The 2022 USC Trojans football team represented the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

as a member of the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

during the

2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season will be the 153rd season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS ...

. Led by first-year head coach

Lincoln Riley Lincoln Michael Riley (born September 5, 1983) is an American college football coach and former player who is the head coach of the USC Trojans football program at the University of Southern California. He previously served as the head coach a ...

, the Trojans played their home games at the

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a mem ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. They finished the season 11–3, 8–1 in Pac-12 play to earn a trip to the

Pac-12 championship game The Pac-12 Football Championship Game is an annual college football game held by the Pac-12 Conference to determine the season's conference champion. The game from the 2011–2021 seasons had the champion of the North Division against the champi ...

. Ranked No. 4 in the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...

, they lost to

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

in the conference championship game eliminating them from national championship consideration. They received a bid to the

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium i ...

where they lost to No. 16-ranked

Tulane Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

Previous season

The Trojans finished the 2021 season 4–8, 3–6 record in Pac-12 play to finish in a tie for fourth place in the South division. On September 23, 2021, the school fired head coach

Clay Helton Clay Charles Helton (born June 24, 1972) is an American college football coach and former player, who is currently the head coach at Georgia Southern. He was previously the head coach of USC from 2015 to 2021. Helton has also been an assistan ...

after starting the season 1–1. Associate head coach

Donte Williams Donte Antonio Williams (born September 1, 1982) is an American football coach who is the defensive backs coach and defensive passing game coordinator at the University of Southern California (USC). He previously served as USC's associate head coac ...

was named the team's interim coach making him the team's first ever black head coach. On November 28, the school named

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

coach Lincoln Riley the team's new coach.

Offseason

Coaching staff departures

Transfers

Transfers Out

The Trojans have lost 27 players via transfer.

Transfers In

The Trojans have added 23 players via transfer.

Returning starters

Key departures include :
Vavae Malepeai ( TB – 12 games, 5 started).
Keaontay Ingram ( TB – 10 games, 7 started).

Drake London Drake London (born July 24, 2001) is an American football wide receiver for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at USC and was selected eighth overall by the Falcons in the 2022 NFL Draft. Ear ...

( WR – 8 games, 8 started).
Erik Krommenhoek ( TE – 12 games, 10 started).
Jalen McKenzie ( OT – 12 games, 6 started).
Liam Jimmons ( OG – 12 games, 12 started).
Kana’i Mauga ( LB – 12 games, 12 started).
Drake Jackson ( OLB – 11 games, 9 started).
Chris Steele ( CB – 11 games, 11 started).
Isaac Taylor-Stuart ( CB – 11 games, 10 started).
Isaiah Pola-Mao ( S – 11 games, 9 started).
Greg Johnson ( S – 10 games, 9 started).
Ben Griffiths ( P – 12 games, 12 started).
Parker Lewis ( K – 10 games, 10 started).
Damon Johnson ( LS – 12 games, 12 started). Other departures include :

Kedon Slovis Kedon Slovis (born April 11, 2001) is an American football quarterback for the BYU Cougars. Slovis attended and played high school football at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. For college, he played his first three years at ...

( QB – 9 games, 9 started).

Jaxson Dart Jaxson Chase Dart (born May 13, 2003) is an American football quarterback for the Ole Miss Rebels. Dart attended and played high school football at Corner Canyon High School in Draper, Utah. He began his college football career at USC in 2021, ...

( QB – 6 games, 3 started).
KD Nixon ( WR – 10 games).
Michael Trigg ( TE – 6 games, 4 started).
Jacob Lichtenstein ( DL – 12 games, 8 started).
Hunter Echols ( OLB – 11 games, 3 started).
Raymond Scott ( LB – 11 games, 3 started).
Chase Williams ( S – 12 games, 9 started). Offense Defense Special Teams † Indicates player was a starter in 2021 but missed all of 2022 due to injury.

Recruiting class

The Trojans signed a total of yet scholarship recruits and walk-ons during national signing period.

Overall class rankings

Recruits

Preseason

Spring Game

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Pac-12 Media Day

The Pac-12 Media Day was held on July 29, 2022 in

Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

with

(HC),

Caleb Williams Caleb Williams (born November 18, 2001) is an American football quarterback for the USC Trojans. Williams played for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2021 before transferring to USC as a sophomore in 2022, where he won several player of the year awards, i ...

(QB) and Shane Lee (LB) representing USC.

Preseason All-Pac-12 teams

First Team Second Team All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention

Schedule

Personnel

Roster and coaching staff

Depth chart

''True Freshman'' official Depth Chart Week 1 vs Rice (09/01/22)

Injury report

Scholarship distribution chart

*Scholarship Distribution 2022 / / * Former Walk-on – 80 players on scholarship / 85 scholarships permitted

Game summaries

vs Rice

at Stanford

vs Fresno State

at Oregon State

vs Arizona State

vs Washington State

at No. 20 Utah

at Arizona

vs California

vs Colorado

at No. 16 UCLA

vs No. 15 Notre Dame

vs No. 11 Utah (
Pac-12 Championship Game The Pac-12 Football Championship Game is an annual college football game held by the Pac-12 Conference to determine the season's conference champion. The game from the 2011–2021 seasons had the champion of the North Division against the champi ...
)

vs No. 16 Tulane ( Cotton Bowl)

Rankings

Statistics

Team

Individual Leaders

Offense

Defense

Key: POS: Position, SOLO: Solo Tackles, AST: Assisted Tackles, TOT: Total Tackles, TFL: Tackles-for-loss, SACK: Quarterback Sacks, INT: Interceptions, BU: Passes Broken Up, PD: Passes Defended, QBH: Quarterback Hits, FR: Fumbles Recovered, FF: Forced Fumbles, BLK: Kicks or Punts Blocked, SAF: Safeties, TD : Touchdown

Special teams

Scoring

USC vs. non-conference opponents

USC vs. Pac-12 opponents

USC vs. all opponents

After the season

Awards and honors

Pac-12 Conference Individual Awards

Individual Yearly Awards

All-America

PAC-12 Conference

Bowl games

All Star games

NFL Draft

The

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

will be held at

Arrowhead Stadium Arrowhead Stadium is an American football stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. It primarily serves as the home venue of the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). The stadium has been officially named GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stad ...

Kansas City, MO Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

on April 27–29, 2023. Trojans who were picked in the 2023 NFL Draft:

NFL Draft combine

No members of the 2022 team were invited to participate in drills at the

2023 NFL scouting Combine 3 (three) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cu ...

. † Top performer DNP = Did not participate

USC Pro Day

† Top performer DNP = Did not participate

Notes

* November 28, 2021 – Lincoln Riley Named New USC Football Head Coach.

References

{{USC Trojans football navbox

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

USC Trojans football seasons

USC Trojans football The USC Trojans football program represents University of Southern California in the sport of American football. The Trojans compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Pac-12 Con ...