USC Football will be without more of their best players in Cotton Bowl

USC Football No. 1 Wide Receiver Jordan Addison and No. 1 Offensive Lineman Andrew Vorhees will both not be playing in the Cotton Bowl on January 2nd. As for Vorhees, Lincoln Riley told Trevor Booth of USCFootball.com that the First-Team All-American "is not going to be physically ready to play in the game, so he's going to turn his attention toward getting ready for the NFL Draft."

Vorhees, who was selected as a First-Team All-American by both the Associated Press and Pro Football Focus, is likely to be drafted within the first two rounds.

It's a bummer that he has to end his six-year USC career on the sideline due to an injury, but he will always be remembered for being a stud and trustworthy lineman for the Trojans, particularly in these last three seasons. He would have been drafted within the first two rounds last year if he came out for the NFL Draft as well.

As for Addison, he's decided to keep rehabbing his ankle injury that has been ongoing since he suffered the injury in Week 7 against Utah. Addison will likely be drafted in the first round of this upcoming NFL Draft if he chooses to enter. He is expected to enter the draft, and this decision to skip the bowl game adds to that expectation.

Jordan Addison and Andrew Vorhees join Brett Neilon, in the USC Football players who will not be playing in the Cotton Bowl.

USC Football's offense is most certainly going to be shaken up with the absence of Jordan Addison and Andrew Vorhees, especially with Neilon already being ruled out due to injury. (He, like Vorhees, is out of eligibility and will likely be drafted to the NFL this upcoming year as well.) SC already announced that Right Guard Justin Dedich will be playing Center to replace Neilon.

With Vorhees out at Left Guard, Jonah Monheim will likely be moving from Right Tackle to Left Guard. That means that Mason Murphy will likely slot in at Right Tackle. That's a tough lineup, as it really struggled when it needed to be used in the Pac-12 Championship Game. Dedich is strong at Center, and Monheim is strong at Left Guard, but Murphy remains a work in progress at Right Tackle.

As for the receivers, it will likely be easier to replace Addison because the position group is incredibly deep at SC. SC will simply go with a Mario Williams-Tahj Washington-Brenden Rice starting group instead of a Jordan Addison-Mario Williams-Tahj Washington starting group.

Obviously, SC would really like to go with the 2021 Biletnikoff winner in Addison, but they still have three other good receivers starting regardless of if he plays or not. Addison had 59 catches, 875 receiving yards, and eight receiving touchdowns despite missing two games and parts of two others. All three of those numbers led the team, but the other three in line to start had good seasons as well.

Williams had 34 catches for 596 yards and five touchdowns despite missing two games himself. Washington had 45 catches for 676 yards and six touchdown catches. That type of production coming from a No. 3 receiver is tremendous. It's similar to how Rice having 33 catches for 437 receiving yards and two touchdowns was tremendous production from a No. 4 receiver.

Caleb Williams is used to spreading the ball around. SC is 2-0 in games that Addison had to miss this year, and scored 41 and 45 points in those two outings. The receivers are deep enough to overcome Addison's absence. The offensive line is where there is concern. Luckily, however, SC will be playing a Tulane defensive front that is terrible.

Tulane is tied for just 106th in America with 60 tackles for loss. Tulane is also tied for just 85th in the country with 24 sacks. So, this is a matchup that SC could potentially afford to miss out on their top two O-Linemen for. SC will likely be slight favorites in the game despite these three losses.