Glaring Issues in USC’s Secondary Could Shape Tough Schedule Stretch Ahead

The pass rush was nonexistent against the Fighting Illini and Luke Altmyer had his best performance of the season, completing 20 of 26 passes for 328 yards and two touchdowns. 

Whatever Illinois wanted to do through the air, they felt very little resistance from the Trojans. Whether it was struggles in man coverage, poor communication and angles or bad tackling, the lackluster performance in the secondary resembled that of the previous defensive regime. 

Transfer Portal 

With star cornerback Jaylin Smith off to the NFL, and Jacobe Covington, John Humphrey and Greedy Vance exhausting their eligibility, USC signed two cornerbacks via the transfer portal in DJ Harvey and Chasen Johnson. 

Harvey started in week 1, but appears to have fallen in the depth chart. He played only 10 snaps in both week 3 and 4. And despite the struggles at the position in week 5, the San Jose State transfer played just five snaps and was flagged for pass interference on one of them. 

Johnson arrived in the summer and was expected to compete for a starting position. The UCF transfer missed a majority of fall camp and the season opener with a knee injury. He played in week 2 and 3 but is out for the rest of the season with that knee injury. 

Improvements in Secondary 

Redshirt senior cornerback DeCarlos Nicholson has started each of the five games, while redshirt freshman Marcelles Williams and Braylan Conley have occupied the other cornerback spot. Williams has started the last three games opposite Nicholson. 

Nicholson was in and out of the lineup last weekend, as he battled some injuries, which meant it was the two 2024 recruits in at cornerback for long stretches and Illinois took advantage. 

The good news for Williams and Conley is that they are young. Both have only played in a handful of games, after appearing briefly in one game in 2024. 

The question isn’t whether or not how do they respond to early struggles, the question is, will it happen this season? Williams and Conley could certainly become great players, and this season doesn’t define their career, but the Trojans need them now.

“Confidence is built through preparation and then going out there and performing,” Riley said. “Confidence you can't fake that. We're doing enough good things that it should show up and there should be confidence for that. But if we keep making some of the mistakes that we've made, whether it's a busted coverage, not leveraging the football, those are controllable on us.

“You got to come out here and do it. We got to put in the work and the preparation. We got the results that have to show up there on the field. We have good players in that room. We played with a lot of different guys the other day and some new lineups and all of that. But at the end of the day, you got to go perform. And these guys know what they need to create. So we need to have a really good bye week and we need to go put it together.”

Cornerback is one of the toughest positions to play on the football field and the transition from one level to the next comes with some growing some pains. 

“That's part of playing that position. There's nothing else behind," Riley said. "Whether it's being where you got to be in coverage, whether it's leveraging the football on the correct shoulder. Those little things really show up big. You don't do that right at the d-line, or the first or second level, it might be a 10 or 12-yard play. You don't do it right in the secondary. The whole stadium is going to see.”

But it wasn’t just the Williams and Conley, who had a rough showing. With Kamari Ramsey out with food poisoning, Kevin Longstreet stepped in his place at nickel had his struggles. 

Safety Bishop Fitzgerald took a bad angle on a running back screen that resulted in a 64-yard touchdown. And again, with the defensive front providing no pressure, the secondary was left in a tough spot to fend for themselves.

True Freshman

One name that will continuously be brought up if the play in the secondary does not improve is RJ Sermons, a five-star freshman cornerback from Rancho Cucamonga (Calif.) high school. 

Sermons was originally the No. 1 ranked cornerback in the 2026 class, before reclassifying to the 2025 class over the summer, so he is only 17 years old. But, Sermons wouldn’t have skipped his senior year if he didn’t feel like he could make the jump now. 

The local product was injured early in the season and did not suit in the first couple of games. Sermons is healthy now and how the coaching staff decides to handle his development will be something to monitor moving forward. 

Alex Graham continues to progress and is getting closer to making his Trojans debut. The Detroit native flipped his commitment from Colorado to USC on the first day of the early signing period and has drawn rave reviews since enrolling in the spring. 

Graham was protected to start at nickel, before he suffered an injury heading into the season opener. It’s a lot to ask of a true freshman to come in and immediately change the secondary but having him back healthy will give them a much-needed help.

With Graham unavailable to far this season, Ramsey out and Longstreet struggling, USC turned to true freshman Dee Riddick at nickel last weekend, who was seeing his first meaningful playing time at the collegiate level. 

“You have a guy in there, like a Dee Reddick, who hasn't played a lot of ball for us yet," Riley said. "He battled his tail off, and he made us a lot of really good plays. We had a few errors here and there that have got to get better.”

Safety Position

Graham will most likely be eased back into game-action, but when he is ready, does that mean safety will become Ramsey’s primary position again. Christian Pierce has stepped in and played very well in his five games, alongside Fitzgerald. Riley highlighted Pierce as one of the bright spots in the secondary. And Fitzgerald leads the team in interceptions with three.

But everything the Trojans have done on defense will be re-evaluated after a poor performance on the road last weekend.

USC faces toughest stretch of the season with Michigan, Notre Dame and Nebraska as the next three opponent. All three teams will test the backend of the Trojans defense.