There was talk last summer between Pete Carroll and Karl Dorrell about both teams wearing their home uniforms. Carroll said last season he would not mind if UCLA wore their home jerseys this year.
However, there is an increasing frostiness between the coaching staffs right now, so I wouldn’t expect any friendly gestures to occur this summer.

Pete Carroll’s pushed for rules banning agents from talking to recruits and has also talked to the NCAA and NFL about this. Some view this as hypocritical, because Carroll’s often been closely involved in helping guide players to certain agents.
However, due to the lowly image of agents, there’s been little public criticism of the idea, although it doesn’t seem close to happening.
USC did sue agent Robert Caron when it was alleged that running back Shawn Walters accepted nearly $16,000 from Caron. Caron later paid the university $50,000 to settle the lawsuit brought against him by USC because of the incident.

Joe McKnight’s groin is strained but he should be OK.

Funniest ex or current players? I always have a tough time answering these questions. There’s funny players and then there are players who think they are funny, like Petros Papadakis.
Two of the funniest players I’ve dealt with are the late Travis Claridge and Winston Justice. Many thought Claridge was gruff, but that was only if he didn’t know you. He was brutally honest and if you asked him about coaches, you’d often get priceless comments.
Justice was a more playful personality. Of course sometimes he was unintentionally funny, like when he mistakenly pointed a pellet gun at a student he thought was a baseball player he knew, but turned out to be a stranger.

There are many rules regarding recruiting regarding how often you can contact a recruit, etc. Usually a school is allowed one contact a recruit once per week unless it is a dead period. Recruits are allowed five official visits, but can also visit schools on their own.
Many times, kids go to a school in the summer on their own and visit, commit, then make an official visit in December or January just to have fun.

I’ve mentioned this many times in the past but was asked again, so here goes: Norm Chow left because of a deteriorating relationship with Pete Carroll and he felt he was getting pushed out because he was going to have a different job title than offensive coordinator.
Chow and current offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian had a falling out over the incident and pretty much stopped talking. Sarkisian is obviously influenced by Chow but he’s also influenced by Carroll and Norv Turner.
I believe USC can win a national title without Chow, but I know they haven’t won one without him yet, and blew perhaps the easiest chance ever in 2005 due to controversial playcalling/personnel use.

I haven’t heard yet if Ronald Johnson will arrive early from Michigan.

Carroll said Josh Pinkard will play safety next season. Once the season starts, however, things can play. The only thing I’m confident about is that Pinkard will see the field somehow.

Closure on the Reggie Bush saga before the season seems a little idealistic right now. The truth is no one knows when it will end. Things are progressing slowly, but the NCAA is not giving up yet, so anything is possible.

It’s pronounced Ch-eye-low Rayshell (Chilo Rachal)

I don’t see Marc Tyler getting switched yet, at least until the coaches get a good look at him at tailback. But about a year ago, USC seemed more interested in signing him as a defensive player. Who would he beat out at safety? Taylor Mays? Kevin Ellison? Josh Pinkard?
Allen Bradford and C.J. Gable are the usual suspects to switch positions although I’m beginning to think Bradford might be better off switching to linebacker if he moves again. He would probably veto it because he thinks his NFL future lies at safety or running back.
Stafon Johnson could easily move to defense and Washington recruited him to play offense and defense, but no one at USC’s asked him to yet.

USC did not think Jimmy Clausen was damaged goods and recruited him aggressively. However, like many big-time players, when you lose out on them, you recognize some of the future problems/baggage you avoid by not having that player in the program.

I think whoever loses out the QB battle in spring, 2008, will consider transferring. Sanchez would have some issues as a redshirt sophomore, because if he transfers, he would have only one year of eligibility. It’s impossible to say today what will happen. Matt Leinart thought about transferring constantly in 2002 but never did.

Jeff Byers is currently healthy. The offensive line looks pretty solid right now with maybe one question being how Drew Radovich makes the transition from guard to tackle. And will any of the reserves turn into a reliable contributor?

There are a handful of recruits who could have NCAA Clearinghouse issues. Since many are just finishing high school right now, it’s too soon to say for sure who they are.
Allen Bradford remains the logical candidate to switch from tailback to fullback, but it’s also possible Thomas Williams would return there. Josh Pinkard and Mozique McCurtis are the two players who can play safety and cornerback and Pinkard can play both at an elite level.

Once again, people need to take Trojan Club comments for what they are. The quarterback position is not open this training camp (barring a total collapse by John David Booty). I would not say Pete Carroll is higher on Mustain than Sanchez. For one thing, he’s never really seen Mustain practice regularly, so he doesn’t even have a fully formed opinion yet.

