USC benefits from good health. Arizona State isn’t so lucky

TEMPE, Ariz. — He was a man of mystery, the only clues to his identity were his last name “Herrera” on the back of a maroon-and-gold jersey, a look through Arizona State’s roster for his number-18 revealing two players not named Herrera.

Hunter Herrera, however, did in fact exist. Just listed under a different number on ASU’s roster. And the jersey switch made sense, Herrera warming up alongside Arizona State’s other active quarterbacks before their tilt with USC Saturday night, because the Arizona Republic reported the kid had just hastily tugged on his jersey during a depressing 29-0 loss to Fresno State last week — forced into potential action amid a drastic rash of injuries.

Suddenly, walk-on Herrera — by all accounts a standout quarterback at Citrus Valley High — was ASU’s third-string quarterback. Out was freshman starter Jaden Rashada, and out was prospective replacement Trenton Bourguet, leaving ASU to bank on the health of Notre Dame transfer Drew Pyne or turn to fourth-string BYU transfer Jacob Conover. Or, heck, Herrera.

“We don’t know they QB situation right now,” USC linebacker Eric Gentry said on Tuesday, “but we’re really ready to play football and just see what happens.”

The situation Saturday was Pyne, thankfully for ASU healthy Saturday, a quarterback who’d given USC’s defense notable fits when Notre Dame came to town last season. But he couldn’t get anything going through the air in Arizona State’s first quarter — going 0-for-3 for exactly 0 passing yards — in part because of the corresponding injury bug that had decimated ASU’s offensive line, leaving the Sun Devils again without much of their planned front opening the season.

For all ASU’s lack of luck, USC received mostly a clean bill of health heading into Mountain America Stadium on Saturday. In addition to linebacker Mason Cobb’s return, the Trojans’ defense got another health boost with the return of defensive lineman Tyrone Taleni, who hasn’t played this season.

Amid all the buzz over the Trojans’ transfer-portal-overhaul on the defensive line, Taleni’s recovery had flown deep under the radar — but the Western Samoa native was a major contributor for USC in 2022 on the interior. He started the last nine games of the season, finishing in a three-way tie for second on the Trojans in tackles for loss (7.5). Taleni had been dealing with a plantar fascia injury, coach Lincoln Riley said, and his recovery had accelerated over the bye week.

“We’ll be excited to have him back, another big body in there,” Riley told media Thursday. “Another guy, I think, kinda along the lines of Stanley (Ta’ufo’ou) and (De’Jon) Benton, a few of those guys that we really feel like … have really improved.”

Taleni may have a tough time forcing his way back in the Trojans’ mix of nose tackles and interior force through the rest of the year, however. Georgia transfer Bear Alexander has entrenched himself at the nose tackle, while Stanley Ta’ufo’ou and Jack Sullivan have been rotating in and out.

In another good sign for USC, junior cornerback Jacobe Covington and freshman wide receiver Makai Lemon, both of whom didn’t dress for the Trojans’ previous game against Stanford, were active on Saturday against ASU. Lemon has seemed like an ideal candidate for a redshirt in a crowded USC receiver room, but Riley still has a game to work with after Saturday to make that decision — and Lemon made the most of limited first-half time in Tempe, coming up with a huge second-quarter onside-kick return to put USC in terrific field position.