May 2007 Archives

It's been a long time since USC has issued the No. 13, as it has for transfer quarterback Mitch Mustain of Arkansas, to a player who went on to become an All-American.

In fact, it's happened just once, when little Irvine "Cotton'' Warburton wore No. 13 in leading USC to a 1932 national championship and to a 35-0 Rose Bowl smashing of Pitt in 1933 when Warburton, a 5-foot-6, 148-pounder out of San Diego, scored two TDs.

Named to the USC Athletic Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame and the U.S. Softball Hall of Fame, the tow-headed Warburton, who died in 1982, would go on to an Osacr-winning career (for Mary Poppins) as a film editor.

UCLA redshirt senior running back Derrick Williams has decided to quit playing football because of a series of concussions.

Williams will remain at UCLA on a medical retirement scholarship and his scholarship will not count agianst UCLA's total of 85 for next season. He is scheduled to graduate in December.

I'll take a crack at the Kevin Pearson predict-a-win-total challenge. No doubt UCLA's schedule is favorable -- tell me its toughest Pac-10 road game aside from USC isn't Oregon State, right? -- but unless the passing game improves dramatically, 10 wins might be a tad optimistic. I'll go with 9-3 for now, though if the offense isn't at least competent early in the season, the Bruins could easily drop a non-conference game to a mediocre Notre Dame squad.
Put me down for a loss at USC, one home loss to either Cal or Oregon and the annual how-did-this-happen road loss at Oregon State, Washington State or Arizona.

In some office banter this morning, we were making our picks for how many games UCLA might win this season on the football field. I'm going with 10 wins, and here are my game-by-game selections:
Sept. 1 at Stanford -- Win
Sept. 8 vs. BYU -- Win
Sept. 15 at Utah -- Win
Sept. 22 vs. Washington -- Win
Sept. 29 at Oregon State -- Win, but very close
Oct. 6 vs. Notre Dame -- Win
Oct. 20 vs. Cal -- Loss
Oct. 27 at Washington State -- Win
Nov. 3 at Arizona -- Win
Nov. 10 vs. Arizona State -- Win
Nov. 24 vs. Oregon -- Win
Dec. 1 vs. USC -- Loss

I think that UCLA will beat either Cal or Oregon, and lose to the other. That pick could go either way.

What are your thoughts. E-mail me at kpearson@pe.com and let me know your projections.

NFLreport.com released its pre-season 2008 NFL draft rankings and several UCLA players were among the top prospects in their positons.

All-American defensive end Bruce Davis was the No. 4 defensive end and a first-round projection.

Defensive tackle Kevin Brown was rated No. 13 and a fourth-rounder. Brigham Harwell was No. 18 and a fifth-rounder.

Linebacker Christian Taylor was the No. 11 middle linebacker and a fifth-round projection.

The secondary, which could go down as one of the best in school history, had all four starters as projected draft picks, the first time in site history it has projected an entire unit at any position to be selected.

Cornerback Trey Brown was the No. 10 corner and a second-round projection. Rodney Van is No. 17 and a fourth-round projection.

Safety Dennis Keyes is the No. 4 safety and a second-rounder. Chris Horton is No. 11 and a third-round projection.

Offensively, guard Shannon Tevaga is a second-round projection and the No. 4 guard. Running back Chris Markey is a third-round projection as the 11th-rated back and fullback Michael Pitre is a fourth-round projection and the No. 3 fullback.

Others who could end up as NFL candidates are wide receiver Marcus Everett, receiver Joe Cowan and defensive end Nikola Dragovic.

Here's the USC press release:

FORMER USC AND NFL PLAYER CHARLEY ANE DIES
LOS ANGELES–Charley Ane, who was one of USC’s first outstanding football players from Hawaii, died on Wednesday (May 9) in Honolulu of pneumonia following a long illness. He was 76.

A funeral service is set for May 28 at the Punahou School chapel.

Ane, who was represented by several of his children when he was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame at ceremonies last Saturday (May 5), lettered for the Trojans in 1951 and 1952 as a two-way tackle and blocking back. He also pitched for the 1951 USC baseball team.

