USC’s football team attends two barbecues per year at the home of two boosters. One is at the Malibu home of Wayne Hughes and the other is at the Beverly Hills residence of Alan Casden.
According to today’s Los Angeles Business Journal, Hughes is worth $3.6 billion. He owns Public Storage Inc. Casden, a real-estate developer, is worth $1.5 billion.

The focus was on recruiting with USC coach Pete Carroll, UCLA coach Karl Dorrell and Notre Dames Charlie Weis among those attending the Stanford Nike Camp.
But as predicted, it was also a time to bring up other issues. Carroll approached Dorrell on Saturday and discussed the idea of reviving the tradition of USC and UCLA wearing their home jerseys in the crosstown rivalry.
The last time that happened was 1982 before the NCAA prohibited the unique practice. Its believed the NCAA would allow each team to wear their home jerseys if the schools agreed and Carroll is a firm supporter.

Back on May 2, I wrote the following: “Were 2,000 miles from South Bend but I talked to someone tonight with first-hand knowledge who said Notre Dame sent a Hummer stretch limo to pickup Oaks Christian quarterback Jimmy Clausen during his recent visit and commitment. Sounds a bit excessive, no?
“Theres also reports that a sports agent helped coordinate the public announcement of the commitment at the College Football Hall of Fame.”
Naturally, this upset Notre Dame fans.
But look at what my former Daily News colleague, Eric Sondheimer, wrote today in the L.A. Times.
“(The Clausen family) allowed an NFL agent, Gary Wichard, to put together the news conference . . . Wichard, who said he’s a family friend, had his former employee, Jeff Freedman, a public relations specialist, call the College Hall of Fame to make arrangements to use the facility.
“Wichard confirmed he was among more than a dozen Clausen friends and family members who showed up at the Hall of Fame in a stretch limo escorted by police.”

Former USC wide receiver Derrick Jones, in his first track meet competing for Oregon, ran the 100-meters in 10.71 seconds and did not qualify for the final at the Pacific-10 Conference championships in Eugene, Ore.
Jones is expected to be part of the Ducks’ 4 x 100-meter relay team that competes in today’s final.

USC guard Gabe Pruitt: “Ryan was a really good friend, teammate and person. We got really close in the short time he was here. He will truly be missed.”

USC forward Nick Young: “He was a tough player on the court and a really cool guy off of it. It hurts really deep to see something like that happen. We became really close, Im kind of at a loss for words. He helped me out in so many areas, not only on the court, but off it as well.”

USC guard Lodrick Stewart talked about teammate Ryan Francis, who was shot and killed this morning.
“Man, Ryan Francis was like the little brother I always wanted. He was funny, cool to be around and always kept that big smile on his face no matter how bad things were going.
“He really helped me a lot this year, just telling me to keep my head straight and stuff. It will never be the same without him here with me and all the long talks we had. I loved him like a little brother.”

Baton Rouge police just arrested someone related to this morning’s shooting of USC point guard Ryan Francis. Police have not yet identified the suspect.
According to Lt. Keith Bates of the Baton Rouge police dept., Francis was pronounced dead at 3:40 a.m. with multiple gunshot wounds. He was shot after a car pulled up at an intersection next to the car where Francis was a passenger.
The car blocked the intersection and as Francis’ car pulled away, a suspect fired at the car and hit Francis.
“He’s a victim that happened to be present in the car,” Bates said.

USC point guard Ryan Francis was shot and killed early this morning in Baton Rouge, La. Francis was in a car with friends when a bullet struck him. According to a USC spokesperson, one of Francis’ friends was shot at his house earlier this week and Francis might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Francis went home for Mother’s Day following the conclusion of USC’s spring semester.
“We’re all devastated,” USC coach Tim Floyd said. “We’ve lost a special young man who in his short time at USC made an impression that will last forever. He was a wonderful young man, a fine student and a leader who was admired by his teammates. He came from a great family. He loved his mother and talked about her all the time. This is just so, so sad.”
Francis averaged 7.1 points last season and was an All-Pacific-10 Conference freshman team honorable mention selection.

Wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett and offensive tackle Sam Baker are spending the weekend at a Phoenix-area resort as part of the Playboy All-American team.
This annual function is where the All-American team takes its group photo and generally bonds over the course of a few days. Last year, Reggie Bush skipped the event but later had his likeness digitally inserted into the team picture. Pete Carroll was the coach of last year’s team.
USC center Ryan Kalil was a strong candidate for the team but Playboy selected West Virginia’s Dan Mozes.

Not to spend too much time on this issue, but USC coach Pete Carroll had not received the California organization’s letter Friday. It’s also a little strange the group released the letter May 12 but dated it May 3.