The numbers behind USC's offseason weight gains
USC’s new defensive staff has earned a ton of attention this offseason. The Trojans brought in a new defensive coordinator in D’Anton Lynn as well as well-regarded position coaches in Eric Henderson, Matt Entz and Doug Belk. The Trojans also have stepped up their recruiting in a big way, scoring a five-star flip this past weekend and now sitting with the No. 3 2025 recruiting class. But those two significant advancements for the program might still check in behind the size gains up and down the USC roster when it comes to significant offseason developments.
Head coach Lincoln Riley spoke at the end of last season about needing to get bigger everywhere, but especially along the defensive line. And he mentioned it several more times between the Holiday Bowl and the start of spring ball. The updated spring roster provided some evidence that players had put on weight as the number of 300-pound linemen ballooned and some of the first-year freshmen were up significantly. There was a huge focus on nutrition as players truly bought into eating right this offseason.
The strength staff, led by USC Director of Football Sports Performance Bennie Wylie got direction from the football staff and a big assist from the nutrition department. To this point, it seems to have been a tremendously productive offseason for the Trojans.
On Wednesday, USC Director of Sports Nutrition Rachel Suba provided some specific numbers when it comes to USC’s offseason progress. She posted several graphics relating to the overall weight gain, muscle gain and fat loss for each position group.
Here’s a look at her numbers:
| Position Group | Weight Gain in lbs. | Muscle Gain in lbs. | Fat Loss in lbs. |
| Offensive Line | 132 | 90.4 | 15 |
| Defensive Line | 354 | 86.8 | 16.1 |
| Quarterback | 5 | 10 | 11.2 |
| Running Back | 9 | 25 | 11.9 |
| Wide Receiver | 36 | 32 | 37.3 |
| Tight End | 42 | 9 | 0 |
| Linebacker | 57 | 33 | 9.7 |
| Cornerback | 65 | 16 | 2 |
| Safety | 69 | 36 | 14.9 |
| Specialists | 25 | 29 | 28.5 |
USC Associate Director of Sports Performance Caesar Martinez provided some before and after shots of early enrollee defensive end Kameryn Fountain, quarterback Miller Moss and rising sophomore Braylan Shelby.
