USC will open its season without Jahkeem Stewart, at least against San Jose State. Lincoln Riley said Tuesday that the defensive lineman is expected to miss the Trojans’ season opener, a setback that lands just as the USC football season begins a week before the rest of college football.
The update matters because Stewart was already seen over the weekend on crutches and wearing a boot on his injured right foot. That sight made his availability a live question for the opener, and Riley’s answer pushed the uncertainty into the next game window instead of clearing it up for Saturday.
Riley suggested Stewart could be ready to debut as soon as the following Friday against Fresno State, which would narrow the absence to one game if his recovery stays on track. But the injury details remain vague. No one has said exactly what happened to the right foot, only that it is serious enough to keep him out now and still flexible enough to leave open a return eight days later.
That is the friction inside USC’s early season. Reports had pointed toward Stewart missing the entire nonconference slate, but Riley’s timeline left room for a much quicker comeback. For a team that begins the year with pressure already attached to Lincoln Riley, even a one-game absence matters because it changes the way the opener is played and the way the next week is discussed.
The timing also feeds into a larger USC season that is being treated like a make-or-break stretch for Riley. The program has added a new defensive coordinator who is in the College Football Hall of Fame, a new football facility and the nation’s top recruiting class, but those developments do not soften the first-week reality: USC starts with a player it expected to have, then may have to wait until Fresno State to see him on the field.
For now, Stewart’s status is the most useful answer and not the final one. He is out for San Jose State, possibly back by the following Friday, and the only thing missing is the specific injury label that would explain why a boot and crutches are enough to keep the question alive.
