Why is Makai Lemon not playing in Alamo Bowl? USC WR preparing for NFL draft
- - Why is Makai Lemon not playing in Alamo Bowl? USC WR preparing for NFL draft
Craig Meyer, USA TODAY NETWORKDecember 30, 2025 at 5:01 AM
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Why is Makai Lemon not playing in Alamo Bowl? USC WR preparing for NFL draft
Though its run didn’t end with a College Football Playoff berth, Southern California has been one of the more impressive (and oddly overlooked) success stories in the sport during the 2025 season.
On the heels of a disappointing 7-6 finish in 2024, the Trojans regrouped. Coach Lincoln Riley once again engineered the kind of offense for which he has been known throughout his career, averaging 36.5 points per game (a full touchdown improvement over the previous season).
Jayden Maiava thrived in his first full season as a starter, finishing seventh among FBS quarterbacks in passing yards per game. A once-porous defense continued to improve under coordinator D’Anton Lynn, finishing with a top-50 scoring defense in a full season for the first time since 2016.
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Perhaps no player has been more instrumental in that turnaround than Makai Lemon.
The USC junior wide receiver has been stellar for the Trojans this season, with 96.3 receiving yards per game and 11 receiving touchdowns this season while serving as Maiava’s favorite target in the team’s high-powered passing attack. His efforts were rewarded (literally) at the end of the season, when he won the Biletnikoff Award as the most outstanding wide receiver in college football.
As No. 16 USC heads into the Alamo Bowl against TCU on Tuesday, Dec. 30, it will be doing so without Lemon. Here’s a closer look at why Lemon isn’t playing in the Alamo Bowl:
Why is Makai Lemon not playing in Alamo Bowl?
If USC is going to win the Alamo Bowl and earn just its second 10-win season in the past eight years, it will have to do so without arguably its most integral player.
After his outstanding junior season, Lemon announced on Dec. 17 that he would enter the 2026 NFL Draft.
"The opportunity to play this game in the city that raised me was something I envisioned long before it became reality," Lemon wrote in a post on social media. "Competing in front of my family, friends and community made this experience even more meaningful, and I'll always be proud to have represented this university and this city."
Two days before Lemon’s draft declaration, Riley had announced that Lemon and fellow Trojans wide receiver standout Ja’Kobi Lane wouldn’t be playing in the Alamo Bowl. Over the past several years, it has become common for top NFL Draft prospects to skip out on bowl games that aren’t part of the playoff.
Lemon is projected to go No. 27 overall to the San Francisco 49ers in the latest mock 2026 NFL Draft from USA TODAY Sports’ Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz.
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Makai Lemon highlights
Here’s a highlight reel of Lemon from the 2025 season:
Makai Lemon stats
This season, Lemon has caught 79 passes for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns. Lemon had just three touchdown catches in his first two college seasons combined.
Lemon is third among all FBS players in receiving yards per game, with 96.3. He’s fourth in receiving yards and tied for seventh in touchdown receptions.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is Makai Lemon playing in Alamo Bowl? USC WR preparing for NFL draft
Source: “AOL Sports”
