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June 2008
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Recently in USC Football CategoryFor those of you who like to keep track of these things, here's the USC August schedule for football activities. Aug. 5: players report Aug. 6-7-8-9-10: once-a-day practices Aug. 11-13-15-17-20: twice-a-day practices Aug. 12-14-16-18-19-21-22-23: once-a-day practices (scrimmages on Aug. 24: no practice Aug. 25-26-27-28: game week practices (school starts on Aug. 25) OK, hope that catches your attention -- and imagination. With longtime Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen, a decent, solid and honorable guy, announcing his retirement a year from now, the usual suspects are getting pushed out there to succeed him. They start with the likes of Stanford AD Bob Bowlsby and maybe even ex-Notre Dame AD on his way to Duke, Kevin White. Then there's the usual "some guy from the SEC'' since the Southeastern Conference seems to have learned how to work the system, certainly the BCS and college baseball part of it, better than anyone. But the Pac-10 should look USC's way, although not the way that usually works. I'm not talking about an administrator here, but a parent. That's right. A USC football parent, Dave Baker, the former mayor of Irvine and current commissioner of the Arena Football League, would be an unstoppable force in college athletics and not just because the former UC Irvine basketball player, at 6-feet-8 and somewhere north of 350 pounds, dwarfis his All-American tackle son -- Sam. I know Baker has already told me he's got a great job. And it's obvious he's done a great job marketing the AFL, getting it prominent air-time with its ESPN contract, something the Pac-10 could work on improving. And he could go toe-to-toe with all the rest of the BCS and bigtime college basketball people when it comes to promoting the Pac-10. Probably won't happen. But if it did, it'd be a good day for college sports on the West Coast., At least one USC, or at least ex-USC player, tailback transfer Emmanuel Moody, gets the nod here as Athlon makes a reach into Lindy's second five to tab Florida's Gators No. 1. USC drops to fourth in Athlon, behind Ohio State and Oklahoma, in that order, and ahead of No. 5 Georgia. The second five is decidedly southern with Missouri, West Virginia, Auburn, LSU and Clemson in that order. Pac-10 teams remain in much the same spots, with Arizona State at No. 15, Oregon at No. 19. Also in the Top 25 for both magazines are the Bulldogs of Fresno State, No. 25 for Athlon, No. 22 for Lindy's. Lindy's College Football has USC at No. 2 all set to meet No. 1 pick Georgia in the BCS title game in Miami in January, assuming that USC as the home team, will beat No. 3 pick Ohio State in that Sept. 13 matchuo at the Coliseum. The game tops Lindy's list of top nonconference games of the season. Oklahoma is No. 4, Missouri No. 5 in Lindy's followed by SEC big boys Florida and LSU with Texas No. 8, Clemson No. 9 and West Virginia No. 10. Two other Pac-10 teams crack Lindy's Top 25 with Arizona State at No. 14, Oregon No. 21. It's that time. College football magazine time means mostly rehashes of what USC fans have gone through in February, March and April with signing day and spring football. But where the metal meets the road is where the mags make thier judgments on who has what coming back. Don't look for much in the way of projections in the comparisons and breakdowns of the teams, conferences or position groups. More than any season in recent years, the mags seem to be playing it safe and going with who did what last season and just looking at the numbers. For example, here's just one way that affects USC. Despite the fact that quarterbacks Mark Sanchez and Mitch Mustain were back-to-back players of the year and the top quarterbacks in their classes four and three years ago coming out of high school, USC is not ranked anywhere near the top of the Pac-10 at that position nor is it among the