USC kicker Chase McGrath to miss the remainder of the season with torn ACL

Clay Helton announced on Sunday that the USC Trojans’ starting kicker Chase McGrath, a walk-on turned starter, will miss the rest of the season after suffering an ACL tear in the Trojans’ game against the Texas Longhorns on Saturday night.

USC’s bad weekend only got worse when Clay Helton told the media that starting kicker Chase McGrath would miss the remainder of the season.

In three games, McGrath was six of eight for 24 points, his longest being a 47-yarder against UNLV in USC’s season opener. Last season he was the sensational walk-on from Mater Dei who kicked the game winning field goal in the overtime thriller against the Texas Longhorns.

In 2017 McGrath earned a scholarship after making 12 of 17 field goals, and 58 of 59 extra points. The then true freshman racked up 94 total points in the Trojans Pac-12 winning season and became a fan favorite after his clutch game saver against Texas.

McGrath struggled with a groin injury towards the end of last year, which carried over into the spring. The sophomore was able to regain form to begin fall camp which led to his retaining of the starting position after a short battle with redshirt sophomore Michael Brown.

McGrath’s ACL tear came after he tried to stop a kick return when Texas safety Caden Sterns blocked his 50-yard field goal attempt. Sterns took the blocked kick to USC’s end zone, which had the Trojans trailing 30-14 with 6:45 minutes left in the third quarter.

With McGrath out, USC will turn to Brown who had originally been USC’s placekicker on kickoffs back in 2017 before succumbing to torn ligaments in his left during the opening kick against the Stanford Cardinal.

Before his injury Brown appeared in two games, kicking off nine times for three touchbacks, and pinning two opponents within the 20 yard line.