LOS ANGELES — It didn’t come in the form of some grand announcement, a big news conference or a video posted on social media. Instead, Lincoln Riley simply stated over Zoom on Monday morning, “No. He’s not gonna play,” when asked about Caleb Williams’ status for USC’s upcoming Holiday Bowl.

Nobody expected the reigning Heisman Trophy winner to play in the Trojans’ bowl game, and even though he’s yet to officially announce his declaration for the NFL Draft, that’s how the general public (with some help of reading between the lines) learned Williams’ time at USC basically has come to an end.

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Last week, Riley made the most significant hire of his head coaching career when he picked D’Anton Lynn to be his defensive coordinator. Fixing the defense will be USC’s most pressing priority this offseason. Figuring out the quarterback situation for 2024, the Trojans’ first season in the Big Ten, isn’t too far behind.

And with Riley’s acknowledgment that Williams won’t play in the Holiday Bowl, the quarterback dominos are starting to fall for USC.

Less than three weeks ago, Riley said he wasn’t in a position to say whether USC would pursue a quarterback in the transfer portal. The path forward is starting to come into focus as USC’s outlook at the position starts to take shape.

On Monday, after being linked to transfer quarterbacks earlier in the morning and during the weekend, Riley was asked about his approach to taking a transfer there.

“We’re going to look in the portal at some quarterbacks,” Riley said. “We’ll see how that thing unfolds. I like the guys we have in the room, but you also have a responsibility to the team to continue to look at potential people who can come in, make our room better and make our team better so not ready to say we’d for sure do anything.”

Riley dipping into the portal for a quarterback long has seemed like the Trojans’ most logical option at the position — for next season at the least. There’s no question that USC’s quarterbacks behind Williams — Miller Moss and Malachi Nelson — have a strong recruiting pedigree. But with a schedule that includes LSU and Notre Dame in nonconference play and an upcoming move to the Big Ten with games against Michigan, Penn State and Wisconsin, it seemed unlikely that Riley would roll with two unproven players as his only quarterback options.

Alabama and Ohio State entered this season with unknowns at quarterback. It’s just difficult to envision Riley doing the same given the talent he has coached at the position.

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There has been social media speculation about transfers like Washington State’s Cam Ward and Oklahoma’s Dillon Gabriel and reports about Kansas State’s Will Howard. Each is enticing for his own reasons.

Ward has a huge arm, is athletic, can play off schedule and has an extremely high ceiling. Gabriel possesses four seasons of starting experience and has produced at a high level at UCF and Oklahoma (152 total touchdowns in his career). Howard led Kansas State to a Big 12 championship in 2022 and is a steady player who provides a run element to the position, which Riley values.

There will be intense competition, from the likes of Ohio State and Oregon, for signal callers in the portal, but there are questions about each option, too. Ward lost eight fumbles this season (most among all FBS players) and threw seven interceptions. There are legitimate ball security/turnover concerns there.

Gabriel and Howard are solid, but it seemed like Oklahoma and Kansas State wanted to move on to their freshman QBs Jackson Arnold and Avery Johnson, respectively, pretty quickly. And though Howard is a solid runner, his career completion percentage is 58.8 percent so the passing game wouldn’t be as crisp.

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Two things can be true: 1) Whoever starts at quarterback is going to be a dropoff from Williams; and 2) Riley’s not above reproach, but it’s hard to question his quarterback judgment given his track record.

So if Riley sees something in these transfers, it’s probably for a good reason. Of course, whoever USC potentially brings in would have to beat out the internal options.

With Williams skipping the bowl game, Moss is in line to start for the first time in his three seasons at USC. He has completed 23 of 32 passes for 302 yards and a touchdown this season but hasn’t played much since the early portion of the schedule. Moss has been the backup for the past two seasons and was a top-100 prospect in the 2021 recruiting cycle.

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“I’ve been super pleased with Miller,” Riley said. “Just about his development, very, very excited for the way he’s progressed. I think he’s been really, really strong as the backup the past two years, and I think has gained a lot of momentum. I think he’s really improved as a player. I would like to have been able to play him a little more here the last couple years, but the opportunities he has had, he’s played well, he’s moved us well, which I think is no surprise. I fully expect him to be in the mix no matter what happens.”

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And there’s Nelson, a five-star freshman, who hasn’t played since he threw three passes in the season opener against San Jose State. Nelson was a top-15 prospect in the most recent recruiting cycle and has been viewed as Williams’ heir apparent in the past, but he underwent shoulder surgery on his non-throwing arm in January, which limited him in spring and has kind of delayed his progress.

“Malachi’s obviously a young guy. He’s got a world of talent,” Riley said. “He’s working hard. He’s had a few physical hurdles he’s had to overcome. It hasn’t been necessarily the smoothest of years, and a lot of it is out of his control, just trying to get back healthy where he can train and develop to the level that he wants and we all want him to. He’s certainly going to get there and has a bright future and has really battled for a lot of things. We’re eager to get him back completely healthy and back where he’s developing on a really fast track. I don’t think he’s far away from it but that’s been a little bit of a process.”

They’ll have the chance to compete, but if Riley believed he had next year’s starting quarterback on the roster, he likely would’ve been more definitive about it with his words when he has had the opportunity. And his actions — looking for a quarterback in the portal — clearly illustrate he wants something more at that position. With Williams’ time essentially coming to an end, USC’s 2024 quarterback picture is on its way to becoming a lot clearer.

(Top photo of Miller Moss: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Getty Images)

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