LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥� Southern California starting center Kilian O’Connor will miss the upcoming season due to injury.
Head coach Lincoln Riley announced O’Connor’s injury Thursday at new $225 million Bloom Football Performance Center. Riley wasn’t specific about the nature of O’Connor’s setback, only calling it a non-contact 鈥渇reak injury鈥� that required surgery.
鈥淭ough one for us, I think more than anything from an emotional standpoint,鈥� Riley said.
O’Connor started seven games last season as a redshirt junior in his first year on scholarship at USC. He was expected to anchor the Trojans’ offensive line again this fall in his fifth year in the program.
USC had hoped to return its entire starting offensive line from last season’s 9-4 team, but O’Connor’s injury will prevent it. Riley has said the Trojans have more depth on their offensive line than at any other point in his five-year tenure.
Riley wasn’t immediately sure how the Trojans will replace O’Connor. Guard Tobias Raymond has played center in spring practice at USC, filling in when O’Connor was slowed by previous injuries.
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