Freshman Phenoms: Football’s promising add-ons
The No. 18 recruiting class in the country is poised to make an immediate impact.
The No. 18 recruiting class in the country is poised to make an immediate impact.
Los Angeles — the city of stars where everyone is eternally young, beautiful and acclaimed — has proven to be the ideal incubator for first-year football phenoms.
Dating back to 1973, when All-American linebacker Richard “Batman” Wood led the 12-0 Trojans to their 13th Rose Bowl victory his initial full season, many of college football’s best freshmen have called the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum their home.
In the decades to follow, USC flaunted freshman talents such as All-American and Lombardi-winner guard Brad Budde, Hall of Fame tackle Tony Boselli and Mike Williams — Heisman winner quarterback Carson Palmer’s favorite wide receiver.
And last season, wide receiver and returner Zachariah Branch was the Trojans’ fourth-leading receiver, and he zipped downfield for an average of 18.4 yards per kick return and 20.8 yards per punt return. Branch was USC’s first-ever true freshman First Team All-American as a returner — a shocking achievement considering the players it’s taken to construct the Trojans’ 11-championship and eight-Heisman pedigree.
In the wake of Branch’s breakout season, the Trojans’ No. 18 nationally ranked recruiting class is eager to snag a few starting spots to spook Big Ten defenses this season. These are the freshest faces poised to be play-makers this fall.
Kameryn Fountain — Defensive End — True Freshman
As former USC rush end Solomon Byrd competes for an NFL roster spot out in Houston, the Trojans are looking for someone to replicate his production — and Fountain may be their man. He’s known to deliver a deluge of destruction on the defensive line and even forced a strip sack leading to a touchdown in the All-American Bowl. Fountain would join redshirt senior defensive end Jamil Muhammad and Vanderbilt University transfer redshirt senior defensive tackle Nate Clifton in trying to rush opposing offenses.
Marcelles Williams — Cornerback — True Freshman
In the offseason, Head Coach Lincoln Riley and the Trojans’ new Defensive Coordinator D’Anton Lynn sought to add greater depth to USC’s questionable secondary. Although he’s one of five true freshman defensive backs, they may have picked up a starter in Williams. Alongside the other freshmen, Williams will compete for snaps against UCLA transfer redshirt senior John Humphrey and former Mississippi State University redshirt senior DeCarlos Nicholson, in addition to returners redshirt senior Jacobe Covington, redshirt junior Prophet Brown and redshirt freshman Maliki Crawford.
The Williams family is known for bringing production to the Trojans’ secondary. His brother Max has played safety at USC for the past five seasons, and his father, Maxzell, was a defensive back at the University of Nevada.
Sam Greene — Defensive Lineman — Redshirt Freshman
This will be Greene’s second go-around with the Trojans, but this time, his accompanying defensive lineman fulfills a different defensive philosophy. Since the departure of former Defensive Coordinator Alex Grinch, Riley and company have opted to recruit taller and more built linemen. At 6-foot-1, Greene may seem like an outlier, but he’s put on 20 pounds in the offseason and most importantly, he’s speedy — fit for any position on defense.
Jason Zandamela — Offensive Lineman — True Freshman
Rarely do offensive lineman start their first season with a team, but with USC, it’s not unheard of. In last fall’s season opener against San Jose State University, Alani Noa made his Trojan debut as a true freshman. If Riley’s bold enough to make the same roster move again, there is no better option in college football than this Gulf Coast guard — the nation’s No. 1 overall interior line recruit.
Joey Olsen — Tight End — True Freshman
In the Caleb Williams era, the Trojan offense was known for completing boundless bombs each game, but those were rarely hauled down by a tight end. Redshirt junior tight end Lake McRee cemented himself as the Trojans’ position leader until he tore his ACL before the Holiday Bowl. Even still, McRee had barely recorded over 250 yards on the season. With McRee working through recovery and a new quarterback under center, there’s an opportunity for young blood like the No. 1 Oregon recruit to make a name for himself at the tight end position.
Quinten Joyner — Running Back — Redshirt Freshman
USC lost its top two rushers from last season — MarShawn Lloyd and Austin Jones — and is actively shopping the roster for an RB2 behind Mississippi State transfer Jo’Quavious “Woody” Marks. Joyner should be primed to fill that role. Last season, he ran for 125 yards on 18 carries, including a 47-yard touchdown against Nevada, whereas the Trojans’ other redshirt freshman running back A’Marion Peterson was limited to two touches.
We are the only independent newspaper here at USC, run at every level by students. That means we aren’t tied down by any other interests but those of readers like you: the students, faculty, staff and South Central residents that together make up the USC community.
Independence is a double-edged sword: We have a unique lens into the University’s actions and policies, and can hold powerful figures accountable when others cannot. But that also means our budget is severely limited. We’re already spread thin as we compensate the writers, photographers, artists, designers and editors whose incredible work you see in our daily paper; as we work to revamp and expand our digital presence, we now have additional staff making podcasts, videos, webpages, our first ever magazine and social media content, who are at risk of being unable to receive the support they deserve.
We are therefore indebted to readers like you, who, by supporting us, help keep our paper daily (we are the only remaining college paper on the West Coast that prints every single weekday), independent, free and widely accessible.
Please consider supporting us. Even $1 goes a long way in supporting our work; if you are able, you can also support us with monthly, or even annual, donations. Thank you.
This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
Accept settingsDo Not AcceptWe may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.
We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.
We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.
These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.
If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:
We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.
Google Webfont Settings:
Google Map Settings:
Google reCaptcha Settings:
Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:
The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them: