USC Trojans Wide Receiver Ja’Kobi Lane Named to AP All-Bowl Team

USC Trojans sophomore receiver Ja’Kobi Lane was named to the Associated Press All-Bowl team. The list consists of players that played in traditional non-playoff bowl game, not anyone that competed in the expanded College Football Playoff.
Lane was sensational in the Trojans thrilling 35-31 comeback win over Texas A&M in the Las Vegas Bowl. Fresh off a three-touchdown performance in the regular season finale against Notre Dame, the Trojans star receiver hauled in seven catches for a career-high 127 yards and three touchdowns against the Aggies. Lane finished the season with 12 receiving touchdowns and USC ended its season in the same way it began, with a last-second win over an SEC opponent at Allegiant Stadium.
Lane got the Trojans scoring started in the second quarter with a 30-yard catch-and-run from quarterback Jayden Maiava. From there the USC offense stalled and the defense was on its heels as the Trojans fell behind 24-7 late in the third quarter. Lane’s second touchdown of the game made it a 10-point game and then his third gave USC a four-point lead with under five minutes remaining. Texas A&M regained the lead with under two minutes remaining and just like they did against LSU in the season opener, the Trojans had the ball with an opportunity to win the game.
Maiava connected with Lane for 33 yards to move into red zone with 17 seconds left and then the next play it was Lane again for 11 more yards. When they needed it most, they called Lane’s number, and he delivered. Maiava would then connect with Kyle Ford for a seven-yard touchdown with eight seconds remaining to give the Trojans the win, the same amount of time that was left on the clock when running back Woody Marks scored the game-winning touchdown against LSU.
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With receivers Zachariah Branch, Duce Robinson and Kyron Hudson entering the transfer portal, the Trojans were down three of its top six pass catchers in an offense that featured a heavy rotation throughout the season. Instead of playing guys that were not consistently featured in the rotation, coach Lincoln Riley rolled with almost exclusively Lane, Makai Lemon and Kyle Ford and receiver. The trio played 92% of the receiver snaps.
Lemon caught six passes for 99 yards, and Ford caught six passes for 59 yards and one touchdown in his final collegiate game. The performance from the Trojans offense, particularly in the final quarter and a half of the game, sparked a strong reaction from Texas A&M coach Mike Elko.
“We can’t play zone coverage,” Elko said. “Every time we play zone coverage we give up big plays. So we have no concept of space. We have no concept of zone coverage. We have no concept of what we’re doing.”
Lane and Lemon, the two former four-star recruits in the 2023 recruiting cycle head into 2025 season as one of the top returning receiving duos in college football. It’s offense that is shaping up to some make some noise in the Big Ten next season, thanks to some key additions via the transfer portal to complement its two star receivers.
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