USC Football poaches major upgrade on D-Line from Pac-12 opponent

USC Football has found a transfer portal pickup in the now-former Arizona Defensive Lineman Kyon Barrs. The acquisition happened on Wednesday, and was a major pickup for the Trojans. Barrs is not only a player at a position of need, but a legit upgrade at that. SC lost D-Lineman Kobe Pepe to the transfer portal, and needed a body to replace him as depth.

SEE MORE: USC football’s most dominant defenders of all-time, ranked

They got much more than that, in a player who was a Second-Team All-Pac 12 selection in 2021. Barrs was rewarded with that selection after a 33-tackle campaign where he had eight tackles for loss and five sacks. This year, he only had 4.5 tackles for loss and didn't have any sacks, but had more tackles at 39.

He's a massive upgrade over Pepe, who had no tackles this year and just three in his three-year career at SC.

While the goal is not to compare him to Pepe, the point is that with other Defensive Linemen like Nick Figueroa, Brandon Pili, and likely Tuli Tuipulotu leaving, SC does not have much depth on the line. Then they lost another in Pepe who was going to be competing for the 2023 playing time that is now available with the other players leaving. They replaced that competition for playing time in Pepe with Barrs, which is a big upgrade.

New USC Football DL Kyon Barrs had played in 22 out of the 24 possible games these last two years for Arizona.

Durability has been a major problem for many players on USC Football's defensive line at times since 2018, and Kyon Barrs is a durable player. Barrs is from Murrieta, California, and attended Murrieta Mesa for high school. He told 247Sports Recruiting Insider and Analyst Greg Biggins that USC was his "dream school."

“I'm grateful for all the schools that recruited me but getting the opportunity to be a part of my dream football program is an opportunity I can't pass up,” said Barrs.

Tyrone Taleni will likely start at Defensive Tackle, as he quietly had a fine season and was selected by AP as a Second-Team All-Conference player. Barrs will absolutely have the chance to compete for the starting Nose Tackle spot, however, along with Stanley Ta'ufo'ou and Jamar Sekona.