Haskins competing on the line

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Season opener: USC vs. Rice, Sept. 3, 3p.m., Pac-12Network

that decision with his recovery and finals as he looked to complete his degree in foreign affairs.

USC head coach Lincoln Riley took on the main recruiting responsibility with Haskins as the Trojans had yet to hire an offensive line coach. Haskins came away with a sense he could trust Riley, even without knowing who would be his dayto-day mentor.

“When you're going somewhere for your last year, you gotta trust it,” Haskins said. “We don't have time to second guess and put one toe in the water. We gotta dive in head first and that's what I did.”

Another key element of USC's recruitment of Haskins was strength coach Bennie Wylie, who sold Haskins on his vision for how he could transform the offensive tackle's body to give him a strong final season, and a better chance at an NFL future.

Most of those goals involved adding upper-body mass, so Haskins was able to work on himself even as he recovered from ankle surgery. Haskins has added 10 pounds to get up to 305, a weight he wants to play at this season.

“I feel a little stronger in the run game, I feel like I got a little more pop,” Haskins said.

The question remains, though, where he fits on USC's offensive line. A two-year starter at Virginia, Haskins has a little catching up to do to compete for a job on a unit that returns four players who started in 2021.

But his overall experience is helping him overcome his lack of reps in USC's offense.

“He's certainly going to be right there in the mix, I don't think there's any doubt about that,” Riley said. “You can tell after missing all that time that he's played a lot of ball. You can certainly see that. He's getting close to 100% physically and it hasn't taken him long to settle in.”