top 10 nationally in Athlon Sports position rankings -- although Washington, BYU and Central Michigan are. What you did last year is what matters. And both sat the bench, Sanchez behind senior Jiohn David Booty and Mustain as a redshirt in his transfer year from Arkansas. The University of Virginia has set the time for its Aug. 30 opener against USC in Charlottesville. The ABC Regional/ESPN 2 telecast will kick off at 3:30 p.m. EDT, 12;30 p.m. in the LA area. It's that time of year again. The college football magazines are just about to hit the stands. In one, four USC defenders, tackle Fili Moala, linebackers Brian Cushing and Rey Maualuga and safety Taylor Mays have been named as Phil Steele's college football magazine's first-team All-Americans. No Trojan offensive players made it as a Steele first-team All-American. The magazine also named All-Pac-10 teams that did show three Trojans, in addition to the four already named, as first-teamers, Stafon Johnson was named first-team running back, Jeff Byers first-team offensive guard with Everson Griffen named first-team defensive end. For those looking ahead to that Sept. 13 Ohio State matchup with USC, the Buckeyes were right behind USC with three first-team All-Americans -- running back Beanie Wells, offensive tackle Alex Boone and linebacker James Laurinaitis. Here are the teams. Players listed in order from first through fourth teams at each position 1st TEAM OFFENSE 2nd TEAM OFFENSE 3rd TEAM OFFENSE 4th TEAM OFFENSE QB Tim Tebow, Florida Pat White, West Virginia Curtis Painter, Purdue Chase Daniel, Missouri RB Beanie Wells, Ohio St James Davis, Clemson Marlon Lucky, Nebraska Javarris James, Miami,Fl RB Knowshon Moreno, Georgia Ian Johnson, Boise St Javon Ringer, Michigan St Arian Foster, Tennessee WR Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech Sammie Stroughter, Oregon St Aaron Kelly, Clemson Patrick Turner, USC WR Darrius Heyward-Bey, Maryland Demetrius Byrd, LSU Brandon Gibson, Wash St Brian Robiskie, Ohio St WR Percy Harvin, Florida Greg Carr, Florida St Jaison Williams, Oregon Jarett Dillard, Rice TE Jermaine Gresham, Oklahoma Travis Beckum, Wisconsin Chase Coffman, Missouri Cornelius Ingram, Florida C Jonathan Luigs, Arkansas Max Unger, Oregon Alex Mack, California Eric Wood, Louisville G Duke Robinson, Oklahoma Anthony Parker, Tennessee Steve Rehring, Ohio St Sergio Render, Virginia Tech G Herman Johnson, LSU Louis Vasquez, Texas Tech Jeremy Perry, Oregon St Kraig Urbik, Wisconsin T Alex Boone, Ohio St Phil Loadholt, Oklahoma Ciron Black, LSU Sean Sester, Purdue T Andre Smith, Alabama Michael Oher, Mississippi Sam Young, Notre Dame Dallas Reynolds, BYU K Jose Martinez, UTEP Sam Swank, Wake Forest Thomas Weber, Arizona St Kai Forbath, UCLA KR Marcus Herford, Kansas Jeremy Maclin, Missouri AJ Wallace, Penn St Max Suter, Syracuse 1st TEAM DEFENSE 2nd TEAM DEFENSE 3rd TEAM DEFENSE 4th TEAM DEFENSE DE Tyson Jackson, LSU Maurice Evans, Penn St Greg Middleton, Indiana Matt Shaughnessy, Wisconsin DT Fili Moala, USC DeMarcus Granger, Oklahoma Terrance Taylor, Michigan Peria Jerry, Mississippi DT Ricky Jean-Francois, LSU Vince Oghobaase, Duke Geno Atkins, Georgia Jeff Owens, Georgia DE George Selvie, USF Michael Johnson, GA Tech Greg Hardy, Mississippi Ricky Sapp, Clemson OLB Brian Cushing, USC Brian Toal, Boston College Rico McCoy, Tennessee Clinton Snyder, Stanford ILB James Laurinaitis, Ohio St Brandon Spikes, Florida Dave Philistin, Maryland Worrell Williams, California ILB Rey Maualuga, USC Gerald McRath, Southern Miss Darry Beckwith, LSU Jasper Brinkley, S Carolina OLB Marcus Freeman, Ohio St Aaron Curry, Wake Forest Anthony Heygood, Purdue Tyrone McKenzie, USF CB Malcolm Jenkins, Ohio St Victor "Macho" Harris, Virginia Tech Walter Thurmond, Oregon Trevard Lindley, Kentucky CB Vontae Davis, Illinois Jairus Byrd, Oregon Mike Mickens, Cincinnati Joe Burnett, UCF SS Nic Harris, Oklahoma Michael Hamlin, Clemson Patrick Chung, Oregon Myron Rolle, Florida St FS Taylor Mays, USC William Moore, Missouri Courtney Greene, Rutgers Derek Pegues, Mississippi St P Kevin Huber, Cincinnati Louie Sakoda, Utah Keenyn Crier, Arizona Aaron Perez, UCLA PR Deon Murphy, Kansas St Brandon James, Florida Sammie Stroughter, Oregon St David Gilreath, Wisconsin Here is the All-Pac-10 Preseason team:
