LOS ANGELES -- USC Head Coach Lincoln Riley brought some unfortunate news to the media after Tuesday afternoon's practice, as sophomore cornerback Chasen Johnson will miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury.
"He'll end up missing the rest of the year. We're really disappointed with that," Coach Riley said.
Johnson, who transferred from Central Florida, had been dealing with a knee injury dating back to fall camp and was cleared to play against Purdue, but he would later re-injure that same knee in West Lafayette after playing just 21 defensive snaps in the 33-17 win against the Boilermakers. In his short 2025 stint, Johnson missed the first game of the season against Missouri State and played very few snaps against Georgia Southern before getting the most reps he's had as a member of the Trojans against Purdue.
Before Coach Riley confirmed that Johnson would miss the remainder of the season, it was apparent that this injury would put Johnson out of action for a while, as he came out to practice on a mobility scooter.
The defensive back room for the Trojans was an area in the Trojans' lineup heading into fall camp that was looked at positively due to their abundance of depth and talent, but injuries, especially to the cornerback room, have put a question mark on the future of how USC will navigate this tough stretch of injuries. Johnson is not the only one dealing with injuries; freshman Braylon Conley recently suffered a wrist injury during Saturday's contest and came out to Tuesday's practice with his left wrist wrapped, and freshman RJ Sermons is also dealing with an injury of his own.
Alongside the hefty list of injuries, Prophet Brown and True freshman Alex Graham have been sidelined since fall camp, but are expected to come back before the season concludes.
Regardless of injuries, the Trojans have rotated their depth of the position between Conley, DeCarlos Nicholson, Marcelles Williams, and DJ Harvey, with Harvey playing in the season opener, Conley in game two, and Williams in game three, but the veteran Nicholson has been the standing constant, starting in all three games so far for USC.