USC football is dealing with another huge blemish on the injury report ahead of a road matchup against Minnesota. Star linebacker Eric Gentry will miss the Trojans' Week 6 game due to an injury he suffered in the team's Week 5 victory over Wisconsin, per Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports and 247 Sports. Gentry, the team's leading tackler this season, has been one of the biggest components to USC's 4-1 standing.
Head coach Lincoln Riley didn't have much of an update this week, but it appeared as if the status of Gentry was on a downward spiral based off Riley's response during his media presser.
“Yeah, ongoing with these guys,” Riley said, per Nick Schultz of On3 Sports. “We’re going to, you know, now that we put out an injury report, you know, there before the game, I’m probably just going to stick to that here at this point.”
Gentry has recorded 30 tackles and 6.5 for a loss in the 2024-25 season. USC has to recover from the senior's absence quickly, as their second-straight Big Ten matchup is bound to be brimmed with additional obstacles on October 5.
What Eric Gentry's injury means for USC football
USC's campaign has been a thrilling success to this point. Riley and Co. opened up the season with a crucial win against LSU and sent a nice “how do you do?” to the Big Ten after their first conference victory in Week 5. Riley admitted that he'll need to adjust the game plan without Gentry, but feels confident about other members of the defense to pick up the slack against Minnesota.
“Eric is, you know – he’s a very good player,” Riley said of Gentry. “It changes some things – certainly not everything. I mean there’s maybe a few things that, you know, we might not do with Eric not there. There’s maybe a few things, with the other skillsets out there, that we might do more.
“So, I mean, I’d still venture to say, you know, 80% to 90% of what we’re going to do, we’re probably going to do whether he’s there or not. We do have a lot of confidence in the other guys in those positions.”
On a brighter note, the Trojans will have safety Akili Arnold returning to game action after missing Week 5 against Wisconsin, per Zenitz.
USC will battle Minnesota's well-rounded offense at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Kickoff is set for 7:30 PM ET.