QB Rudy Carpenter, Arizona St Willie Tuitama, Arizona Jake Locker, Washington Mark Sanchez, USC RB Stafon Johnson, USC Jahvid Best, California Dwight Tardy, Washington St Nicholas Grigsby, Arizona RB Keegan Herring, Arizona St Jeremiah Johnson, Oregon Joe McKnight, USC Toby Gerhart, Stanford WR Brandon Gibson, Washington St Patrick Turner, USC David Ausberry, USC Nyan Boateng, California WR Mike Thomas, Arizona Jaison Williams, Oregon Vidal Hazelton, USC Chris Polk, Washington WR Sammie Stroughter, Oregon St Michael Jones, Arizona St Chris McGaha, Arizona St Richard Sherman, Stanford TE Rob Gronkowski, Arizona Ed Dickson, Oregon Logan Paulsen, UCLA Ben Ladner, Stanford C Max Unger, Oregon Alex Mack, California Alex Fletcher, Stanford Kristofer O'Dowd, USC OG Jeff Byers, USC Colin Baxter, Arizona Noris Malele, California Joe Longacre, Arizona OG Jeremy Perry, Oregon St Paul Fanaika, Arizona St Casey Bulyca, Washington Ryan Tolar, Washington OT Eben Britton, Arizona J'Marcus Webb, Arizona Vaughn Lesuma, Washington St Chris Marinelli, Stanford OT Fenuki Tupou, Oregon Andy Levitre, Oregon St Butch Lewis, USC Micah Kia, UCLA 1st TEAM DEFENSE 2nd TEAM DEFENSE 3rd TEAM DEFENSE HONORABLE MENTION DE Nick Reed, Oregon Dexter Davis, Arizona St Daniel Te'o-Nesheim, Wash Andy Mattingly, Wash St DT Ekom Udofia, Stanford Brigham Harwell, UCLA Brian Price, UCLA Will Tukuafu, Oregon DT Fili Moala, USC Averill Spicer, USC Fevaea'i Ahmu, Washington St Derrick Hill, California DE Everson Griffen, USC Kyle Moore, USC Pannel Egboh, Stanford Victor Butler, Oregon St LB Rey Maualuga, USC EJ Savannah, Washington Anthony Felder, California Greg Trent, Washington St LB Worrell Williams, California Reggie Carter, UCLA Pat Maynor, Stanford Travis Goethel, Arizona St LB Brian Cushing, USC Zack Follett, California Ronnie Palmer, Arizona Jerome Boyd, Oregon LB Clinton Snyder, Stanford Vuna Tuihalamaka, Arizona Chris Galippo, USC Donald Butler, Washington CB Walter Thurmond, Oregon Alterraun Verner, UCLA Syd'Quan Thompson, California Chima Nwachukwu, Wash St CB Jairus Byrd, Oregon Cary Harris, USC Brandon Hughes, Oregon St Keenan Lewis, Oregon St SS Patrick Chung, Oregon Kevin Ellison, USC Al Afalava, Oregon St Jeremy Payton, Arizona St FS Taylor Mays, USC Troy Nolan, Arizona St Bo McNally, Stanford Nate Ness, Arizona K Thomas Weber, Arizona St Kai Forbath, UCLA David Buehler, USC Jason Bondzio, Arizona P Keenyn Crier, Arizona Aaron Perez, UCLA Josh Syria, Oregon Jared Ballman, Washington KR Jahvid Best, California Ronald Johnson, USC Mike Thomas, Arizona CJ Gable, USC PR Sammie Stroughter, Oregon St Terrence Austin, UCLA Kyle Williams, Arizona St Joe McKnight, USC Here's CBSSportsline's Top 25 teams after spring football. Want to read Dennis Dodd's commentary and rationale for Ohio State at No. 1 and USC No. 4, go to http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/10813944 The post-spring top 25 1. Ohio State 2. Georgia 3. Oklahoma 4. USC 5. Missouri: 6. Florida 7. Kansas 8. Texas 9. West Virginia 10. Auburn 11. Texas Tech 12. Illinois 13. Clemson 14. BYU 15. Wisconsin 16. LSU 17. Virginia Tech 18. Arizona State 19. South Florida 20. Tennessee 21. Connecticut 22. Pittsburgh 23. Michigan State 24. Fresno State 25. Cincinnati USC fans wanting to travel to the East Coast for the Trojans' football opener at Virginia Aug. 30 in Charlottersville will have tickets available to purchase -- if they're willing to buy a mini season-ticket package for three Cavalier games for $101. The tickets go on sale Thursday. Here's the release from UVA with all the details. May 21, 2008 For Immediate Release
Charlottesville, VA -- Virginia fans will again have the opportunity to The Season Kickoff package includes the games vs. USC (Aug. 30), Richmond (Sept. 6) and East Carolina (Oct. 11) and is available for $101. The ACC package is available for $168. The package features the Cavaliers¹ Kickoff times for all Virginia home games will be announced in the future. Fans may also purchase the mini-ticket packages by calling the UVa athletics Tickets for the complete seven-game Virginia home schedule are available More than 34,000 season tickets have been sold for the 2008 football season.
Nice job by USCRipsit.com, Pete Carroll's official blog by Ben Malcolmson, documenting how the Trojans did keep to the plan and graduated this week. It's here: http://www.petecarroll.com/index.cfm/pk/view/cd/NAA/cdid/404114/pid/400025 All year long we've been documenting how this senior class was producing in the classroom. Well, this week's graduation ceremonies proved that. Here's the list from USC for the diploma-winners, including a number who are also trying to win a spot on an NFL roster. Fall 2007 Graduates Sam Baker • Offensive tackle Spring 2008 Graduates Jim Abbott • Cornerback Potential Summer Grads Keith Rivers • Linebacker The deal to keep USC in the Coliseum that was agreed upon in February has gotten all the necessary rubber stamps and became official today. Here's an edited version of the release: A day after seven USC players were selected in the first two rounds of the NFL draft, UCLA had its first player taken when defensive end Bruce Davis was picked by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round with the No. 88 overall selection. Davis, who ranks second in school history with 29 career sacks, measures 6-3, 252 and will more likely standup on the outside in the Steelers' 3-4 defense. Courtesy of USC Sports Information Director Tim Tessalone, here's everything you could possibly want to know about the Trojans' record NFL Draft Day Saturday: Record Seven Trojans Picked In First Day Of NFL Draft LOS ANGELES--A school-record seven USC football players were selected in the first two rounds of the 2008 NFL draft on Saturday (April 27), including four in the first round. Previously, the most Trojans selected in the draft's first two rounds were five in both 1968 and 2006. USC's four first-round selections were its most since 1968, when a then-national-record five Trojans were picked in the first round. Troy's four first-round picks and seven overall selections on the draft's first day were the most of any school this year. The first Trojan taken was 2-time All-American first team nose tackle Sedrick Ellis, the Pac-10's Defensive Player of the Year in 2007. He was the seventh pick of the draft, selected by the New Orleans Saints. Two picks later, All-American first team linebacker Keith Rivers went to the Cincinnati Bengals as the ninth pick (he was the first linebacker chosen on the day). The last time USC had two picks in the draft's first nine selections was 1990. Three-time All-American first team offensive tackle Sam Baker was the 21st pick of the opening round, going to the Atlanta Falcons. Then, with the 28th pick of the first round, the Seattle Seahawks selected two-time All-Pac-10 first team defensive end Lawrence Jackson. Three Trojans went in the second round, starting with offensive guard Chilo Rachal. The 2007 All-Pac-10 first teamer who left USC after his junior season to enter the NFL draft was selected by the San Francisco 49ers (he was the draft's 39th pick). Then, All-American first team tight end Fred Davis, the 2007 Mackey Award winner, was chosen by the Washington Redskins as the draft's 48th pick. Finally, cornerback Terrell Thomas, a two-time All-Pac-10 second teamer who led USC in interceptions in 2007, was selected as the final pick of the second round (the 63rd pick overall) by the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants. In head coach Pete Carroll's seven years at USC, he now has had 39 players drafted by the NFL, including 11 in the first round. In its history, USC has had 443 players drafted by the NFL. Here's