In a season of unfortunate breaks for the USC Trojans, they were just dealt another big blow.
After already losing Bear Alexander on the defensive front, who decided to take a red shirt year, the Trojans have now lost starting EDGE rusher Anthony Lucas.
After practice on Tuesday, head coach Lincoln Riley announced that Anthony Lucas would be out for the remainder of the season with a lower-body injury. He had a procedure for the injury this morning. Riley did not specify exactly what the injury was, just that it was a “lower extremity injury.”
USC Trojans DL Anthony Lucas Done For Season
Here is the play that we have to assume the injury occurred, or was reaggravated from a previous injury.
You see Lucas getting hit low by the running back and his knee buckling a bit. There was no flag on this play.
Lucas was putting together one of his best seasons with 16 total tackles, 11 solo tackles, and 12 pressures. A little longer in this system, this season with Coach Nua and Coach Henny could have really unleashed his potential, but now that will have to wait until next season.
This is a huge loss for the USC Trojans defense, but also gives a massive opportunity to the youth on this team.
Related: USC Football Flips Safety Prospect From SEC School
Solomon Tuliaupupu and Sam Greene will certainly see their snap counts increase alongside starters Jamil Muhammad and Braylan Shelby.
But the big opportunity is for true freshman Kameryn Fountain. Fountain was one of the top recruits in the 2024 class and has a ton of talent. He was seen at practice today wearing his true number, signifying that he is off the scout team and running with the defense. He was always the future at the EDGE position, and it looks like the future is now.
With the 4 players listed above, the staff will still try to work him in slowly, but expect Fountain to start to get more reps each week and hopefully, he can aid the Trojans in the sack department, which has been one of the weakest aspects of the defense so far this season.