It had been three long weeks since the No. 19 Trojans endured a major hole, missing in their receiving unit. That missing piece was none other than freshman receiver Trent Mosley.
The Santa Margarita (Calif.) product began his USC career in great fashion, finding the endzone at least once in each of his first three games. But in the same game against Louisiana, where he had a big 86-yard touchdown punt return, Mosley suffered an injury that would sideline him for multiple weeks.
After initially being listed as questionable, Mosley took the field with the Trojans' offense in their opening drive against Penn State. The rest was simply pure Mosley magic, and it was as if he had never missed a beat.
His performance against the Nittany Lions earned him Big Ten weekly honors.
Trent Mosley Earns Big Ten Honors
Mosley was awarded the Big Ten Freshman Player of the Week after his performance at Penn State. He recorded nine catches for 111 yards and one touchdown.
The award is the first Big Ten weekly honor of his career. This also comes a week after Trojan defensive end Luke Wafle earned the same recognition a week ago for his stellar outing against Washington at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Mosley and Wafle were also among the five players featured in On3’s Charles Power’s Week 6 True Freshman Standouts.
Wafle had five tackles against Penn State, including three solo tackles, one sack, and 1.5 tackles for loss.
“I just provide my hard work and my ability that God blessed me with to do on the field,” Mosley said. “It felt great (to silence the Penn State crowd). I know everyone talks about how it’s a big deal, so it’s pretty good to play in it. I’m glad we got out of here and were able to silence them.”
Trent Mosley’s Impact Against Penn State
The Trojans looked like a different team in front of a loud and rowdy Happy Valley crowd. Quarterback Jayden Maiava looked poised and in control, targeting Mosley from the start.
Mosley caught two passes on their opening drive, including a 19-yard touchdown catch to open the score.
Fast forward to the fourth, and the Trojans were ahead by one point, 24-23. Mosley came in clutch with two big plays in the drive. The first came off a crucial third down, when Mosley caught the first down on a slant.
Two plays later, Maiava lobbed the ball up to Mosley, who was tightly guarded by Penn State cornerback Josiah Zayas. He managed to extend his arms for a 21-yard catch, setting up the Trojans in scoring position. Maiava capitalized on the drive with a touchdown pass to receiver Kayden Dixon-Wyatt to extend the lead to 31-23.
“It definitely sucked, you know, watching (the team) go give their all and I just can’t do nothing,” Mosley said of the time he missed. “It’s just great to be back, just staying on everything and training to be ready. I didn’t want to have a wake-up game or a lag game, so that was my goal.”
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