Where Are They Now: Trent Mosley's Rise From Santa Margarita to USC

By Bill Prentice

The receiver who moved from the Chicago area and rewrote the Santa Margarita record book is already producing like a veteran at USC.

Every recruiting cycle has a kid the rankings undersell. Trent Mosley was that kid. He's 5-foot-10. He was a four-star, not a five-star. And he just kept catching the ball until nobody could argue anymore.

This is the first stop in our Where Are They Now series. Same format every time: where they started, where they landed, where they are now.

Where They Started

Mosley's story begins in the Chicago area. His family moved to Southern California when he was in seventh grade, right around the time the pandemic shut schools down. His parents held him back a year to give him extra time to develop, and the family lived by a simple rule set they called the "Five Ps," built around proper preparation.

Football runs deep in that house. Both of his parents competed at Notre Dame: his father played football there, and his mother was a soccer star who won the Hermann Trophy. His older brother Emmett is a receiver at Texas. His younger brother Grant is a Santa Margarita receiver with offers of his own.

At Santa Margarita, Mosley produced from day one. Check the climb:

• Sophomore (2023): 81 catches, 1,282 yards, 11 receiving TDs, plus 15 rushing TDs. Cal-Hi Sports State Sophomore Player of the Year and Trinity League co-MVP.

• Junior (2024): 61 catches, 908 yards, 8 receiving TDs, 7 rushing TDs.

• Senior (2025): 47 catches, 648 yards, 4 receiving TDs, 9 rushing TDs, and a school-record 217 career receptions.

The senior numbers look smaller on paper. Then the playoffs hit. In the CIF Southern Section Division 1 title game against Corona Centennial at the Rose Bowl, he caught 10 balls for 292 yards and scored four touchdowns, two of them on the ground, in a 42-7 rout. A few weeks later, he caught 11 passes for 183 yards as Santa Margarita smashed De La Salle 47-13 for the CIF State Open Division crown in Carson Palmer's first season as head coach.

The hardware followed: Cal-Hi Sports Mr. Football, MaxPreps California Player of the Year, CIF Division 1 Offensive Player of the Year and High School on SI Player of the Year.

Where They Landed

Notre Dame looked like the natural fit. Both parents went there. Instead, Mosley committed to USC in March 2025 after a Junior Day visit, crediting the relationships he built with the staff and the program's vision under Lincoln Riley. He graduated a semester early and enrolled at USC in the spring of 2026.

That early enrollment mattered. He got spring practice reps, impressed the coaches and walked into fall camp competing for a starting job. Big Ten Network analyst and former USC safety Su'a Cravens went on air and called him his pick for Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

Where They Are Now

The debut answered every question. Against San Jose State on Aug. 29, Mosley caught 7 passes for 118 yards and a touchdown in a 42-26 win. A week later he hauled in 4 balls for 104 yards and two scores as USC blanked Fresno State 39-0. Against Louisiana he added a receiving TD and an 86-yard punt return score before a knee injury knocked him out.

He missed three games, including the Big Ten opener at Rutgers and the loss to Oregon. His return? Nine catches, 111 yards and a touchdown on USC's opening drive in a 31-23 road win at Penn State.

Through five games played (stats through Oct. 27), Mosley has 27 catches for 411 yards and 5 receiving touchdowns.

Our Take

Our read: the 5-foot-10 label never measured what mattered. Preparation did. Mosley shows every young receiver that production, film and early enrollment can close any gap a ranking opens. Prediction: if he stays healthy, the Freshman of the Year talk gets louder in November.

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Is Trent Mosley the best freshman receiver in the Big Ten? Tell us in the comments.