Former USC Trojan Romello Height impresses as Georgia Tech stuns Florida State

Every USC football fan knows that the fate of this program, both in 2024 and beyond, will come down to whether or not Lincoln Riley can build a championship defense. On Saturday, in the first college football game of the season, a former Trojan defender looked like he could be a nice piece on a strong defense. Unfortunately, that performance came in a Georgia Tech uniform.

Romello Height, a 6-foot-3, 240-pound defensive end out of Dublin, Georgia opened quite a few eyes while helping the Yellowjackets take down No. 10 Florida State 24-21 in Dublin, Ireland. He managed three total tackles with one for a loss on the day. What's more, at times, the former Trojan looked unblockable, even for an FSU offensive line that was supposed to be a strength for the Seminoles this year.

Height is a redshirt junior who spent the last two seasons as a Trojan after transferring to L.A. from Auburn. For his career, he's made just 39 tackles with four sacks. And at times, injuries have been an issue for him.

Much was expected of Height when he came out of high school as a four-star recruit and the No. 24 outside linebacker in the nation in the class of 2020. However, he's yet to fulfill his massive potential.

As a true freshman at Auburn, he played in only one game while redshirting. In 2021, he saw action in nine games making 19 tackles and three tackles for loss.

Then, as a USC Trojan in 2022, he was able to play in only two games before a shoulder injury cost him the rest of the season. Last fall, he had his best showing as a Trojan with 20 tackles and four sacks in 12 games played.

It was interesting to watch Height impact the game against Florida State for the Yellowjackets. He was the best pass rusher for his team and despite not racking up a sack (Georgia Tech had only one on the game), he frequently collapsed the pocket and made it difficult for the Seminoles to throw the ball from the pocket comfortably. (He did get to the QB once but the sack was negated because he committed a facemask infraction.)

Could USC use a player like Height this year? Last season, USC was 47th nationally in sacks gained per game at 2.3 but there are questions about whether they can match those numbers this fall.

Jamil Muhammad is back after recording 6.5 sacks last season. However, most of his damage was done in the first half of the 2023 season as he faded down the stretch.

Meanwhile, Anthony Lucas will have a shot to shine at the other defensive end spot. Last year, the Texas A&M transfer played in all 13 games for the Trojans making only ten tackles.

In other words, there are no proven commodities at defensive end this year for the Trojans. Thus, having a player of Height's ability would be great.

Of course, there's nothing USC can do about that now and the pass rushers on the roster will have to step up and prove they are capable of being disruptive forces on a consistent basis. However, watching Height impact the game for Georgia Tech against the No. 10 team in the nation had to have USC fans thinking about what could have been if he had remained with the Trojans.