USC’s Raleek Brown plans to enter transfer portal, father says
LOS ANGELES — After a tumultuous and underwhelming season, the first domino has fallen in what is likely to be a raucous transfer portal scramble awaiting this USC program come early December.
Running back Raleek Brown believed he could make a difference in Coach Lincoln Riley’s offense, and publicly, Riley believed the same; but belief never translated to reality in Brown’s sophomore season, as he played all of 10 snaps. And on Monday afternoon, Brown’s father Roscoe confirmed a report from On3 that his son was planning to enter the transfer portal when it opens on Dec. 4.
“We just want that opportunity to showcase his talent,” Roscoe said.
That opportunity simply never came in Southern California, as Brown fell all the way to the scout team on USC’s depth chart and made plans to redshirt early into the season.
A highly-regarded running back coming out of Mater Dei High, Brown tantalized with six touchdowns during his freshman year and some flashes of kick return brilliance. But last spring, news surfaced that he had make a position change into a crowded receiver room. Brown had a meeting with Riley, Roscoe said, during which USC’s head coach laid forth plans for the sparkplug to play roughly 60% at slot receiver and 40% at running back, in the father’s words.
“That’s what we hoping for,” Roscoe said then. “Lincoln ain’t made that switch yet like he told Raleek.”
The sophomore simply stayed at receiver and seemed to fall out of USC’s plans, the crowning moment of his season coming with a short first-quarter touchdown against Washington.
“Obviously with a talented kid like that,” receivers coach Dennis Simmons said in early November, “you would really like to get him out on the field as much as possible. So every time there’s opportunities that present themselves for us to do that, we want to do that.”
Brown will enter the transfer portal as a running back, father Roscoe said, and will look for situations where he will be utilized as both a receiver and in the backfield.
Bet on a few more faces following Brown in the coming weeks. Defensive lineman Korey Foreman, cornerback Ceyair Wright and linebacker Eric Gentry seem possible candidates – Foreman has never found consistent footing at USC following a much-hyped high school recruitment, Wright finished the season away from the team and Gentry was confoundingly deployed in 2023. The more interesting question: who USC will bring in, as the Trojans face major turnover in the receiver room with Tahj Washington and Brenden Rice likely set to hit an NFL Draft stage and the graduation of mainstay center Justin Dedich.
And then, too, there’s that looming question of who fills in behind center – in an all-important first year in the Big Ten – if Caleb Williams is set to hit the NFL.
“We have a couple of quarterbacks in the room that have developed in our program,” Riley said in mid-November, “but you always know this day and age, especially at that position, you never can assume anything.”
