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LOS ANGELES — For three years, USC’s running back room has been a transfer-portal carousel of workhorses under Lincoln Riley.
In 2023, it was former South Carolina back MarShawn Lloyd stepping in for a breakout season, by way of the portal, when former Oregon transfer Travis Dye graduated. In 2024, it was former Mississippi State back Woody Marks stepping in for a breakout season, by way of the portal, when Lloyd went. In 2025, returning Quinten Joyner seemed poised to snap the cycle, a twitchy back who had been in Riley’s system for two years and earned nothing but public praise from USC’s staff.
In the biggest early loss of USC’s offseason, though, Joyner is transferring, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to the Southern California News Group. USC will turn back to the portal for a lead back again in 2025. The only returning running backs are freshman Bryan Jackson and redshirt-freshman A’Marion Peterson, who have combined for 26 total carries.
Since the close of 2023, Joyner seemed poised to land a larger role in Riley’s offense. After USC’s spring game, Riley lauded Joyner as “way, way different” from the previous fall, saying he’d made a “big jump” in limiting mental mistakes and taking snaps without the ball in his hands.
“A lot of progress, a lot of confidence,” Riley said, then. “I mean, hard not to imagine him being a big part of our offense this year.”
Joyner, 5-foot-11, 211-pounds, finished with a solid 478 yards on the ground in 12 games, popping 7.6 yards a carry. He ran for 84 yards and two touchdowns as part of a bruising two-RB tandem with Marks in a win over Utah State, and broke off a 75-yard touchdown in a loss to Penn State. When Marks went down in USC’s regular-season-ending loss to Notre Dame, Joyner filled in admirably, running for 83 yards on 10 carries in a potential showcase of his 2025 role.
Beyond those highlights, though, the former Texas high school star was often relegated to spot duty, recording 10 carries in a game just twice. After losing a crucial fumble in a midseason loss to Minnesota, Joyner received just three carries in each of his next three games.
“The confidence, I think, is growing in Quinten,” Riley said in late October. “He’s a guy we’d like to get more opportunities. He’s got to continue to become a better player when the ball is not in his hands. But I think he is, and our confidence is growing in him.”
Ultimately, Joyner never quite found a consistent role in USC’s backfield. And a potential piece in the Trojans’ future has drifted away, the carousel of USC backs all but certain to continue into next fall.
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