Although first-year Penn State cornerback A.J. Harris calls Phenix City, Alabama, home and transferred to PSU in the offseason from the University of Georgia, he will have a bit of a homefield advantage when the No. 4 Nittany Lions (5-0) play USC (4-2) on Saturday in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Harris will have 14 family members cheering him on, including his grandfather Crawford Williams, who lives in Gardena, 10 miles south of the Coliseum.
“It will be my first time in the Coliseum,” Harris said after Penn State’s practice on Wednesday. “My grandpa lives 20 minutes from the Coliseum. My mom’s side of the family is from there. I will have a lot of family out there at the game. I will try not to let them down. This will be the first time my grandpa will see me play in person. I have not seen him since my senior year in high school.”
Because the team will arrive in L.A. on Thursday, and have an extra day before the game on Saturday, Harris said he hopes to connect with his grandfather in person.
“I’m going to try, but my mind’s on USC,” said Harris, who said he was excited when he first saw that an away game at USC was on Penn State’s 2024 schedule. “It happened to be a bonus that my family’s out there. My first thought was how can I assemble tickets for my family, because I’m going to have a lot of people there. I wasn’t sure I would be able to get them all tickets.”
But with help from some of his Penn State family, Harris came up with tickets for his entire family. “My teammates,” said Harris, “knew it was a big week for me.”
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAY ABOUT USC
Wide receiver Liam Clifford on playing in the Coliseum, home of 1932, 1984 and 2028 Summer Olympics: With USC, “immediately what comes to mind is that I think of the Coliseum, a place that I saw when watching games growing up. I always thought it was a super cool stadium, a super cool place to imagine playing in. I remember playing the old NCAA game back in the day and picking the Coliseum and playing there. It’s an historic place. I’m excited to play there. It’ll be fun.”
Center Nick Dawkins on the prestige of USC, with eight Heisman Trophy winners and 11 national titles: “I know the history of USC. I have a lot of respect for the program and I know the Coliseum is where they play their games at. I used to watch [Heisman Trophy-winning running back] Reggie Bush highlights all the time, so I understand the history of the program. I’m excited to play there.”
Defective tackle Alonzo Ford Jr. on USC QB Miller Moss: “They’re a good, explosive team. I definitely respect them a lot in everything they do. Moss is a great pocket-reader. When I watch him on film, he snaps from read 1 to read 2 to read 3. You can see he is very well-coached.”
FRANKLIN AND PENN STATE’S FRIDAY
The Penn State contingent will take buses to Harrisburg on Thursday, then fly to Los Angeles International Airport. They’ll spend two nights in L.A., as opposed to the typical single Friday night for away games. That leaves a lot of time on Friday before Saturday’s game, which kicks off at 12:30 p.m. West Coast time (and 3:30 p.m. in the East; it will be on CBS). On Friday, the Nittany Lions will bus to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, a suburb just to the east of LAX and the home of the NFL’s Rams and Chargers. It cost $5.5 billion to build.
“It will be similar” to other road trips, PSU head coach James Franklin said. “We’re trying to keep the same routine and be as similar as we possibly can. We’ll do a fast Friday. A big part of that was finding a location where we felt comfortable having that kind of practice, because on Fridays we do a lot of game plan-specific stuff. So, being able to get into SoFi Stadium was very, very helpful. We’re able to keep our routine the same.”
Franklin said he will visit local high schools and recruits before and after the team’s practice in SoFi. Penn State has three verbal commitments from California high school players, two for the Class of 2025 and one in the Class of 2026; all three are four-stars. The 2025 commits are cornerback Daryus Dixson of Santa Ana and linebacker LaVar Arrington II from Covina. The 2026 commit is quarterback Troy Huhn of Mission Hills.
INJURY UPDATES
Running back Nick Singleton, who missed the UCLA game won 27-11 by Penn State in Beaver Stadium last week, practiced with the team on Wednesday. For the media viewing portion of practice, Singleton moved easily, looked healthy and took part in all the drills. In four games, Singleton has rushed for 408 yards on 53 carries, an average of 7.7 yards per carry, with three TDs.
Offensive tackle Anthony Donkoh missed much of the UCLA game with what appeared to be an upper body injury. He was replaced by Wisconsin transfer and Pennsylvania native Nolan Rucci. Franklin said that Donkoh is expected to play vs. USC on Saturday. “Anthony moves so well,” Dawkins said. “He moves so fluid, especially for a younger guy. A lot of younger offensive linemen, it’s harder for them to be in control of their body. Anthony’s a unit. He’s huge [6-foot-5, 330 pounds], so being able to move as he does, and especially into the second level, is very impressive.”
