USC Football Roundup: Porter Gustin among CFB “Freakish Athletes” (6/29)

Porter Gustin was named among the nation’s “freakish athletes” while CFN has game-by-game predictions. Here’s the USC football roundup for June 29.

An injury-sunk junior season hasn’t stopped Porter Gustin from once again making his way onto a list of the top “freakish athletes” in college football.

NFL.com’s ongoing “18 for ’18” series ranked said “freakish athletes” with Gustin landing at No. 5. The injuries which hindered his 2017 campaign may even make the case for his inclusion greater. Chase Goodbread cited his playing through two broken hands in high school as evidence of his “freakish toughness,” which was certainly on display when he logged two sacks against Texas while playing with a broken toe.

And of course, everyone knows about Gustin’s gym-rat tendencies.

While the Trojans will relish having Gustin available in 2018, they will also face their fair share of similarly “freakish” opponents.

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Texas defensive end Breckyn Hager, who will take on USC in Week 3, weighs 255 pounds and has a 38-inch vertical.

Colorado’s Drew Lewis can clean 355 pounds, which is super impressive considering he’s a 225-pound linebacker.

Arizona State’s Renell Wren is a 6-foot-6, 297 pound defensive lineman who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.85 seconds.

All three also rank in the Top 18 and will try to use their freakishness against the Trojans this year.

The All-Lane Kiffin team

This one is…unique.

Gennaro Filice of NFL.com also has a photoessay for the masses: the All-Time Lane Kiffin Team.

As you’d expect, it includes all sorts of Trojans, particularly wide receivers, which are Kiffin’s specialty.

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Nelson Agholor, Robert Woods and Marqise Lee get a mention, along with Tyron Smith, Nick Perry and others.

Game-by-game predictions

College Football News continues their conference-by-conference preview series with game-by-game predictions for each of the Pac-12 squads.

It’s an impossible task, but one which yields some fascinating results.

In CFN’s estimation, the Trojans will best Stanford, Texas and Notre Dame, but lose to Arizona and Utah. Two losses to Pac-12 South rivals would put USC in serious jeopardy of missing out on the conference title game, but not to worry. They predict Arizona and Utah will lose more than three games in conference.

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Take the under

Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports took a look at look at betting trends in the Pac-12 on Friday. He found some interesting conclusions for each team in the conference, but specific to USC there’s a couple big tips: Always take the under. And never trust the Trojans on the road.

Today’s Trojan Trivia

USC hasn’t been a home underdog since November of 2013 when they upset Stanford at the Coliseum, 20-17.