St. John Bosco guard Daniel Hackett said he completed his coursework last weekend and officially graduated from high school a year early. Now he must get the approval of the NCAA Clearhouse before attending classes at USC.
“Im all done,” Hackett said. “Everything is in the hands of the clearinghouse. It looks good. I hope I will hear maybe a couple days, maybe next week.”
Freshman forward Taj Gibson is also awaiting clearinghouse approval before he can attend classes.

Last week, attorney Carmen Trutanich spoke to USC’s freshman football players about staying out of trouble. Here’s an essay Trutanich wrote about the recent Duke lacrosse team scandal:
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A student wanted to move into the downtown L.A. penthouse apartment Monday shared by Matt Leinart and Dwayne Jarrett last year and was told it would cost $4,300. Thats $500 more than it cost when Leinart signed his rental agreement, but its understandable because the Medici complex is much better known thanks to the publicity surrounding the complex since last spring.
Meanwhile, Reggie Bush officially moved out of the Medici last week, following the lead of Jarrett and Leinart. Jarrett is now living alone in another downtown apartment and said he pays about $1,000 per month.

St. Paul High tailback Nicholas Grigsby, who committed to Arizona, attended last nights scrimmage in a USC sweatshirt.

Stats from tonight’s mock game:
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A live recap of the mock game, which featured the first team against the scout team.
Continue reading “Live Mock Game Updates” »

http://www.dailynews.com/usc/ci_4209890

Tailback Desmond Reed is gradually getting more work and Saturday even took snaps at tailback while the Trojans were in a two-minute offense to take advantage of his receiving skills.

USC coach Pete Carroll said the pass defense is the best since he arrived at USC and said it’s one reason the offense struggled in scrimmage situations.
“We haven’t been as productive against our defense at any time,” Carroll said.
As far as the running game, Carroll said, “What I’m concerned about is getting running backs in the game that know what they are doing at the right time.”

USC goes into the Arkansas game without the No. 1 AP ranking for the first time since it went into the Dec. 3, 2003, Oregon State game ranked No. 2. And the No. 6 ranking is the lowest AP ranking for the Trojans going into a game since the October 11, 2003, Stanford game, when the Trojans were ninth.
When was the last time an unranked Trojan team took the field? Christmas Day, 2001, against Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl.
And for the optimists, in 1972, USC, ranked a No. 8 in the pre-season poll, used its victory at Arkansas to climb up to the No. 1 spot, where they stayed the rest of that season.
UPDATE: The Arkansas game is the first that USC will be entering without a No. 1 ranking, since the Oregon St. game in 2003. It is not the first time that USC has not been No. 1 since 2003 since USC was No. 2 in the poll that came out on Jan. 5, 2006