Here’s the first installment of the bonus round of Weekend Forum questions, brought to you by the students of USC, who are grateful the spring semester starts today.
Q: You said USC might have to forfeit games for the Bush incident. What is the basis for that guess? While I agree that NCAA is unpredictable, they have set a precedent of no punishment (forfeit/vacate games, etc) in a similar case with Michigan & Woodson. Here is what NCAA Executive Director David Price said: “Charles Woodson of University of Michigan received benefits from an agent. That all became known publicly sometime after he had left the institution. We had no information that there was any institutional knowledge; therefore, we did not take any action against the institution or even bring charges.”
A: I base it on the fact the Bush case is so big, the NCAA will want to do something to show it is relevant. Speaking of David Price, he used to work for the Pacific-10 Conference and you might remember that once he went to the NCAA, he resurrected a closed case against USC more than four years after the fact that resulted in scholarships being deducted in football (2) and women’s swimming (.5) on August 23, 2001. No one at USC thought the academic fraud case would result in NCAA penalites, but it did.
Q: Scott, if you see this video, you will see that Mitch Mustain used the shotgun Arkansas:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTC6KKnn654
So does this mean that it will need to be used at USC as well? Was is just a one-off for that game?
A: John David Booty used the shotgun nearly every play in high school and loved it. But USC coach Pete Carroll and Steve Sarkisian do not like it on a regular basis. It remains in the offense for next season, but probably will not be used extensively whether Mustain or Mark Sanchez starts.
Q: It seems quite obvious that Pete is longing for one last crack in the NFL. These January vacations seem have become an annual event that could be interpreted by many recruits as a black cloud as to when he will leave. Do you think that this has had an adverse effect on recruiting this year?
A: Recruits are used to hearing NFL speculation with Pete Carroll and used to hearing other colleges use it in negative recruiting, but as long as Carroll stays, recruiting will not be affected much.
Q: Since you never mentioned any kind of academic casualties for this past semester, including academic probation, does that mean that every single player on the football team is now in good academic standing?
A: See last night’s post.
Q: You said Art Bartner became the band director in 1969–but the radio tape of the 1964 Notre Dame-USC game clearly has Tom Kelly saying, after it is over,”Art Bartner and the Trojan band”, so was he at USC in 1964 in some capacity other than as band director? It would seem as tho he must have been.
A: Art Bartner did not come to USC until 1969, no matter what some doctored tape says.
Q: I see there are a number of ucla recruits listed as “soft verbals”, including Rahim Moore. Do you see any these soft verbals ending up at SC?
A: Rahim Moore’s remained solid at UCLA as long as DeWayne Walker stayed. I don’t see him changing his mind. It doesn’t look like USC will get anyone right now who is a UCLA verbal. The best chance might have been tailback Derrick Coleman, but he is going to UCLA.
Q: What kind of job has John Morton done? Our WR’s were really poor early in the season, especially considering their credentials. They seemed to improve a little bit as the season want on but I thought as a group they were still below par. Your thoughts on Morton’s job as receivers coach? Thanks.
A: I don’t really think John Morton’s performance should be judged by the receivers. I would have been a great receivers coach when Mike Williams, Steve Smith and Dwayne Jarrett were at USC. There’s no one close to any of those guys on the current roster at the moment. I think Morton’s a decent coach and he’s got a good NFL background.
Q: Would you say the 2007 Trojan team had more dissension on it than usual? Thanks.
A: Actually, I’d say it had less dissension than usual. No one got arrested during the season, no one got suspended by the NCAA or needed to pay back money to regain their eligibility. It was a pretty uneventful season.
Q: Butch takes Bakers place. ODowd comes in for Spanos. Charles Brown will probably be in there instead of Radovich. With Chilo leaving early, who do you think will take his place next season? Herring? Heberer? A freshman?
A: Zach Heberer.
Q: When Carroll leaves, he will eventually , who would YOU like to see hired? Del Rio, Fisher or Riley. Or maybe someone else.
A: Mike Riley’s won 19 games the past two years in Corvallis, Ore. That’s a pretty impressive and he beat USC once. He also worked at USC and knows how it works. So I’d choose him. I think Jack Del Rio’s success probably eliminates him at the moment, but one bad season and he’ll be back on the NFL chopping block.
Q: You don’t seem to be too impressed with the “wow” factor of this years recruits. Are there any out there, that have that “wow” factor that USC lost out on?
A: Cornerback Patrick Johnson to LSU and “athlete” Will Hill to Florida.
Q: In the December scrimmage, were the plays that Mitch Mustain was involved in from the actual USC 2007 playbook or were they different plays that were scripted/improvised on the day of the scrimmage by the coaches?
A: The plays were from the regular USC offense.
Q: What are the skill requirements for the nose tackle position as compared to the defensive tackle position?
A: I answered this question on Jan. 12.