Shotgun Spratling and Chris Trevino are back together for a special behind-the-scenes edition of the Helium Boys Podcast. The Helium Boys work through the process of compiling and debating a post-fall camp re-rank of USCfootball.com's Top 30 Most Important Trojans' list.

For the last six seasons, the USCfootball.com staff has counted down the Top 30 Most Important Trojans in a series of offseason articles leading up to the kickoff of fall camp. Each year under Lincoln Riley, the USC roster has seen significant turnover each year making it a bit of a guessing game trying to figure out who is going to play and how valuable they are going to be toward the team's success, so we've incorporated a re-rank when the Trojans' football team makes the transition from fall camp to game preparation in the week leading up to the season opener.

Each USCfootball.com staff member submits his own list of whom he/she believes will be the most important Trojans. Considerations for the rankings take in a wide range of factors including positional depth, 2024 stats, overall talent, departures from the previous season, projected development and expectations. The only guidance we try to follow is that the most important factor for placement is if this particular player was lost for the season, how detrimental would it be to the team and the overall success of the season. The individual lists are submitted and compiled before Shotgun and Chris come together to sift through the information, debate and assemble the official USCfootball.com rankings.

In this podcast, the Helium Boys give you a peek behind the curtain, allowing you to listen in on the re-rankings discussion as we sift, sort and come up with the final preseason rankings. The re-rank includes several risers on the defensive side of the ball, including offensive linemen Tobias Raymond and Justin Tauanuu, as well as players whose importance declined whether through an inability to lock up a starting role or the emergence of other players.

Please review, rate and subscribe to the Peristyle Podcast on ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠!

Make sure you check out ⁠USCFootball.com⁠ for complete coverage of this USC Trojans basketball and football teams. 

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices