Sports
Gavin Meyer's portal patience has paid off for USC in its defensive makeover
The window was quickly closing last May, the pool of available transfers nearly set for next season, and Lincoln Riley had yet to land the interior lineman he and USC’s defense still desperately needed.
Damonic Williams, one of the top young defensive tackles in the Big 12, was headed to Oklahoma. Derick Harmon, a 320-pound behemoth previously at Michigan State, chose Oregon. Within two days in May, two of the most coveted tackles in the transfer portal were out of reach. Others were finding homes fast. Time was running out to find a fit.
For Gavin Meyer, though, there was no real hurry. The Wyoming grad transfer had waited until the last possible moment to enter the portal, just barely beating the May 1 deadline. In part because he was graduating that week in Laramie, Wyo., where he’d spent the last four years. But also Meyer understood his circumstances made finding the right situation especially important. He didn’t want to just be a depth piece added to some defense at the eleventh hour.
“I think that’s 100% in people’s thoughts in the transfer portal,” Meyer said. “You have to find your right fit. There’s so many things that go into that. With players on the team, how many guys they have on the team, but also the coaching staff. As long as you’re in the portal and you have the right intentions, a lot of people see through a lot of stuff.”
USC had already added a transfer tackle in January, Isaiah Raikes, just to see him jump ship after spring. No matter how perilously thin the Trojans were on the interior, Riley didn’t want to add for the sake of adding, either.
The previous cycle had been “a good reminder,” Riley said later, of how adding a poor fit from the portal could be “one of the most damaging things you can do.” This time, he and his USC staff were intent on “bringing in the right guys from the portal, not just the right body types or right experience level.”
In Meyer, Riley and his new defensive coordinator, D’Anton Lynn, felt right away they’d found a combination of all three. Even if he’d never had the chance to prove it at the power conference level.
“He was one of the very, very few,” Riley said, “who checked all the boxes for us.”
USC is looking like a potential playoff team while UCLA is still trying to get on its feet.
Meyer has so far delivered on that initial confidence, even unexpectedly unseating the Trojans incumbent, all-conference defensive tackle, Bear Alexander, to earn a starting spot through the first two weeks. During that time, Meyer and Alexander have rotated evenly at tackle, playing roughly the same number of snaps (Meyer’s 49 to Alexander’s 48). But where Meyer has earned universal early acclaim from coaches, the tone surrounding Alexander has been decidedly different since he sat out most of spring nursing an injury.
While Riley has praised his progress, the coach also made note before the season how Alexander “is still very young on the football field.”
“Bear has a long ways to go,” he said.
Meyer, meanwhile, made clear to Lynn upon first meeting him that he’d have no trouble picking up the Trojans new defensive scheme. For more than an hour on his visit, they talked about the finer points of defense, while Lynn rolled tape, peppering Meyer with questions.
“We’re talking Xs and O’s, concepts,” Meyer said. “He’s asking me, ‘What do you see here? What do you see here?’ And we’re going back and forth, back and forth on all that stuff.”
It was an eye-opening exchange for Meyer.
“That was the moment when I was like, ‘Yep, sounds about right,’” Meyer said. “Everything I’d heard about him and how he perceives the game of football was exactly how I see it.”
And in Meyer, Lynn saw something USC’s defense was desperately missing a season ago: a consistent presence on the interior.
It didn’t matter that he’d arrived on campus only this summer. Or that his experience at Wyoming was spent primarily in a part-time role.
“From the very first practice, he was just on it,” Lynn said. “From the fronts, the adjustments, the pressures, seeing how he picked it up that fast was super impressive.”
Meyer’s role on the interior should only prove more integral from here, with Michigan, the defending national champs, looming next Saturday and a slate of beefy Big Ten fronts fast approaching after that.
But so far, the fit at USC has been everything he — and his coaches — could have hoped for, considering how late they’d found each other.
“Just in the perfect place,” Meyer said with a smile. “The perfect place to get better.”
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If the Super Bowl marks the end of the NFL season, WrestleMania is when WWE’s year is over.
There is no offseason in WWE, and when waves of departures hit the company, it hits harder than a Gunther knife-edge chop.
