With Walker Lyons, Lake McRee out, who is USC's Alamo Bowl tight end?

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On Wednesday, Trojan fans got the unfortunate news that up-and-coming young tight end Walker Lyons is leaving the USC football team via the transfer portal this offseason.

Lyons’ departure means that USC has now lost both of its top two tight ends this offseason. Starting tight end Lake McRee is out of eligibility, graduating, and set to enter the 2026 NFL draft.

Alamo Bowl agony

That creates a very immediate roster problem for the Trojans, who have to field a team to play in the Alamo Bowl against TCU on December 30.

USC has starters or at least prominent role players from their 2025 roster set to play in the bowl game at basically every position. Tight end is now the one exception.

Who is going to play tight end for the Trojans against the Horned Frogs? Remember, McRee and Lyons saw nearly all of the action for USC at tight end this season: they made 50 of the 51 catches by Trojan tight ends this season.

Well, let’s talk about it.

The rest of USC’s tight end roster

Apart from McRee and Lyons, USC has 5 tight ends listed on its 2025 roster. Those players are Joey Olsen, Carson Tabaracci, Walter Matthews, Fisher Melton and Taniela Tupou.

None of those players have announced that they are entering the transfer portal, nor have they been listed by Lincoln Riley as a non-participant in the bowl due to injury.

Who among that group is highest on the depth chart?

Carson Tabaracci has essentially been USC’s third string tight end this season. He has the only catch by a USC tight end not named McRee or Lyons: a 9-yard touchdown catch against Missouri State. He has also been a contributor on special teams; he appeared in 9 games for the Trojans this season.

Tabaracci actually has stepped up and made a big play for the Trojans in a bowl game before. In USC’s 2023 Holiday Bowl win against Louisville, Tabaracci had a 32-yard reception, the only other catch of his college career.

Tabaracci was the only Trojan tight end to make a catch in that game.

#JoeyOlsenIsElite?

One of my favorite USC content creators, @TheTrojanBlade, has repeatedly posted on social media since USC tight end Joey Olsen enrolled at USC in 2024 that he believes Olsen is, secretly, an elite football player. Before every game, he posts that he believes this game is the game where his #JoeyOlsenIsElite agenda will come to fruition.

It’s mostly an inside joke/tradition that Trojan fans can count on to bring a smile to their face before every game. But ahead of the Alamo Bowl, could Olsen actually get a chance to prove himself in a game, for real?

Background

Olsen was a very good high school player, a four star recruit ranked the No. 1 player in the state of Oregon out of high school in 2023 and one of the top 20 tight ends in the country by multiple outlets.

He also just became a potentially key part of USC’s future with so many question marks in the tight end room. Will this be his proving ground?

We’ll find out. I do know one thing for sure: if he has a great game, no one will be happier than @TheTrojanBlade. He’s already posting about it:

Next season

The Trojans do have plenty of tight end talent coming in via the 2026 recruiting class. Mark Bowman is considered by many to be a generational talent, and Josiah Jefferson is the No. 1 junior college tight end in the country.

I do think that now that Lyons is leaving they should look to add a veteran TE in the transfer portal, just because you never know how a freshman is going to pan out. But the fact of the matter remains that the 2026 tight end room, as it stands, will have plenty of talent.

But of course, that doesn’t help for the Alamo Bowl.

Proving ground for USC’s wide receivers?

USC is also losing its top two wide receivers this offseason, both to the NFL draft: Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane. Neither will be available for the Alamo Bowl.

With McRee and Lyons also both now officially out, that leaves USC with one starting receiver healthy for the Alamo Bowl: wide receiver Tanook Hines.

Jayden Maiava’s new connections

I expect Hines to have a big game as Jayden Maiava and USC’s clear primary target, but he can’t catch all the passes. In addition to this game being a big opportunity for USC’s backup tight ends because of the departures of McRee and Lyons, it’s also a big game for USC’s backup receivers.

This is also potentially a big game for Zacharyus Williams, who is back healthy, officially re-signed to USC’s 2026 roster, and set to potentially play a huge role for the Trojans in 2026.

Seniors Jay Fair, Josiah Zamora and Jaden Richardson could step up in presumably their final games as Trojans. I’m also really curious to see what freshman wideout Corey Simms can do in this game with a potentially expanded opportunity.

The new reality of modern bowl games

This is what bowl games have become, essentially a 2025 postseason game that is viewed like a 2026 preseason game. But that’s what keeps it interesting: while USC will surely celebrate the accomplishments of the 2025 team throughout this game, for fans, this is mainly significant as a look at USC’s future.

Hopefully we like what we see.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC football tight ends transfer, leaving few options for Alamo Bowl

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