The numbers behind what Gavin Meyer brings to the USC defensive line

The USC Trojans absolutely had to add at least one defensive tackle via the transfer portal this offseason. That position group was going to be a work-in-progress even with everybody returning and then the Trojans lost De’jon Benton and Deijon Laffitte to the portal this spring. They also saw Isaiah Raikes turn around quickly after arriving from Texas A&M and take off for Auburn.

That left USC with a top four in the interior that included a DE/DL hybrid transfer in Nate Clifton and a returner in Kobe Pepe who has appeared in five games over five years and was previously in the transfer portal.

USC needed just about anybody to come in. The addition of Wyoming transfer defensive tackle Gavin Meyer won’t be confused with the splash Bear Alexander made when he came in from Georgia. And there were defensive tackle targets higher on the wish list this spring that wound up elsewhere. But Meyer does seem to make for a positive addition considering his mix of production and experience for the Cowboys.

The 6-foot-4, 282-pounder compiled 69 tackles, including 8.5 tackles for loss and four sacks in his career at Wyoming. He started six games over the back half of the 2022 season and was a season-long backup in 2023. But he graded out as one of Wyoming’s top defensive players by PFF. And even as a reserve, his 351 defensive snaps would have been only fewer than Alexander among USC interior defensive linemen in 2023.

Meyer finished with Wyoming’s No. 3 overall defensive grade, at 77.9. That would have been behind only Jacobe Covington and Solomon Byrd among significant contributors for the 2023 USC defense. He also posted the pass pass rush grade among Wyoming interior defensive linemen and was second in run defense grade. His 13 quarterback hurries were second on the team, just one fewer than defensive end DeVonne Harris, who took nearly 300 more snaps than Meyer. Those 13 hurries would have been just two fewer than Jamil Muhammad posted last season (albeit, against a much tougher schedule) again, in about 150 fewer snaps. Mayer also didn’t fair poorly among 3-tech defensive tackles when it came to generating pressures. According to SIS data, Meyer finished No. 22 nationally in pass rush pressures generated by 3-tech defensive tackles. Alexander finished No. 6, with 17. Again, the schedule has to be taken into account, but that was more pressures in fewer snaps than some big-time national names, such as T’Vondre Sweat of Texas and Mason Graham of Michigan.

It’ll be interesting to see how new USC defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn utilizes his defensive tackles this season. Lynn had a couple of big interior defensive linemen in 325-pound Jay Toia and 315-pound Gary Smith III, but he didn’t consistently line them up as a 0-tech over the center or in the A gap any more than former USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch did with his linemen. According to PFF, UCLA defensive players were aligned in the A gap (between the center and guard) 323 times last season. Toia accounted for 154 of those, compared to 204 snaps he took in the B gap (between the guard and tackle). USC defensive linemen lined up 461 times in the A gap, with Alexander leading the way with 220 (and 354 snaps in the B gap). Alexander had far more snaps as a 0-tech compared to Toia last season, according to SIS. Meyer was a B gap-heavy player as a 3-tech for Wyoming last season. He aligned just 27 times in the A gap compared to 286 in the B gap.

The biggest question this fall will be whether Meyer can add more to the USC defense than a couple of last year’s transfers did, in Kyon Barrs and Jack Sullivan. Both were seen as key additions to a defensive line that needed bodies, but neither were able to provide much of an impact in Grinch’s scheme. They combined for just 26 tackles and one sack last season. Expectations for Meyer will be lowered a bit due to how things played out with some of the defensive transfer portal additions last season as well as how the chase for transfer portal defensive linemen went this offseason. But he’s a much-needed piece with some upside when it comes to fit and experience.

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