LOS ANGELES – By the end of a visit to Arizona, Easton Mascarenas-Arnold and Akili Arnold simply realized they couldn’t be apart.
Their parents saw it, too: in the way they approached program evaluation as one mind, the way they practically finished each other’s thoughts in conversations with coaches. Both standouts on Oregon State’s defense in 2022, they’d grown up together as step-brothers that had melded into the same family, father Junior putting out a Twitter cry to call his sons simply brothers. And when they first came to their parents with a desire to enter the portal, they did so with the understanding they might end up in different landing spots; only for that Arizona trip to make everyone realize they needed each other.
So Mascarenas-Arnold and Arnold committed together to USC on a visit this weekend, after Lincoln Riley flew up to Corvallis to speak with both as a package deal, in a massive win for the Trojans’ defense entering the Big Ten. They picked USC over Arizona, Texas A&M and Michigan State, among others, and bring both playmaking chops and veteran leadership under new coordinator D’Anton Lynn. Mascarenas-Arnold steps in immediately as perhaps the best linebacker on USC’s roster, a hard hitter who ranked second in the Pac-12 in tackles per game last year; Arnold is a stalwart safety who shone in pass coverage for the Beavers last year.
Here’s the thing, though: until Lynn was hired, Junior didn’t want his sons to go to USC, the Trojans coming off a tumultuous and horrific defensive performance in 2023.
“I didn’t like their defense,” Junior told the Southern California News Group Sunday morning.
When Lynn was tabbed as USC’s next defensive coordinator after a fantastic year leading UCLA’s defense, though, the family’s ears perked up particularly upon discovering Lynn’s scheme was conceptually similar to what both Mascarenas-Arnold and Arnold had run at Oregon State.
The brothers didn’t want to be wined and dined by programs in the portal, Junior said. They wanted to talk ball. And on Saturday afternoon, on a visit to USC, both sat down with Lynn for a conversation to do just that.
They exited, came up to their parents, and told them they wanted to commit. Let’s go find Coach Riley, Junior said. And that was that.
“To me, personally, what really brought it home was Coach Lynn,” Junior said.
It’s a clear ripple effect of the splash of momentum USC generated by hiring Lynn, extending for weeks across an unbroken string of program wins after a year of disappointing losses. Mascarenas-Arnold had spoken, too, with new linebackers coach Matt Entz, Junior said, and was “very excited with him.” And Lynn’s scheme and track record have proved emphatically effective in attracting defensive talent in a short window; flipping two 2024 defensive-line commits, Lorenzo Cowan and Jide Abasiri, in recent days.
Abasiri, a 6-foot-5, 290-pound lineman, committed to USC for much the same reasons Mascarenas-Arnold and Arnold were drawn to Lynn. The former UCLA coordinator had taken Abasiri and his parents into meetings, the commit told the Southern California News Group, and talked to them about his scheme. In particular, Lynn showed Abasiri film of UCLA’s Laiatu Latu – who racked up 13 sacks last year for the Bruins and is widely regarded as a top pick in the upcoming NFL Draft – and told him he envisioned Abasiri playing a similar multi-down role at USC.
“It just ensured that they have a vision for what they want to do for me,” Abasiri said.
And thus far, Lynn’s vision is paying massive dividends as USC attempts to restructure its defense.