Sept. 16, 2026 Updated 6:50 PM PT

Trent Mosley, USC’s rising star freshman receiver, will miss this week’s Big Ten opener against Rutgers and could be out an extended period of time after suffering an injury during the Trojans’ Week 2 win over Louisiana.

USC coach Lincoln Riley said that he doesn’t expect Mosley to be out “extremely long term,” but that any timeline for his return was “still a little inconclusive … depending on how he responds.”

Riley didn’t offer any details on the nature of the injury, but he said that it became clear after USC’s 49-30 win over Louisiana that “there was something we needed to get looked at.” Mosley still spoke to reporters after the game.

The freshman receiver appeared to favor his right knee after reeling in a third-quarter touchdown, then jogged gingerly over to the USC sideline. On the TV broadcast, USC trainers were seen looking closely at his knee.

Mosley had exploded onto the scene in his first three games at USC, with 13 catches for 255 yards and four touchdowns. He even added an electric 86-yard punt return for a score last Saturday, capping a three-week debut that appeared to announce the freshman as one of the most dynamic weapons in college football.

Now he’ll miss at least one game — and almost certainly more — at a time when the Trojans are about to enter the toughest stretch of their schedule. Being down such a dynamic player shouldn’t matter against Rutgers. But it might just over a week from now, when USC will welcome Oregon for a critical Big Ten matchup at the Coliseum.

Mosley missed the early portion of last season at Rancho Santa Margarita High while dealing with a foot injury, but Santa Margarita coach Carson Palmer told The Times earlier this month that it was “a very minor deal” and the team was being “super patient with him”.

The year before that, Palmer said, Mosley played through a high ankle injury.

“He’s just as tough as they come,” Palmer said.

Two other top receivers who started the season banged up, Tanook Hines and Terrell Anderson, were not on USC’s initial availability report for the week.