He came to USC out of Honolulu’s Punahou High via Compton College, where he was a junior college All-American tackle.

After helping the Trojans to a 10-1 record in the 1952 football season, including a victory over Wisconsin in the 1953 Rose Bowl, he was drafted in the second round by the Detroit Lions. During his seven-year (1953-59) NFL career, he was an All-Pro center/tackle and a member of the Lions’ 1953 and 1957 NFL champs. He was their team captain in 1958 and 1959.

After his playing days, he went back to Hawaii to coach high school football, at Damien, Punahou, Radford, Kaimuki and St. Anthony.

His son, Kale, also played in college and the NFL, making them the first Hawaii father-son duo to do so. Kale played for his father at Punahou, then Charley served as his son’s assistant when Kale became Punahou’s head coach.

Besides the USC Athletic Hall of Fame, Ane is a member of the Punahou, Detroit Lions, Samoan and Hawaii Sports Halls of Fame.

He is survived by his wife, Marilyn, plus sons Kale and Neal, daughter Malia, seven grandchildren and brothers David and Danny.

UCLA safety Chris Horton was selected to the Playboy All-American team and will be in Phoenix this week as part of a photo shoot and taping of a one-hour television episode that will be aired sometime before the season.

An extremely hard-hitting safety from New Orleans, Horton is expected to be one of the premier safeties on the west coast, after having a breakout season as a junior last season. His first two years were cut short by injury, though many around UCLA believe he has an NFL body and talent.

It's pretty much the kickoff for the college football season every year right about now.

It's the Playboy All-America team photo shoot weekend in Phoenix starting Friday.

And it's good news for a pair of USC Trojans, and a pair of Inland Empire, players who will make the trip as first-team selections on this 51st Playboy All-America team.

USC's duo are seniors Sam Baker, an offensive tackle considered the top offensive lineman in the nation , and outside linebacker Keith Rivers.

But also in Arizona as first-teamers will be Rutgers placekicker Jeremy Ito from Loma Linda and Redlands High and Boise State offensive tackle Ryan Clady from Rialto Eisenhower.

Ito was the nation's No. 2 field goal kicker a year ago with 1.69 a game as he made 22 of 29 attempts. Clady, a 6-foot-6, 319-pound second-team All-American a year ago, is on the watch list for both the Lombardi and Outland awards this year.

All four players will be part of the taping of Playboy's "College Football Preview," a one-hour nationally syndicated television show that will air before the season.

For the seventh time in the last eight years, a USC Trojan has been named to the College Football Hall of Fame. Richard Wood, USC's first-ever three-time All-American and a fixture on two USC national championship teams in 1972 and 1974, joined the dozen newcomers named Wednesday in New York.

The 35th USC inductee, and 28th player, Wood is a native of Elizabeth, N.J. now residing in Tampa, Fla., where he played eight years with the Bucs, finishing as the franchise's third-leading tackler.

While at USC, Wood, the first West Coast player named a three-time AP All-American, led the Trojans to a 31-3-2 record and three Rose Bowls.

It appears that Boston College is the next in line for USC after Virginia inked a home-and-home series with the Trojans for 2008 and 2010. After playing four Southeastern Conference early-season games with Auburn and Arkansas from 2002 through 2006, USC is going with four from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Trojans will travel to Charlottesville on Aug. 30, 2008, then the Cavaliers will come to the Coliseum on Sept. 11, 2010 as USC adds to its current total of 16 games (with a 10-6 record) against ACC teams.

But now comes a report out of Boston in the Boston Globe that next in line for USC are the BC Eagles, the new kids in the ACC, who are close to signing a deal for a home-and-home series starting in 2011. The teams have played just twice, in 1987 and 1988, with the Trojans winning both.

The Globe report makes the series look a bit closer than the USC people see it right now, saying maybe in a couple of weeks the agreement will be finished for the games that will expand USC's scheduled non-conference opponents through 2011 to Notre Dame, Nebraska, Ohio State, Hawaii and Virginia.