Uncle Howdy, Erick Rowan, Dexter Lumis, Joe Gacy, and Nikki Cross appear during SmackDown at First Horizon Center in Savannah, Ga., on May 23, 2025. (Rich Freeda/WWE)
Fightful and BodySlam both reported several superstars who left WWE on Friday ahead of “Friday Night SmackDown.” Some wrestlers confirmed their departures on social media.
Those who left included: Alba Fyre, Aleister Black, Alex Shelley, Andre Chase, Apollo Crews, Bo Dallas, Chris Island, Chris Sabin, Dante Chen, Dexter Lumis, Erick Rowan, Joe Gacy, Kairi Sane, Luca Crusifino, Malik Blade, Nikki Cross, Santos Escobar, Sirena Linton, Trill London, Tyra Mae Steele, Tyriek Igwe, Tyson Dupont, Zelina Vegas and Zoey Stark.
The WWE roster is loaded as it is with several NXT stars getting called up this week.
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Sol Ruca made her presence felt on Raw on Monday when she challenged women’s champion Liv Morgan. The Fatal Influence faction of Jacy Jayne, Lainey Reid and Fallon Henley took aim at the women’s tag team division on SmackDown on Friday. Ricky Saints and Blake Monroe also had vignettes for their upcoming appearances.
Meanwhile, former NXT champion Oba Femi has been on main WWE programming for the last few weeks and beat Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 42.
Kairi Sane enters the ring during Monday Night RAW at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif., on April 13, 2026. (Rich Freeda/WWE)
Aleister Black and Zelina Vega make their way to the ring during SmackDown at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 3, 2026. (Craig Melvin/WWE)
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It’s not the end of the road for any of the recent departures. Several former WWE stars have made waves elsewhere. Some have even returned over the course of time.
Pitching coach Gus Rico was having dinner on Thursday when head coach Matt Mowry of Birmingham High complimented him on closer Aidan Martinez recording all seven of his outs on strikeouts.
“I had no idea,” Rico said. “Everything is a blur when I’m calling pitches.”
Martinez is throwing some blurs these days after returning this season following Tommy John surgery in June 2024. He touched 92 mph with his fastball and has been improving each week, getting better command and walking fewer batters. He has 28 strikeouts in 15 innings and three saves.
Birmingham is one game behind El Camino Real in the West Valley League standings going into showdown week, playing El Camino Real on Wednesday at on the road and Friday at home. The Patriots need a sweep to have a chance at their first league title under Mowry, who prefers winning City titles.
With Martinez throwing so well, it would be a good strategy for opposing teams to make sure they are leading going into the last two innings.
“He’s got a bright future,” Rico said.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
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Earlier this month, Michigan defeated UConn in the NCAA men’s basketball national championship game.
Shortly after the Wolverines captured the program’s first title since 1989, Michigan forward Morez Johnson Jr. announced he would enter the NBA Draft.
Despite declaring for the NBA Draft, Johnson has maintained his NCAA eligibility throughout the process. However, he has until May 27 to withdraw if he plans to return for his junior season.
Johnson played for Illinois during the 2024-25 season before transferring to Michigan last offseason.
Michigan’s Morez Johnson Jr. walks on the court against UConn at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis April 6, 2026. (Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated)
After joining Michigan, Johnson quickly emerged as a key contributor, averaging the second-most points on the team. He also led the Wolverines in rebounding, averaging 7.3 per game.
Michigan head coach Dusty May eventually dubbed Johnson “The Enforcer” and “Junkyard Dog,” a nod to his tenacity on the defensive end. Johnson was named to the Big Ten’s All-Defensive Team.
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But Johnson’s offensive prowess didn’t take a back seat to his defensive strengths. His shooting from beyond the 3-point line showed improvement as the season progressed.
Morez Johnson Jr. of the Michigan Wolverines cuts down the net after defeating the UConn Huskies 69-63 in the 2026 NCAA national championship game in Indianapolis April 6, 2026. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Many early NBA projections gave Johnson a first-round grade. It’s unclear how much name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation he would command if he returns to Michigan or transfers elsewhere.
Johnson has been active on social media, interacting with teammates as they consider returning to Michigan for another championship push.
Morez Johnson Jr. of the Michigan Wolverines celebrates after scoring in the second half against the UConn Huskies during the 2026 NCAA national championship at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis April 6, 2026. (Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
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Michigan added a key piece this week, with Jalen Reed transferring from LSU, On3 reported. Reed was limited during the 2025-26 season by an Achilles injury.
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