USC football grabs transfer from former top WR recruit and son of NFL titan

Colorado Wide Receiver Brenden Rice has officially transferred to the USC football program.

You may remember the former four-star recruit, as he was offered by USC out of high school. He was in the class of 2020, as the No. 57 wide receiver recruit in the nation (all recruiting rankings and ratings in article are as of 247Sports). He also happens to be the son of who most consider to be the greatest wide receiver of all time in Jerry Rice.

Rice is now the third transfer wide receiver that the Trojans have been able to bring in this offseason. First was former four-star Terrell Bynum (Washington) and former four-star Mario Williams (Oklahoma). It was important for SC to bring in new receivers due to Drake London moving on to the NFL, and they are loading up on receiver talent this offseason.

Rice is great in the return game, running an 81-yard score back for a TD in his lone 2020 punt return, and averaging 27.6 yards per kick return this year (17 returns for 469 yards). He also has averaged 15.5 yards per reception in his first two years of college ball, and showed some ability to make plays on the ground too in 2021 (six carries for 54 yards).

Brenden Rice signing with USC football and Lincoln Riley is a match made in heaven.

You may see Brenden Rice receiving a lot of playing time for USC this year under Riley. Rice may not have had the best cumulative stats for Colorado last season (21 catches for 299 yards and three touchdowns), but he was in a legitimately horrible offense. Their system was even worse than Graham Harrell's.

Put Rice in a real offense under Riley, and he'll have the chance to really shine. He's a strong kid, and at 6'3", 205 pounds, he's got good size. He'll have the chance for significant playing time in Riley's spread, and here's a look at what SC has to work with at WR from 247Sports' Chris Trevino:

Some of these guys are very talented, and were blue chippers out of high school, but don't have the 14 games of experience that Rice has, especially considering that 2020 was a shortened year. That experience from Rice is crucial, and a benefit of being able to land guys out of the transfer portal.

SC's offense was first in total offense in the Pac-12 last year (at the end of the regular season), they just couldn't light up the scoreboard, proving many of those yards to be empty calories. Acquiring potential weapons like this for either Caleb Williams or Miller Moss is a great start in building our new offense.