As I mentioned in the previous post, the Baby Quarterback is now on his second high school and he has not even finished his freshman year. That is because Red Lion Academy no longer aspires to be a football factory and agreed to compete under the guidelines of the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association.
That created a mass exodus of 30 Red Lion players to Eastern Christian, including quarterback David Sills and defensive lineman Kenny Bigelow, who also committed to USC.

The Baby Quarterback (aka David Sills), who committed to USC in junior high school, is now attending Eastern Christian Academy in Elkton, Md. He told Rivals.com in this interview that USC and Maryland are the only schools that have offered him a scholarship and he remains 100 percent committed to the Trojans.
“USC is a great school. Almost every quarterback that goes there plays in the NFL,” Sills said.
On Lane Kiffin’s early, early scholarship offer: “I think he liked where I was mentally in the game. i think that’s what it was that set me different.”

The Texas team that defeated USC in the 2006 BCS title game produced 32 players that appeared in an NFL game. For a closer look here’s a story from the Austin American-Statesman.

Freshman tailback Javorious Allen’s participated in only one practice this spring but he did make a significant contribution. If he didn’t pull his hamstring, Lane Kiffin might not have moved Tre Madden to tailback.

In this segment a reader asks where Lane Kiffin needs to improve for USC to win a national title.
Continue reading “Answer Sunday!” »

This is the 100th anniversary of the nickname Trojans at USC, which shows how good nicknames were in the past. For example, the 1969 defensive line was called “The Wild Bunch.”
The best USC could do for the defensive line in 2002 was “Wild Bunch II.”
Even worse, Tre Madden’s ascent to tailback led to some calling him “Baby Stafon” because he wears No. 13 like former tailback Stafon Johnson. This makes little sense as they were not teammates and Madden is actually bigger than Johnson.
Quarterback Max Wittek had the line of spring practice, though, when asked if anyone gave him a nickname because he also wears No. 13.
“Hopefully they don’t call me Baby Marinovich,” Wittek said.

The Coliseum turf was in great shape for USC practice yesterday as opposed to last year’s opener against Minnesota. But maybe that is because there are no raves or embezzling going on recently.

USC linebacker Tre Madden’s move to tailback becomes permanent and defensive line coach Ed Orgeron says the Trojans changed their recruiting philosophy after getting shut out on tackles in this recruiting class.
“There’s no question we went after what we felt were the best tackles,” Orgeron said. “(But) I don’t think our pool of tackles was big enough. This year we will have a bigger pool. It’s like the NFL draft, the good guys get taken earlier.”

USC defensive line coach Ed Orgeron on freshmen redshirts Antwaun Woods and Greg Townsend.
“Woods and Townsend are coming,” he said. “(But they) are nowhere near the level it needs to be at practice.”
What about starting defensive end Devon Kennard?
“He’s better in the three-point stance than (a two-point stance),” Orgeron said. “He and Wes Horton are into it at practice.”

USC is currently eighth at the men’s swimming and diving championships. A top 10 finish is nice especially on the heels of the women’s good finish (third) last week.
But it also raises a valid question: Why can’t the men do as well or better than the women? The reason it deserves scrutiny is because UCLA does not have a men’s swim program. Can you imagine how many other sports at USC wish they did not compete against UCLA for star recruits in Southern California?
The closest quality swim programs are California and Stanford. Lane Kiffin probably wouldn’t mind his nearest rival being in the Bay Area.