The USC Trojans suffered injuries to a couple of key players in Saturdays loss to the Michigan Wolverines, including receiver Makai Lemon, safety Akili Arnold and tight Lake McRee. USC coach Lincoln Riley provided an injury update on each of the players.
USC sophomore receiver Lemon went doen with a scary injury in the loss to Michigan. Late in the first quarter, Lemon went down after slamming his head into the ground on punt coverage. Lemon had to be taken to the hospital.
“He’s doing good,” Riley said on Monday. “He’s rebounded back well, I think as good as you could possibly hope for with that scary of a situation… You obviously never want to see that. Thankfully bounced back well, was able to fly home with us that night and is doing very well.”
Riley said Arnold is “improving quickly” after going down on the field a couple of times on Saturday.
“He’s been limited early this week, but hopeful to have him,” Riley said about Arnold’s availability for the game vs. Wisconsin Badgers.
The redshirt senior first went down at the 6:44 mark in the fourth quarter after missed tackle on Michigan quarterback Alex Orji and immediately grabbed his hips after the play. Arnold returned to the game on the Wolverines next possession but went down on the field again after a missed tackle on Michigan running back Kalel Mullings. He was escorted off the field with the help of the training staff.
Arnold is an essential piece of the Trojans defense because he wears the green dot, the in-helmet communication between coaches and players.
“The biggest affect, I think it helps with tempo when offenses are trying to go fast,” said USC Trojans coach D’Anton Lynn.” Obviously, we still signal from the side, sometimes the DBs can be so far away from the play, so we actually put it on a safety. So now we can tell him the call, now he can direct everyone on the backend, the Mike linebacker can get the signal and he can control the front.”
The Trojans faces a Wisconsin team this week that runs a spread, up tempo offense and having the player that has been handling the communication to this point in the season will be vital.
Lake McRee avoided a season-ending injury after taking a low hit in the third quarter vs. Michigan, but Riley said he won’t be back for a “couple of weeks”. The redshirt junior is second on the team in receptions (12) and receiving yards (134). USC will turn to freshman Kade Eldridge and Walker Lyons at the tight end position.
The No. 13 USC Trojans return to action for their Big Ten home opener on Saturday, Sep. 28 vs. the Wisconsin Badgers at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Kickoff is at 12:30 PT and will be televised on CBS. The Trojans are a 14.5-point favorite in the contest, according to FanDuel.
