When Raesjon Davis arrived in 2021, during the last gasps of the Clay Helton era at USC, the four-star linebacker from Santa Ana Mater Dei looked like he could make an immediate impact at a position where USC desperately needed it.
Those stars never quite aligned. But as other members of that last Helton class would depart in droves — 14 of 23 ended up transferring — Davis continued to bide his time, bouncing from one linebacker coach, one defensive coordinator to another … and another, hoping it would be different.
As a senior this season, Davis still wasn’t making the impact he hoped. So this week, he met with Lincoln Riley to discuss sitting out the rest of the season, in hopes that he’d preserve his final season of eligibility and play as a redshirt senior.
Davis’ father, Rashad, confirmed to The Times that his hope is not to enter the transfer portal, but to continue practicing this season and return to USC next season. Whether that’s how it will happen remains to be seen.
Davis is the second Trojans defender to declare his intent to redshirt this season. Last week, former All-Pac-12 defensive tackle Bear Alexander opted to sit out the rest of the season because of a dispute over his role.
The two situations yielded totally different responses from Riley, who refused to take questions on Alexander last week. On Tuesday, he said that USC had “said all we’ll say on [Alexander’s] situation.” But in Davis’ case, the coach said he “can understand both sides” of his decision. Davis had played just nine snaps on defense over four games this season.
“You understand the push-pull,” Riley said. “I mean, the kid really wants to play. But he also really wants the chance to play more defensively, too. And so yeah, we’ll watch it play out. Nothing is set in stone right now. That option is out there, but we’ll see how this, you know, season evolves and how it evolves for Raesjon.”
But with players now making redshirt decisions at such an early juncture, Riley was clear that he feels there’s a better way. Like, say, giving players five years of eligibility and doing away with redshirts altogether.
“Play as much as you want or play as little as you want, and the only way you get an extra one is if you’ve had two season-ending injuries when you miss the whole season,” Riley said. “I think it should be that plain and simple, and be done. And then no one would have to worry about this other crap, with how many games we played and all that. I understand why it’s there, but I still think it’s a little bit behind the times.”
Without Davis, USC will be even more shorthanded at inside linebacker, where emerging Trojans star Eric Gentry remains a question mark for Saturday after sustaining an undisclosed injury against Wisconsin.
Gentry, who leads USC in tackles this season, wasn’t at practice on Tuesday, and Riley deemed him “questionable” for the matchup with Minnesota.
Etc.
Riley said that he doesn’t “know right now” who will start at right guard Saturday or “necessarily have a preference” between Amos Talalele or Alani Noa, who both split snaps at right guard against Wisconsin. … USC safety Akili Arnold is also questionable for Saturday’s game after sitting out against Wisconsin with an undisclosed injury.