Regarding Nick Young and Gabe Pruitt, Young left with Floyd’s blessing and he looks destined to be a lottery pick, so no argument there.
Pruitt, however, left under far more strained circumstances and his refusal to remain in good academic standing means USC could lose a scholarship under the APR guidelines. I’m hearing he could go in the top 20 now, so he isn’t exactly making a mistake, but he didn’t leave the program on the best terms.
I saw O.J. Mayo play the other night and he will be a major impact player. He will leave after his freshman season unless he suffers a major injury. However, a college basketball coach told me this week that UCLA recruit Kevin Love will have an even bigger impact, especially because he joins a stronger team.
As for the other freshman, Marcus Simmons will be a defensive specialist and center Mamadou Diarra will add much-needed size even though he is still learning and not polished.
This week I wrote that forward Davon Jefferson was raw. Only a rah-rah type would consider that a controversial comment since USC coach Tim Floyd speaks in similar terms about him. Jefferson’s got a long way to go before leaving for the NBA, frankly I don’t even consider that an issue and he looked like someone who had not played organized basketball for a couple of years. He will definitely help the team but there’s clearly going to be a transition period.

Stanley Havili will start at fullback. But will he stay healthy and who will back him up? Those are the real questions regarding the position.

I would never use a pre-season magazine to determine how tough a schedule is. Any time you go to Eugene, Ore., it’s a game you need to take seriously. And I’ve covered the past two USC blowouts up there, although the 2005 game was actually pretty close for a half.
Going to Seattle could also be tough if Washington is as improved as they appear to be. And maybe Notre Dame will stink this year, but then again, maybe they’ll play like their season depends on beating USC in South Bend. I consider USC’s road schedule to be very difficult. Think back two years ago. With Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, LenDale White, etc., USC nearly lost at Arizona State, played a very physical game at Cal and got a handful at Oregon for a half. They play those same teams this year on the road.

An official visit is when the school pays for the recruit to visit. If the recruit pays, it’s an unofficial visit. Recruits get five visits.

To earn a letter, you must be an active member of the team for the season. That means you practice, go to meetings, etc.

UCLA has a lot of commitments because they are aggressively recruiting after being limited in whom they could take last season when they didn’t have many scholarships. I think USC would quickly take Datone Jones, Aaron Hester and E.J. Woods if they changed their minds. Rahim Moore might also fall into that group to lesser extent.
USC also was high on Derrick Coleman, who committed to UCLA last weekend.
Otherwise, that might be it.
At the end of the day, how much does it matter? USC will sign a lot of players in February and like I said previously, the Trojans will probably recruit more nationally the rest of this year as they try to land players like linebackers Arthur Brown and Brendan Beal and safety/cornerback Deion Walker. There’s more than enough recruits to go around.
I haven’t seen the ratings for Maurice Simmons, but his little brother (also committed) is regarded as the best prospect. UCLA would have taken both of them.
To answer another question on this topic, I believe USC feels it waited too long to offer Hester, Jones and Woods. Why? Because before this offseason, you could wait longer to lock up recruits and Pete Carroll usually takes things slowly. But everything is moving faster now. Ask Dennis Erickson if he enjoys this new atmosphere.
USC can still be more selective because it is a nationally known program but they definitely are being more aggressive in response to the flurry of commitments.

Do I read all the comments to my postings? No. Sometimes I never read comments on postings, and sometimes, I wish I hadn’t read the comments. I could spend a day reading Mitch Mustain comments. But I do read all the open forum comments.

All I know about the Pac-10 is they made a huge mistake when they did not make the Cotton Bowl their No. 2 bowl. If you look at the other major conferences, none of them send their second team to a lousy bowl like the Holiday Bowl. There’s no glamour or anything if a USC or UCLA goes to San Diego. But a trip to the Cotton Bowl . . . USC still talks about its 1995 visit and I have fond memories of going to Dallas myself.
The lousy officiating is also an issue, but think of some of the blunders in the Big Ten or Big 12 over the years. However, I think Verle Sorgen will be a big loss as supervisor of officials especially when his replacement was suspended for a game following last year’s Oregon-Oklahoma debacle.
At Heritage Hall, there is occasional disenchantment but USC is not going to leave the Pac-10. That ship sailed 20 years ago.

One of my critiques of the Galen Center is that it has a kind of Spartan/pre-fabricated look on the outside. I once told Tim Floyd it reminded me of Costco, which should offend someone out there. However, the parking structures were built by the university so the athletic dept. had little say over their design.

Bradford and Averill Spicer will be reserves who could be good second-tier players. Galippo is a wild card. It’s hard to learn middle linebacker and play right away but he is intelligent. But he also plays behind Rey Maualuga. So he might get a year to learn the spot. I think Galippo will find a way to get on the field, whether at linebacker, special teams or maybe a surprise spot.

I’m not impressed with the talent in Southern California this year. It seems like a down year. Last weekend’s football camp at USC was dreadful. Nationally, that might not be the case. USC can give out 25 scholarships in February, which is the maximum amount. However, you can give out more if you bring in players in January because they don’t count as part of that 25.
USC’s available scholarships changes because players can transfer, become ineligible or quit. For instance, USC gave BYU basketball player Jordan Cameron a scholarship this week even though some might assume there were no more full rides available.

A hamstring usually takes about six weeks to recover.

So far, I don’t think the early commits are as strong as a year ago, but it’s really a question to answer in February. One reason might be that it’s not as strong a year for prospects. This year’s incoming group is good but they haven’t played yet so let’s wait and see first.

Haven’t heard of anyone going to San Jose State like Jeff Schweiger.

Is that it? Doesn’t anyone else have another Mitch Mustain/Mark Sanchez question?

Or want to know which players have long hair or short hair?

How do you do!