USC LB Eric Gentry out with injury against Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS — It wasn’t long into Easton Mascarenas-Arnold’s time at USC before he and Mason Cobb started calling themselves yin-yang, the two-man balance at linebacker at the heart of the Trojans’ defense.

If Cobb was down, Mascarenas-Arnold could pick him up. Vice versa. Two complementary spirits. They have found stability, though, in part next to the emergence of a third force, the 6-foot-6 Eric Gentry bringing fire and versatility and production unmatched across most of the nation at large.

“Shoot, I got all confidence when he’s on the field,” Mascarenas-Arnold said of Gentry after USC’s Week 1 win over LSU. “As an offense, I know they’re looking out there like, ‘Damn, they got a 6-foot-6 linebacker, like, I know he’s a threat.’”

He would pose no threat against Minnesota on Saturday, because Gentry wasn’t in the lineup, a massive blow for USC’s defense that’s been largely anticipated since he was carted off in the fourth quarter of USC’s win over Wisconsin last week. In one man sidelined, USC went without its leading tackler and tackler-for-loss and sack artist against Minnesota – placing the onus on the Yin-Yang brothers to stay in balance without him.

“It changes some things, certainly not everything. … I’d still venture to say, you know, 80 to 90 percent of what we’re going to do, we’re probably going to do whether he’s there or not,” Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley said of Gentry’s injury Thursday. “And so we do have a lot of confidence in the other guys at those positions.”

With senior Raesjon Davis out as well after deciding to redshirt, freshmen Desman Stephens II and Elijah Newby stood as next in line on USC’s depth chart behind starters. Gentry’s absence, though, provided a sudden opportunity for junior Anthony Beavers Jr., a former safety who’s played sparingly this season but played in Gentry’s weakside-linebacker spot during practice in the week’s preparation.

Makai Lemon, Akili Arnold return

Two weeks after a brutal blindside hit on a special-teams play knocked sophomore receiver Makai Lemon out for the following week’s contest against Wisconsin, he was back in uniform Saturday against Minnesota, a boost for USC’s young receiver room.

Arnold, too, was active and back in his starting spot next to Kamari Ramsey at safety after also exiting against Michigan and missing the Wisconsin win. It was a pivotal bill of health for USC, as Oregon State transfer Arnold had previously worn the defense’s green dot for in-helmet communication with defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn.

“It was on different guys all throughout camp,” Lynn said in early September of the choice to dub Arnold with the in-game comms, “and we just felt like Akili ended up being the right person to have it on.”

No more right-guard rotation

After Alani Noa and redshirt-freshman Amos Talalele spent much of USC’s past two games switching across various series, Riley said he didn’t “necessarily have a preference” on keeping the rotation intact or naming a permanent starter at right guard.

In Saturday’s first half against Minnesota, though, Riley and offensive-line coach Josh Henson sent Noa out every series, a show of faith in a sophomore with obvious promise but had his share of struggles in USC’s 3-1 start.

“He’s played physical, he’s certainly, he’s improved so much mentally,” Riley said of Noa, a couple weeks ago. “His communication skills in there have really improved. Our guys have gotten comfortable playing with him.”