LOS ANGELES – A week earlier, his return to form began with an exclamation point, just seven seconds remaining on a last-gasp LSU try when Mason Cobb dove across midfield for a game-sealing pick.
It was a fitting end to one of the finest games of Cobb’s Trojans career, the Oklahoma State transfer coming to USC in 2023 and instantly stepping in as the program’s leading tackler but beset by injury and a doomed run defense. He played with abandon against LSU, running through offensive linemen and blowing up plays at the line of scrimmage, looking like the best version of the difference-maker at linebacker that came only in fits and spurts in 2023.
As quickly as Cobb’s momentum built, though, it washed away Saturday against Utah State, the linebacker jogging out from the tunnel for warm-ups in a red beanie and street clothes. After he wasn’t seen at practice Wednesday and head coach Lincoln Riley deemed him questionable against Utah State, Cobb sat against the Aggies, a crucial heartbeat missing from USC’s run defense against the Aggies.
USC didn’t miss a step, though, as Cobb’s absence led to a starting opportunity and more snaps for dynamic senior Eric Gentry. The 6-foot-6 inside linebacker played with just the same fury as he’d brought in Week 1 in Vegas, collecting three tackles in the first quarter alone and pressuring Utah State’s Bryson Barnes into a third-down incompletion on Utah State’s second drive.
“He’s been a baller, man,” defensive end Jamil Muhammad said of Gentry this week. “It’s just always about that luck piece, or you know, the opportunity.”
“He’s been preparing, he’s been a warrior.”
UCLA transfer John Humphrey starts at cornerback
USC was hit with another key injury Saturday, as defensive-back-slash-cornerback-slash-safety Jaylin Smith was limited in practice throughout the week and suited up but didn’t play in the first half against Utah State.
In his place, starting at outside cornerback, came a familiar face to college football fans in Southern California: senior John Humphrey, who transferred along with safety Kamari Ramsey to USC after defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn’s move in the offseason.
“When he found out Kamari entered the portal, that did it,” Humphrey’s mother Bridget told the Southern California News Group, back in the winter. “He was like, ‘Oh, yeah.’”
The lanky 6-foot-2 corner played just 20 snaps in USC’s Week 1 win over LSU, but played a more-prevalent role in a USC secondary that entirely limited Utah State’s Barnes from looking over the top. Mississippi State transfer DeCarlos Nicholson, who similarly played a smaller role in Week 1, earned a larger look in USC’s second quarter as well.
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Loose ties have floated between USC and a certain recently-retired Rams legend ever since the Trojans hired defensive line coach Eric Henderson, Aaron Donald posing on multiple occasions in Trojans merch across the last few months and even popping up at a recruit-laden practice in the spring.
“He just came to show support,” Henderson said of Donald, then. “That’s really what it was all about.”
On Saturday, he made his support of Henderson and USC even clearer, popping out at the Coliseum for the Trojans’ home opener against Utah State. Another luminary in attendance: former Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade, captured in a suite-level photo smiling next to new men’s basketball coach Eric Musselman.