three spoke about their transfer decisions and knew the plan would be to all head to USC once all three were offered by the Trojans.
This is a program that welcomed in 20 transfers last offseason. It saw 11 more enroll in time for spring ball. Linebacker Shane Lee said the experience of bringing so many veteran players together in one offseason is a “unique” one to USC and something that’s become normal to them. It certainly showed last season in how well the team came together. Barrs already feels that in the short time he’s been at USC.
“I came in and they took me in like a brother,” Barrs said of his fellow defensive linemen. “I appreciate those guys, I love those guys already. And I can’t wait to get to playing games with them.”
SAM GREENE – ST. FRANCES ACADEMY (BALTIMORE)
USC‘s 2023 recruiting class was a big one filled with talent across the board. According to On3’s Industry Rankings, their class included a number of five-star prospects, including Zachariah Branch and Malachi Nelson. But arguably, one of the most prominent early contributors from the Trojans 2023 recruiting class during the spring is someone fans might have overlooked.
According to head coach Lincoln Riley, defensive end Sam Greene has been a pleasant surprise during spring practice for USC.
“Yeah, he was one of the surprises of spring; not necessarily that he wouldn’t play well,” said Riley. “But we recruited Sam thinking he’d probably be in that field defensive end to the three-technique world. And when he came in, we got a chance to obviously be on the field with him (and) kind of see kind of where he was from a body-wise standpoint. You get to really see him athletically. And he ended up being a little bit better fit for us at rush, which was, honestly, again it was a little unexpected. But as we watched him in the offseason, it made the most sense. We moved him there, and he did a great job.”
Greene played high school football at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, MD, where he was a three-star prospect. He was the No. 466 overall recruit in the 2023 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.
Great Spring, Impressive Spring Game
“He (Sam) had a great spring. I mean, what you guys saw Saturday- that was every day,” said Riley last Saturday after the Spring Game. “He had one to two sacks every day. He did some really nice things dropping into coverage. Mentally, did a nice job picking it up. He was impressive. He’s one of those freshmen that staked his claim that he’s going to be a factor for us on the defensive side of football and on special teams… He will no doubt factor in at rush. The track that he’s on right now is exciting. So we’re excited about his potential, and he’s going to get a lot better.”
BEAR ALEXANDER – GEORGIA??
(Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
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