USC Trojans News: Hardware for Tuli Tuipulotu, Tony Grimes visit, more

Stud USC Football Defensive Lineman Tuli Tuipulotu has officially won the 2022 Polynesian College Football Player of the Year award. Tuipulotu adds to the long line and tradition of dominant performance from Polynesian players at USC, as he led the Power 5 in tackles for loss (21) and led the entire nation in sacks (12.5).

Tuipulotu was a unanimous All-American this year after likely playing himself into the second round of the NFL Draft at the latest, and playing himself into countless other honors such as Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.

Tuipulotu had all those sacks and tackles for loss despite having to play three different positions--Defensive Tackle, Defensive End, and Mike Linebacker--for a USC defense he had to bail out consistently.

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North Carolina Defensive Back in the transfer portal, Tony Grimes, is visiting USC Football this weekend. This is huge, as SC desperately needs DB help, as they have lost depth at the position group. Mekhi Blackmon is out of eligibility, and Jayden Williams and Xavion Alford have hit the transfer portal. Grimes had 36 tackles, seven PDs, and a forced fumble last season for the Tar Heels.

Grimes is a big-time talent who was the No. 1 player in all of Virginia coming out of the 2020 recruiting class (all recruiting ratings and rankings in article are as of 247Sports). The five-star prospect was the No. 3 cornerback in the country and the No. 28 overall player in the nation. The hope would be that he's the next Blackmon for USC out of the transfer portal.

NCAA News

Early Signing Day for college football is on Wednesday, which will be one of the biggest days of the year for USC Football. SC currently has the No. 14 recruiting class in the country, with 19 commits. Lincoln Riley has already said that he plans to sign somewhere in the mid-20s range of high school players this year.

Perhaps some of those four to seven recruits he still hasn't signed will either commit before Wednesday, or commit on Wednesday and sign. There could still be players signing after that, and also could still be transfer portal pickups that Riley could look to make from now until even after spring football.