or watch a year of eligibility go poof.

“I think it should be that plain and simple, it’d be done, and nobody would have to worry about all this other crap about how many games you’ve played and all that,” Riley said Tuesday.

For better or worse, however, that is not the current reality of college football. So Riley sat with senior Raesjon Davis in his office recently, the linebacker receiving a sparse amount of snaps and cursed in already having burned three seasons of eligibility at USC.

And on Tuesday, Davis’ father Rashad told the Southern California News Group in a text that Davis is planning to redshirt his senior year at USC. It was a move of necessity under the NCAA’s current system, one wholeheartedly different from junior defensive lineman Bear Alexander’s surprise decision last week to redshirt and sit a season, which Riley has largely refused to acknowledge since.

He could “understand both sides of it,” Riley said Tuesday of Davis’ decision. But he took a brief moment to address something he, expressively, did not seem to quite understand — that current eligibility system.

“I think there’s probably some better ways to deal with it than what we’re doing right now,” Riley said. “But as long as we have it, you’re going to have situations like this.”

If Davis intends to stay at USC beyond his redshirt, too, it presents a completely different picture than Alexander’s decision, which has left the program with a sudden Bear-sized hole in its defensive line rotation.

A highly touted four-star recruit out of Mater Dei, Davis’ true freshman year in 2021 was marred by former coach Clay Helton’s midseason firing; his father told the Southern California News Group in 2023 he had heard promises from USC’s coaching staff that Davis would play that freshman season, but largely just saw the field on special teams snaps and burned a year of eligibility. No conversation, too, came about redshirting a year later, when Davis made eight tackles in 14 games. He looked primed for a potential breakout during his junior year, but he broke his hand in the spring of 2023, and showed flashes in four starts but never quite found a consistent role.

And this spring, Davis suffered another broken hand as a new coaching staff came through town, a slew of bad luck sending him sliding down USC’s depth chart. True freshman Desman Stephens II has earned more snaps (11) than Davis (nine) through four games this season.

He’ll have an opportunity, though, as a redshirt senior in 2025 to take ownership of a young linebackers room, as seniors Eric Gentry, Easton Mascarenas-Arnold and Mason Cobb would all have either exhausted eligibility or presumably be headed to the NFL. And as he’s only appeared in three games, Davis could still fill a role for 11th-ranked USC (3-1 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) this season — perhaps even Saturday against Minnesota (2-3, 0-2), as Riley deemed Gentry questionable after the early season star was carted off in the fourth quarter against Wisconsin.

“We’ll watch it play out,” Riley said of Davis’ redshirt. “Nothing’s set in stone right now.”

Still, though, USC will likely be absent a veteran piece in its linebackers room for the rest of the season, and Riley’s dream is but a dream.

“I understand why it’s there,” Riley said of the NCAA’s redshirt rule, “but I still think it’s a little bit behind the times.”

Injury updates

Gentry wasn’t at practice Tuesday, but welcome signs popped up for the rest of a slightly banged-up USC roster. Sophomore wide receiver Makai Lemon, who didn’t play against Wisconsin after being drilled on a special teams play the week before, was back in uniform and catching passes during the team’s individuals period.

Also, key safety Akili Arnold was back in pads after missing the Wisconsin game, but Riley still labeled him “questionable” for Minnesota.