His physical transformation, spanning four years at USC, may not have been the stuff of Instagram thirst traps. His shirtless before-and-after shots weren’t shared by USC’s social team this summer, like some of his more trim teammates whose stunning body fat percentages lingered somewhere in the single digits.
But when Lincoln Riley looks at Kobe Pepe today, USC’s coach sees an entirely different defensive tackle than the one he first met back in 2021.
“He’s just totally changed his body,” Riley said of the 315-pound redshirt senior. “He’s one of the ones that I’m most proud of from where he was a couple of years ago till now.