Kenny Bigelow Lives Out Dream in USC Football Debut

In recent years, five-star athletes haven’t needed to wait long into their college football careers to see the field. That wasn’t the case for USC defensive tackle Kenny Bigelow.

The ninth overall player in the 2013 recruiting class by the 247Sports Composite, Bigelow missed his first two years at USC due to injury. On top of that, he only played three games as a senior in high school.

That lack of playing time only made his first action much more anticipated. Not just by coaches and fans, but by Bigelow himself.

Last month during fall camp, he told the media that he wanted to start out big on his first play, speaking fondly of the envisioned moment he wished to cherish.

On Saturday night in a 55-6 win over Arkansas State, and nearly four years after verbally committing to the Trojans, Bigelow got his wish.

“That’s pretty much exactly how I dreamed it up,” said Bigelow.

Only, it didn’t come on the first play. Fittingly enough, the once-embattled lineman had to wait once more. On his second play, he sacked Arkansas State quarterback Fredi Knighten for a loss of six yards.

“That’s pretty much exactly how I dreamed it up,” said Bigelow after the game with a smile. “It couldn’t have happened any better and it was kind of a fairy tale moment in my mind.”

It may have been his only sack on the night, but Bigelow was constantly around the ball when he was playing, and one of the team’s biggest bright spots in what was a dominating defensive display.

In total, Bigelow finished the night with three tackles and a pass breakup. His success served as an example of why Steve Sarkisian’s rotation system that the Trojans are classifying as ‘platooning’, is helping the team big time.

Yet despite the memorable welcome-to-the-show moment for Bigelow, he’s set already set the bar higher.

“I’m not satisfied with that,” said Bigelow. “I know there’s things I have to go back and watch tape to improve on, and I can’t wait to go to film on Monday and practice on Tuesday to get better.”

If he lives up to that goal as well as he did his with his previous one on Saturday, he’s only going to find himself with more and more playing time, and fewer friends on Pac-12 offenses.

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