The USC Trojans are a trendy pick to reach the 2017 College Football Playoff and it is very easy to see why. Clay Helton's team won its final nine (yes, nine) games of the 2016 season, including a wild victory over Penn State in the Rose Bowl. For good measure, the Trojans also might have the best returning quarterback in the country in Sam Darnold and expectations are justifiably high in advance of the campaign.
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However, the potential darlings of the Pac 12 suffered a real loss on Saturday, when freshman linebacker Tayler Katoa was ruled out for the entire 2017 season as a result of a torn ACL in his knee.
Related: Big Ten starter expected to miss at least six months after horrible injury
Katoa was a three-star prospect in the Class of 2017 and, as a result, he was not expected to be a part of USC's starting linebacking corps in his first season. However, the 6'2, 222-pound linebacker from Layton, Utah enrolled early in Los Angeles and he was expected to make a real impact on special teams during his true freshman campaign.
Because USC has a vast amount of talent, this should be an injury that does not violently affect the team's ceiling but it will be interesting to see how Katoa recovers with an eye toward the future. For now, the Trojans are left without a potentially helpful piece for the next several months.
