LOS ANGELES-Special players have a way of always rising to the occasion. The USC Trojans football team have several of those type of players. But for right now one player in particular has set the Pac-12 Conference ablaze with one spectacular game after another this season.
Wide receiver Nelson Agholor continues to amaze. The USC junior gave the Cal Bears a taste of his splendid play this season with another special performance against the Northern California visitors Thursday night at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. In a tune-up contest before they go up against Pac-12 and city rival UCLA, the Trojans backed Agholor’s 16 receptions, 216 yards and two touchdowns evening with a 38-30 win at home.
This coming on the heels of an eight-catch, 220-yards performance against Washington State. Agholor is the first Trojan in the history of the football program to record back-to-back 200-yards receiving games. Now that is pretty impressive when you consider the long list of standouts from that position that USC has produced. Agholor is yet another catching standout in a recent line of big-time players the Trojans have had at the wide receiver spot.
Robert Woods (Buffalo Bills), Marqise Lee (Jacksonville Jaguars), Dwayne Jarrett and Mike Williams and Kareem Kelly, to name a few, have manned the wide receiver position at USC and went on to professional football careers. And let’s not forget about Pro Football Hall of Fame member Lynn Swann. Agholor is following in their footsteps as a big-time Trojan playmaker.
Agholor gave Cal a complete game of making one big play after another for the Trojans. Agholor’s big-play ability is a huge reason why the Trojans have outscored their opponents by a margin of 129 points to 22 in the first quarter this season. It was no different for Agholor and the Trojans as they dispatched Cal under the lights with somewhat ease beginning with a 21-2 first quarter advantage enroute to a 31-9 halftime lead.
For a while, the game looked liked it was going to be a runaway in USC’s favor as the Trojans stormed out to a 31-2 lead at one point in the second quarter before Cal rallied late to make the contest much closer than it actually was. The Trojans built their huge lead in large part of Agholor’s penchant of getting open and making big plays. Let’s take the first drive of the game for the Trojans as an example. USC drove 85 yards for the game’s first score.
Agholor had a big hand in the drive, coming up with four catches for 56 yards, including a 10-yard scoring toss from quarterback Cody Kessler. His second touchdown came on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Kessler that put the Trojans up 28-2 in the second period. Agholor would have added to his game totals had not a holding penalty brought back a 78-yard touchdown he produced. As it was…it was still a special night for Agholor as he went over the 1,000 receiving yards plateau with his stupendous effort.
For the season, Agholor has caught 82 passes for 1, 079 yards and 10 touchdowns with two critical games remaining on the Trojans’ schedule. UCLA and Notre Dame will be no easy task to handle, but if Agholor continues his must-see TV-type of play, the Trojans should be fine against either opponent.
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com
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