The countdown to USC’s 2025 football season is officially on! The Trojans kick off their new campaign 54 days from today. You need something to help you while away the days and hours in the spring and summer. This is one way to do so. In this new series, countdown to kickoff, we will be counting down the days by highlighting a notable Trojan who wore each number. Today, we look at former USC linebacker Chris Galippo.
Position: Linebacker
Years played at USC: 2007-2011
Career highlights: As a true freshman in 2007, Galippo appeared in three games before suffering a back injury and having season-ending surgery, causing him to redshirt. He returned four games into the 2008 season and played a key role at linebacker for the next four years. As a redshirt sophomore in 2009, he was a semifinalist for the Butkus Award and named All-Pac-10 honorable mention.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of Galippo’s USC career, however, was the fact that he chose to stick it out with the Trojans through massive change. Early in Galippo’s career in Cardinal and Gold, he looked like the potential next great Trojan linebacker under Pete Carroll. When Carroll left for the NFL in 2010 and the NCAA hit the USC program with extremely harsh sanctions, upperclassmen were given the option to transfer without penalty. (This was well before the transfer portal era, when transferring schools was much less common.)
Galippo, however, decided to stick it out with the Trojans. Although he did not put up the massive numbers that his predecessors did, his steady presence and veteran leadership proved key in helping the Trojans to a 10-2 season and a top-10 finish in the AP Poll in 2011.
After USC: Galippo signed with the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent following the 2012 NFL Draft. However, he was waived by the team prior to the start of training camp. Following the conclusion of his playing career, he served as a television announcer for high school football games in Southern California.
Per his LinkedIn page, Galippo currently works as an associate planner for the City of Riverside, California.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC football countdown to kickoff—Chris Galippo in focus
Reporting by Adam Bradford, Trojans Wire / Trojans Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
