Open Forum Answers

Josh Pinkard will start out at safety. I'm not sure which cornerback he would replace, but I wouldn't bet on it being Terrell Thomas.

Very astute observation, reader FlourTower. I had not suspected Mark Sanchez behind the Mitch Mustain broken bike pedal incident. But I did see Aaron Corp emerge from the locker room a few minutes later. Hmmm.
Speaking of Mustain (and when aren't we), when he attended the spring scrimmage, he happened to see one of Sanchez's worst performances of the spring, so it only emboldened his decision to come to USC and made him think he could win the starting job.
Of course, John David Booty attended a USC spring scrimmage when there was a three-way QB battle and it seemed wise to graduate early because of the uncertainty at the position. It turned out Matt Leinart won the job and kept it for three years. Oops.

Do I feel vindicated by this week's Leinart-Brynn Cameron fiasco? I have mixed feelings. My primary hope is that none of this affects baby Cole and I'm confident the Cameron family will raise him properly and shield him from unnecessary publicity.
On the other hand, I think this week's events offered a glimpse to some of you that Leinart's got a side you wouldn't see if you just attended games or watched him on TV. What surprised me is how insecure Leinart remains even after reaching stardom. It's well known he was insecure at Mater Dei and even at USC if things didn't go his way, but after becoming a millionaire, he still spent two days attacking Cameron based on a couple buried comments she made in the Ventura paper, hardly the most effective platform if you really wanted to criticize your ex.
He should have just ignored it. Instead, he went to TMZ and People. I even mentioned that part to Pete Carroll on Thursday (after he ``reamed'' Petros Papadakis).

If the NCAA ever took away scholarships, it would likely prevent the awarding of future scholarships instead of taking away any current players scholarships. That's why when the hammer really drops, you see TV or bowl sanctions instead of massive scholarship cuts.

Regarding the QBs, Mitch Mustain and Mark Sanchez are both polite and easy to deal with compared to Leinart. For that matter, so is John David Booty. And Aaron Corp. And Garrett Green.
I'm still wondering why USC's sports information dept. prevented Leinart from speaking to the media because it was too distracting (though he supposedly was a genius as evidenced by his ability to read defenses) more than once a week but John David Booty is quite capable of speaking to the media every day with no problem? (insert spin control answer here).

Regarding USC players since the Carroll era in the NFL draft. I think many players slipped because there's a perception that maybe they weren't pushed too hard in college and won't like the discipline of the NFL. Certainly, you could say Mike Williams, LenDale White and Manuel Wright all struggled in that regard. Williams told me he won't make the same mistakes with the Raiders.
But that freedom might also explain why some of those players flourished in college with a wider range of latitude. Or maybe Pete Carroll's got a genius touch dealing with malcontents.

Considering USC has not offered a scholarship to Max Tuoiti-Mariner, I don't think his knee injury shook up recruiting plans too much.

I've heard rumors that some commits might leave UCLA if Eric Scott is fired but nothing definite yet. I do know the topic was discussed at Pac-10 media day by some coaches. It will be closely monitored I assume. If I had to guess, I would imagine USC might like to know what Datone Jones of Compton thinks of all this.

USC does store its playbooks in Norwalk but you are wrong about the location. They are at the Shoeteria, where if you buy 12 pairs of shoes, you get a free playbook.

I think Allen Bradford falls into the same category at Hershel Dennis, Stafon Johnson, Emmanuel Moody, Marc Tyler, Broderick Green, etc. There's limited reps and they need to make a splash to get more or they might have problems getting playing time.

Demar Derozan will probably stay at USC for two years (provided he signs of course). Angelo Johnson looks more like a spring semester admit although he is still trying for the fall.

I have a parking pass but I actually ride my bike (with two pedals) to USC.

QBs from tallest to shortest: Corp, Sanchez, Mustain, Booty.

I haven't checked any weightlifting marks recently. I don't know who the strongest Trojan in history was but maybe I can find out.

I will continue to share content with TMZ and Us Weekly, especially since Us acquired the magazine rights to my book, ``Mitch and Me.'' TMZ refused to make a bid because it did not want to upset Matt Leinart's lackeys from leaking them information.

``What do you attribute to your blog becoming the biggest site for USC athletics this past year?'' Hmmm. Mitch Mustain? Matt Leinart? Nope. I attribute it to the readers. Despite so many outlets for USC information and the coming onslaught of homer sites, blogs, I think many readers appreciate my attempts to report information without being a cheerleader. I hope it's entertaining. And I know it takes a lot of work. But the number of hits the blog receives demonstrate the readers' interest.

If Matt Leinart wins the Super Bowl MVP, I would not go on suicide watch. I'd be too busy checking what C-list actresses he tried to hook up with his newfound fame. His talent agency might be on suicide watch, however, if they don't provide him with enough endorsement opportunities.

Carson tight end Morrell Presley (and other underclassmen) lose nothing by committing early. It raises their profile, they are not bound to come to USC or any other school and they can always change their mind. If they do get injured, the school usually honors its commitment, although they can usually reclassify the scholarship so it doesn't count against football.

No word yet on the football slogan.

The reason some players did not succeed in the NFL has more to do with their deficiencies than Pete Carroll. That doesn't mean Carroll's perfect, but the individual is always more important.

Joe McKnight and Travon Patterson will get a chance in training camp to win special team positions.

Brynn Cameron hates me? Now that's inaccurate. Only USC's sports information ever thought that.

``Do you really plan to waste PC's time at the media day by asking about Matt's personal issues?''
At media day, I did not bring the subject up. But Pete Carroll did bring it up to me. So I guess he wasted my time with it.

As for Pete and NFL players, I'm sure his coaching is a major reason for the success. But so is the athletic ability of those players. In the NFL, however, things are more rigid and there's less patience for problem childs.

Cole Leinart will probably go to USC. Don't forget Jordan Cameron is attending USC next year. How come you're all wasting my time with NFL questions when you miss the true talent of Carroll: He's the only guy on good relations with the Camerons and Leinarts!

I haven't seen much of Troy Polamalu or Carson Palmer recently but I know they used to talk on the phone to their teammates and Palmer usually ends up talking to the quarterbacks at some point.

Pete Carroll expects everyone to compete. It's his motto. And I'm sure Urban Meyer does too.

Yes, it is my contention the Pac-10 is stupid when games are on Versus or Fox Sports (at an ungodly hour in the East Coast). National TV is a subjective term when you consider how many people get the channel or how many know where it's located. For example, Versus is buried between Speed (or SPD) and ESPNU on
DirecTV.

The football roster is available on usctrojans.com

A H-back is a hybrid of the fullback-tight end and usually specializes in catching the ball and is more athletic than a conventional tight end.

The coaches did not need to ask Damian Williams to recruit Mitch Mustain. The pair were high school and college teammates and Williams recruited him without any suggestions.

The shotgun will allow John David Booty to see players like Fred Davis easier, but the coaches have to throw to the tight end first.

I don't think the Pac-10 would investigate Eric Scott or his recruiting unless specific charges emerged.

Pete Carroll wants a balanced offense. I didn't see the quote before, but no way does USC average 260 yards rushing like the Bush-White era. They averaged around seven yards per carry. That's highly unlikely this year.

I believe Kyle Moore is good enough to start but there is also a craving within the program to see Everson Griffen so I expect a rotation there during the season.

The probability of an NFL team in LA in five years is about 0 percent. But let's say it happened. Pete Carroll would be a candidate. His best friend, Pat Kirwan, told me once that he expected Carroll to be the LA team's coach. But I'm sure you'd all be happy for five more years of Carroll, right? Not that it will necessarily happen.

Will Harris will be a reserve and probably see time on special teams.

USC is starting TrojanTV this fall. I received a boring explanation of it at Pac-10 media day but the fans should like it with game replays and videos of football meetings, etc.

I was not present for the Pete Carroll-Petros Papadakis confrontation, so I don't know how bad it was. Do you think I'd waste my time arriving at media day until the last possible moment?
I did talk to Petros and he said it was full of profanity and he went from 6-1 to 4-11 after the conversation. I'm guessing it wasn't a great idea to greet Carroll with the comment, ``Have you heard the show?''
Carroll did discuss the same subject with me but it was a normal every day conversation with no vitriol or scenes in front of everyone (darn it). But hey, it gave Petros some great material for his show, right?

Wow, what a great week. Now I'm deciding whether to have a weekend forum, so some of you can ask the same question again with two or three different words.