Tight end Blaine Irby of St. Bonaventure High in Ventura committed to Texas. Irby (6-2, 224) produced the highest-rated workout among a large group of high school players at USC in an April camp.
But Irbys family and USC did not see eye-to-eye, which eliminated the Trojans and gave the Longhorns a big Southern California commitment.
Meanwhile, Everson Griffen, one of the defensive ends in the country, will attend next weeks USC camp. Hes officially listed Arizona, USC and UCLA as his top choices although sources say hes been lukewarm to the Bruins recently.

USC scheduled its free to the public scrimmage at the Coliseum for August 20 at 1 p.m.

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Keary Colbert worked out with the Trojans during Thursdays 7-on-7 practice, catching passes from quarterbacks Mark Sanchez and John David Booty. Colbert is lifting weights at USC while in Southern California. His wife, former Notre Dame High track star Sierra Hauser-Price, recently started law school at Duke University.
Colbert said he looks forward to teaming up with fellow USC wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson.
Booty, recovering from back injury, throws about 60-70 passes each day. Incoming freshman wide receiver Travon Patterson from Long Beach Poly participated in the workout and caught a lot of passes.

Heres some more home basketball dates:
Nov. 28 Mississippi Valley State
Dec. 14 Bethune Cookman
Dec. 17 Charleston Southern (Las Vegas Classic)
Dec. 19 Longwood (Las Vegas Classic. No, this is not a misprint)
USC opens with South Carolina (which recently signed a contract) for its first basketball game at the Galen Center and other home opponents include St. Marys, The Citadel, Long Beach State and Loyola Marymount.
Meanwhile, Davon Jefferson showed up Thursday night to play pickup basketball. The former Lynwood High still wants to attend USC and needs to clear considerable academic obstacles.
The last report I received was that Jefferson was still not doing everything necessary academically, although theres still time for him to get things together.

Defensive back Cedric Everson of Detroit is scheduled to attend USC’s football camp next week but he also will probably stop by UCLA over the weekend. He’s actually one of UCLA’s top prospects and it will be another tug of war to see who gets him.

New England Patriots special teams coach Brad Seely, a friend of USC coach Pete Carroll, is hanging around this week, offering some pointers. Carrolls mentor, Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, is scheduled to arrive later in the week.

Now that USC received commitments from two Oaks Christian players, it’s time for Oregon to follow suit.
It looks like the Ducks will receive commitments from linebacker Casey Matthews and wide receiver-defensive back Anthony Gildon soon.

Former USC defensive end Frostee Rucker hired Leonard Levine to represent him against two misdemeanor counts of spousal battery and two counts of vandalism.
Levine represented USC quarterback Mark Sanchez in his recent sexual-assault case. The alleged victim is a former USC student and accuses Rucker of getting into an altercation with her at a party last August and smashing her cellphone. From my own knowledge, this could be an interesting case.

Continue reading “Lawyered Up” »

A prominent USC recruit was disinvited from a football camp because of “character issues.”

One player USC is recruiting might seem especially familiar in Westwood: Defensive tackle Brian Price of Crenshaw High in Los Angeles. Price already committed to UCLA but the Trojans are still recruiting him.