Prophet Brown injury update: Lincoln Riley reveals USC CB will miss beginning of 2025 season

USC cornerback Prophet Brown suffered a non-contact injury at practice and will miss the beginning of the season, according to USC head coach Lincoln Riley, via the LA Times‘ Ryan Kartje. Despite being a non-contact injury, which is often severe, Brown’s injury is not expected to be season-ending, per Riley.

Brown is headed into his fifth and final season of collegiate football. He has spent his entire career at USC, where he’s recorded 31 tackles and two pass deflections.

USC cornerback Prophet Brown suffered a non-contact injury at practice and will miss the beginning of the season, Lincoln Riley said today.

Tough break for a player who had been one of the standouts of camp.

— Ryan Kartje (@Ryan_Kartje) August 8, 2025

“I mean, he’s taken a big step and he’s one of the guys we trust the most on defense,” USC defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn said on Thursday about Brown. “He can play nickel, he can play corner. There’s actually been sometimes in a pinch where he can go play safety just because he knows what to do. Outside of Kamari [Ramsey], I would say that nobody on the backend quite knows the defense like him.”

Brown’s injury comes as a big blow to the USC defense, which ranked 15th in the Big Ten in yards allowed per game (377.1) and 12th in points allowed per game (24.1) last season. His absence now creates a path for redshirt seniors DJ Harvey, redshirt senior DeCarlos Nicholson and freshman Alex Graham to be the Trojans’ three premier defensive backs this season.

Paul Finebaum has ripped USC head coach Lincoln Riley all offseason

ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum labeled USC head coach Lincoln Riley as the coach under the most pressure in 2025. He did so on the July 10th edition of “Get Up.”

“Lincoln Riley,” Finebaum said in confidence. “And you asked the question, why? Because he has simply underperformed. He had a pretty decent first year, but since then, it has been very rocky. And quite frankly, I think he would already be gone if it wasn’t for about an $80 million buyout. Even for Southern Cal, that might be too much money.”

The 2025 season will mark the second for USC in the Big Ten conference following its jump from the sinking ship that was the Pac-12. Its 2024 campaign opened strong with a 27-20 win over No. 13 LSU in the Vegas Kickoff Classic, but it went just 4-5 in Big Ten play en route to an appearance in the Las Vegas Bowl.

This offseason, Riley promoted quarterbacks coach Luke Huard to offensive coordinator following the departure of Josh Henson to Purdue. USC also returns quarterback Jayden Maiava, who will replace Miller Moss(transferred to Louisville). Maiava passed for 1,201 yards, 11 touchdowns and six interceptions in seven games last season. 

Maiava shined in marquee games against Notre Dame and Texas A&M, passing for a combined 655 yards with seven touchdowns and five interceptions. However good he ends up being will be instrumental for a successful season at USC.

The Trojans open the season against Missouri State on August 30. The game is set for a 7:30 p.m. ET kick.