the historic significance of USC's four first-round draft picks. Those four increase USC's all-time number of first-round picks to 71, leaving the Trojans five picks ahead of No. 2 Ohio State, which came into this draft just two behind USC, 67 to 65, and now trails 71-66 with Vernon Gholston the lone Buckeye to go No. 1 Saturday. With his selection at No. 21 by an Atlanta team clearly looking at potential, history (from his junior season) and character, USC's Sam Baker gives the Trojans three early picks, more than anyone else, in the NFL Draft Saturday. Baker joins defensive teammates Sedrick Ellis (No. 7 to a New Orleans team that traded up to get him) and Keith Rivers (No. 9 to Cincinnati) to give the Trojans a jump on the field in the early going. OK, after Matt Leinart's run-in with that unauthorized ESPN promo three years back, the headline practically writes itself. It does when USC is informed, as it was this week, that an authorized vendor at Saturday's Trojan Huddle at the Coliseum was selling unauthorized "Viva Sanchez'' t-shirts that violate an NCAA rule about using an athlete's name or likeness, in this case junior quarterback Mark Sanchez, on such a souvenir for sale. But to say as some have, that USC was self-reporting a violation to the NCAA for t-shirts "it'' sold or that Sanchez was in danger of losing any eligibility over something neither he nor USC knew about is way around the bend. It's not uncommon, in case people aren't aware of it, for USC to find unauthorized items or unauthorized vendors selling them on a regular basis on football Saturdays. In fact, the university has a gameday patrol checking out vendors and fairly regularly issues "cease and desist'' letters to the offending vendors. And when it's over and done with, the university's compliance people will go ahead and inform the Pac-10 and the NCAA. No big deal. Just the cost of doing business as a major athletic entity, like any pro franchise in the LA area, only with the additional layer of NCAA rules. Unless USC itself, or Sanchez, had ordered up the t-shirts for sale, and somehow were getting a cut, there's nothing here. One question USC may have to answer is what to do with any percentage the school might get from the vendor from Saturday. How does it handle any cut from "Viva Sanchez'' t-shirts? But that's about the total news value here. , Getting back in shape after a two-week pre-NFL Draft break, All-American nose tackle got right back in line with his ex-teammates when it came to passing around the medicine balls Tuesday. The only difference: This time, between, and during drills, the top-10 projected NFL pick, was able to do his media interviewing and move on. "Sure, i can do both at the same time,'' Ellis said. And he did, adjusting to the questions -- and strength and conditioning coach Chris Carlisle's whistles, as he did. USC TROJAN HUDDLE INTRASQUAD SCRIMMAGE STATS RUSHING NO YDS AVG TD LG PASSING PA PC PI PCT YDS TD LG RECEIVING NO YDS AVG TD LG INTS NO YDS AVG TD LG DEF TAC TFL SAC DFL FC/FR PUNTS NO YDS AVG LG KICKOFF RET NO YDS AVG TD LG PUNT RET NO YDS AVG TD LG FIELD GOALS FGA FGM MADE/MISS SCORING 36-39 2OT PENALTIES TURNOVERS PLAYS LEGEND: (C)-Cardinal, (W)-White USC football trainer Russ Romano said the Trojans came out of the spring Huddle with no injuries of note. DE Everson Griffen limped off after taking some sort of hit or twist on an ankle early but that was pretty much it. And Patrick Turner did get his bell rung after a catch by Taylor Mays but he held on to the ball and was able to walk it off. If nothing else happened in the Trojan Huddle Saturday, there was this, for certain. Chris Galippo was back. back from fall back surgery and back in the thick of things. From making big stops to scooping up fumbles, the 235-pound redshirt freshman from Corona, was clearly back. "One hundred percent,'' a near-giddy Galippo declared after his coming back day Saturday that had everyone saying his name.
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