USC steps into its matchup against TCU with a one-off version of its roster just as it did in the two previous bowl games under Lincoln Riley. The Trojans had enough to dominate the Holiday Bowl in 2023 and come back to take the Las Vegas Bowl in 2024. The nature of college football has made this time of year one in which the final game a team plays serves as both the punctuation to the current season as well as the midwife to the upcoming campaign.
There will be players USC deploys for the final time against TCU as well as Trojans auditioning for bigger roles in 2026. Regulars like Christian Pierce and Desman Stephens II get one last game before they build off their first season of heavy usage as college players. Players like wide receivers Tanook Hines and potentially his fellow freshmen Corey Simms and Romero Ison get four quarters to glimpse things to come for Trojan fans in 2026.
We've worked our way through each position group and taken a roster snapshot of both USC's Alamo Bowl team and one of the next season with the No. 1 high school recruiting class set to impact virtually every position group starting in January. We close it out with a look at every program's most crucial room.
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Here are the players USC did not confirm with an individual announcement about a 2026 return:
QB **Husan Longstreet**TE **Joey Olsen**TE **Carson Tabaracci**OL Aaron Dunn
OL **Alex Payne**OL **Alani Noa**OL **Elijah Vaikona**DL **Jide Abasiri**LB **Ta'Mere Robinson**DB **Alex Graham**DB **James Johnson**K Caden Chittenden
The Bowl Look
USC retained its scholarship roster for the bowl game: