July 2008 Archives

If you want to bet the over/under on how many games USC will win this season, the current number on bodog.com is 10.5, which means the Trojans must go 11-1 to win the over (bowl games do not count).

Former USC wide receiver Mike Williams was cut today by the Tennessee Titans.
``I just wasn't seeing the production, and when you get in a situation where you don't see the production, and you've got a young group of receivers that are emerging, I just felt like it was in our best interests to let him go at this point," coach Jeff Fisher said. "Maybe Mike can hook on some place else."

USC's media guide fails to list one small fact: When is Homecoming?

Golfer Hunter Mahan drew more buzz than ever with his comments that players are ``slaves'' during the week of the Ryder Cup. Mahan, of course, played at USC his freshman year before he transferred to Oklahoma State.
Perhaps he felt like a slave at USC too.

Long Beach Poly defensive tackle Jurrell Casey was certified by the NCAA Clearinghouse.

I recently brushed aside an ESPN article on USC's biggest celebrity fans because it seemed about three years late. And sure enough, here's the article's No. 1 fan, Snoop Dogg, in an LSU jersey with Tigers coach Les Miles.

USC basketball recruit Demar DeRozan took the ACT only one time, so there will not be any follow-up investigation regarding his test score. We mentioned this because his test score was quite high. That means getting certified by the NCAA Clearinghouse should be a formality.

Here is the WAC's nonconference games. Of course, Nebraska plays two WAC teams on its nonconference schedule (San Jose State, New Mexico State).

The line is currently 20 points for the USC-Virginia game. That's little movement from when we first saw a point spread on the game.

I mentioned recently all the money Oregon's spending, whether it's for a new basketball arena, baseball stadium or indoor track stadium. But the Ducks also just installed a new video board that is 88 feet wide by 33 feet high, the largest in the Pac-10. It cost more than $2 million. Did we mention USC got a new video board too?

The ACC will become the first to release twice- weekly team-by-team injury reports nationally in 2008. There are some Pac-10 schools that have problems doing this once a week.

We took a break from posting photos but will continue to publish pictures as necessary.

There was a problem with our blog servers earlier today, so if you had trouble posting comments, things should be fine now.

If one more Song Girls' off-field pictures become Internet fodder, this will officially become a trend. In the meantime, perhaps one of the athletic dept. spin doctors should take a shot (again) at keeping attention off this subject. Here's one way: Announce that tryouts will be transparent.

This is for the non-Song Girl questions, otherwise known as football. One per person please.

In a new feature, I will give you a place for Song Girls questions only for those who do not want to read about it.

Is there a copyright attorney in the house?

The Pac-10 and Ronald Johnson are among the topics.

Not bad questions here.

Here's a suggestion for a special-teams helper.

A question about ticket sales.

Back to the usual topic.

A belated version.

I don't really have an answer but the comments are fascinating.

Some of you caught that Pete Carroll said Joe McKnight's gained 20 pounds since he arrived at USC. The weight gain is an attempt to become an every-down back.
Remember Reggie Bush eventually increased his weight to 200 pounds and still had critics who said he was not an every-down back. The key for McKnight will be to gain weight without sacrificing his quickness.

A lot of pre-season rankings make Georgia the No. 1 team but the SEC media didn't even pick the Bulldogs to win their own conference. And it wasn't even close.
Florida received 36 ballots, Georgia on 18, Auburn 13 and LSU, Tennessee and Ole Miss one each. In the Eastern Division, Florida had 45 first-place votes, Georgia (23) and
Tennessee (2).

For what it's worth, a fellow Pac-10 coach said linebacker Manti Te'o of Honolulu is currently USC's to lose in recruiting.

Here's the Sun Belt Conference nonconference schedule. They are quite popular with Big 12 and SEC teams.

Expect an overdrive campaign by the athletic dept. when school resumes to force all athletes to make their Facebook profiles ''private'' after websites ran photos of the track team, soccer team and song girls outside their official duties.
Not that making it private is a fail-safe solution. But all in all, not a great week for USC's image. Depending on your point of view.

Just a follow-up on the special teams topic. Some schools decide to employ a full-time special teams coach. Others do not. The conflict arises over the limit on how many coaches you can hire. When Pete Carroll gave the defensive coordinator duties to Nick Holt a couple years ago, he decided to double-up and hire an extra defensive line assistant, Dave Watson, to assist Holt, who is the defensive line coach.
Carroll could have hired a special-teams coach with the opening but chose not to. Now with Sam Anno gone, there is no official opening and he needs to scramble to fill the spot. So that meant giving additional duties to Yogi Roth.

USC defensive line coach Dave Watson is back from his ''personal leave'' that started in early June.

You could almost start a drinking game on the times USC came up with other teams at Pac-10 media day. Here's a sampling.

In case you missed it, the Avengers hired former USC QB Pat O'Hara as head coach.

Q: Isn't the real reason Lil' Romeo and his father, Master P, insisted that he got a basketball scholarship to USC, as opposed to being a walk on, the fact that he could have only gotten into USC under athletic department admissions but not through the regular admission office process?

One of our readers mentioned in the Open Forum the fact several Internet sites ran some personal pictures of a USC Song Girl this week. I'd like to think this will cause a couple people in the athletic dept. to focus their attention on this more-pressing matter instead of the simple readers' concerns about the Song Girls on this blog.
But I doubt it.

Pete Carroll decided to have graduate assistant Yogi Roth handle the kickers and snappers following the departure of Sam Anno. It's an interesting move because to my knowledge, he does not have prior experience with the kicking game.

Here's a quote from Pete Carroll that was posted earlier today on the running backs: ''It's never been a problem for us. It's a problem for everyone else that they can't figure out why we do it that way. You saw for years that Reggie (Bush) was the poster boy and Heisman Trophy winner. LenDale White set the record for Pac-10 touchdowns.''
Uh, well, there was that famous fourth-down play against Texas when Reggie Bush was not on the field at all and LenDale White got stuffed short of the first down.
That goes down as a ''problem'' for USC in our book and one time we couldn't ''figure out why (they) do it that way.''

Asked if Josh Pinkard was 100 percent, Pete Carroll said: ``he should be.''
``We want to be careful loading him up too much in fall camp. We don't want to overwork him. He's doing everything in the workout program.''
Carroll said Pinkard would battle for playing time and can start at either corner or safety.

ESPN's Outside the Lines, which broke the O.J. Mayo story, looks at Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who ''while celebrating his induction to the College Football Hall of Fame, is also facing questions about the spate of criminal charges against some of his players.''
The show examines the crimes, charges, and convictions among Penn State football players, reports on the spike in criminal activity.

Yogi Roth, the graduate assistant and assistant quarterbacks coach, has additional duties in the fall as he'll work with kickers and snappers.

It's time for questions. Barack Obama drew 200,000 for a speech in Berlin today. If USC did the count, it would have been 300,000.

Reggie who?
Pete Carroll praised Joe McKnight for having the ability to do it all out of the backfield. And he does something even better than Bush.
``Joe McKnight has gained 20 pounds since he showed up a year ago,'' Carroll said. ``He's a big-play tailback who can catch the ball out of the backfield and line up as a receiver. He runs routes as a receiver better than Reggie did.''

ASU coach Dennis Erickson seemingly already conceded the Pac-10 title to USC, even though the Sun Devils shared the conference title with the Trojans last year.
``You don't pay any attention to that,'' he said. ``One thing about how they rate ya is that it's over the week when we start practice. Our league is so competitive. 'SC has set a high standard. That's the reality of it. Anybody can beat anybody, that's why it's such a great league. To pick who will be second is very difficult.''

Pete Carroll still can't put his finger on others' fascination with the plethora of running backs the Trojans have.
``They (each) have their ways, and we'll continue to utilize them,'' Carroll said. ``It's never been a problem for us. It's a problem for everyone else that they can't figure out why we do it that way. You saw for years that Reggie was the poster boy and Heisman Trophy winner. LenDale White set the record for Pac-10 touchdowns. Now, it may be a three-back deal or four-back deal. Who knows? Last year, we had 10 guys. Now we have six. It should work out fine.''

UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel and Pete Carroll fielded questions about the crosstown rivalry on Thursday, and Neuheisel is embracing the challenge of living next door to USC.
``I think you have to embrace it,'' Neuheisel said. ``They're the elephant in the living room. They've earned it. They've done an unbelievable job. Pete is to be commended what's taken place there the last six to seven years. The transformation from middle of the pack to not just leader of the pack but leader of the country. You can't be a coach at UCLA and not find a way to compete and be successful with USC. That's part of the deal. The good news is that when we catch them and I say when, we'll not only have caught the leader of the pack but the program that can rightfully challenge for the big prizes.''

The preseason media poll has picked the Pac-10 champion 25 of the last 47 seasons. Also, the media has picked the Pac-10 conference champs the last eight consecutive years.

Last year, Jim Harbaugh made a splash as Stanford's new coach when he proclaimed USC to be perhaps the best team in college history. Asked if he had any more bulletin board material for this year, Harbaugh said: ``Have I had any bulletin board fodder? I didn't know I was a bulletin board guy.''

USC was picked to win the Pac-10 again. USC was voted No. 1 by 38 of the 39 voters. USC has won or shared the last five Pac-10 titles. Defending Pac-10 co-champ Arizona State is picked to finish second.

Here's the poll with total points
1. USC (38) 389
2. ASU 330
3. Oregon 295
4. Cal (1) 274
5. UCLA 204
6. Oregon State 192
7. Arizona 185
8. Washington 139
9. Stanford 76
10. Washington State 61

You can watch Pete Carroll's presser at the Pac-10 media day, but you'll have to wait a while to do it. Carroll is the last coach scheduled to speak. He's up at noon, and you can watch it live on pac-10.org.

I'm on assignment so my Daily News colleague Jill Painter will blog today from Pac-10 media day. Be sure to check back later for her reports.

With Pac-10 media day tomorrow, was it already a year since the famous Pete Carroll-Petros Papadakis incident where Petros said Carroll tore him apart for his comments about Matt Leinart.
``I was 6-1 at the start and 4-11 at the end,'' Petros said.
Carroll also discussed some comments I made about Leinart that day, but it was just a regular conversation, so I didn't find out till later about the explosive nature of the topic. Don't expect anything that good tomorrow.

We're getting near the end of the questions. You know what that means? Time for more questions soon.

OK, break time is over. Back to the answer grind.

OK, I already ran this picture, but isn't it worth an encore?

A question on Pete Carroll's favorite books.

The questions (and answers) continue.

Another reference to Tricia Pillsbury.

The Ohio State game in two years from now interests a reader. And check out the last answer.

Some Song Girl comments here.

Lots and lots of questions to answer today and many of them were quite good.

Here's a story you won't find on usctrojans.com.
``Two people were arrested and paramedics transported at least 11 people to area hospitals following a rave-style concert and carnival at the Los Angeles Coliseum Saturday night, authorities said.
``A lot of these people are doing ecstasy," said Los Angeles police Sgt. Adrian Moody of the Southwest station.''

Will they clear up all the ecstasy in time for the season-opener against Ohio State?

Here's an interesting list of what the top assistants in the Big 12 Conference make per year. And yes, USC outpays the No. 1-ranked assistants.

Let's see if we can get this straight: Fox Sports cancels the Trojan Rewind show (30 minutes) and replaces it with a new Monday night show that will devote one-third of its hour to USC (20 minutes).
That's progress?
And we didn't even include the Pete Carroll press conference show that was also canceled.

USC will be picked to win the Pac-10 title when the media poll is released Thursday. The media's picked the right winner for eight straight years. But how hard is it to vote for USC pretty much every year?

In about a week, I need to submit a preseason Top 25 poll. If anyone has their own Top 25, they can submit it here.

Here's the link to this morning's Oregon sports-talk radio show. I was half-asleep at the time, but still tried to put in a good word for the cheerleaders.

The Pac-10 holds its media day on Thursday and USC will bring Brian Cushing. Each team brings a player. The SEC brings two players. I'm just saying . . .

Here's the SEC's non-conference schedule. LSU faces Appalachian State, Troy and North Texas.

USC assistant coach Sam Anno, who handled the kickers and long-snappers for the past three seasons, resigned to become an assistant coach at Central Connecticut State.
Anno, a former USC linebacker, will coach linebackers and special teams at Central Connecticut. The school's head coach is former USC defensive line coach Jeff McInerny while former USC defensive lineman Ryan Nielsen is the defensive coordinator and former USC offensive lineman Jacob Rogers is the offensive line coach.
Anno's departure leaves the Trojans with a void on the staff just two weeks before training camp.

Here's an interview I did with a Miami sports-talk radio station where I learned the Hurricanes will wear their names on the back of their jerseys next season.

Florida and Sun Sports regional cable network have inked a 10-year, $80 million broadcast agreement. Does Prime Ticket pay USC $8 million, $800,000, $80,000 or $8,000 a year for anything?

I'll be a guest on a Eugene, Ore., sports-talk show tomorrow to discuss the cheerleaders controversy, among other topics.

Here's Carson Palmer's much-discussed quote on Ohio State.
"I cannot stand the Buckeyes. It's amazing to hear what those guys think about that university and what they think about that football program and Tressel and all the crap I gotta put up with being back there.
``I just can't wait for two years from now when 'SC comes to the 'Shoe and hopefully we'll have a home game that weekend and I can go up there and watch us pound on them in their own turf.
``I'm really getting sick of it and I just can't wait for this game to get here so they can come out to the Coliseum and experience LA and get an old-fashioned Pac-10 butt-whoopin' and go back to the Big Ten.''

Here's the latest ticket announcement:
``The only remaining 2008 USC football home game tickets still available for purchase are for the Washington and Oregon games (there are less than 1,000 tickets remaining for the Oregon game). The other home games (Ohio State, Arizona State, California
and Notre Dame) are now sold out.''
Do you see the Oregon game has only 1,000 tickets left, cheerleaders fans?

We hear a sport at USC is not renewing scholarships for every returning player and stunningly, it is not basketball (at least not yet, anyways).

The SEC does not merely pick a team to win its conference. It produces three teams of preseason all-conference selections.

Davon Jefferson's played in a grand total of two of the Lakers' first six summer league, averaging eight points per contest.

Former USC basketball assistant coach Silvey Dominguez was recently hired as an assistant at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.

Phil Steele ranked USC's Kevin Thomas the 30th-best cornerback in the country. That's pretty significant for someone who redshirted last season and was listed behind Shareece Wright on the depth chart following spring practice.
Meanwhile, Steele did not rank Wright in his top 65.

Since UCLA banned the Song Girls and band from playing at Pauley Pavilion, perhaps a compromise can be struck for next year's game at the Galen Center. UCLA can bring its cheerleaders and leave its band behind. in return, incoming USC guard Romeo Miller can perform at halftime at Pauley Pavilion.

NBA.com's summer league blog analyzed O.J. Mayo.
``While O.J. Mayo has been scoring (18.5 PPG through four), his shot selection has been shaky. He might be better off focusing on his passing for now, as he's only racked up more than two assists once in four games. We know the Grizzlies' backcourt is loaded, but he can ably fill the combo role alongside the others.''

One question per person please.

We finally got to every question in the Open Forum.

Former USC linebacker Matt Grootegoed is playing for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. They are currently 3-1.

USC outside hitter Asia Kaczor, a two-time All-American, made the Polish national women's volleyball team and will compete 2008 Olympics next month. She joins former USC volleyball player Nicole Davis, who earlier this week was named to the United States Olympic Team.

An Oregon sports blog took notice of the readers' reaction to the USC Song Girls and Oregon cheerleaders.

What do people want? Just transparency.

What position will be the greatest concern for 2008?

That Dodger hat in USC colors keeps coming up.

Former USC quarterback Pat O'Hara is one of three finalists for the Avengers head-coaching position.

Who do you think will be the surprise player of the season?

When will the readers submit a logo for the return of Tricia Pillsbury?

Remember that PR announcement the Coliseum capacity was increased to more than 93,000 this week?
Look who gets the tickets:
``With the recent increased capacity of the Coliseum, USC Athletics is proud to offer Support Group member tickets to three additional home games prior to the public sale on July 20. Those games include Arizona State, California and Notre Dame. Tickets go on sale Friday, July 18 at 7 AM. Tickets are available online only and are subject to availability. Limit 4 tickets per account per game.''

OK, we're back on familiar territory here.

Still a relatively Song Girl-free zone.

Time to answer questions. By the way, a Fox Sports/Prime Ticket spokesperson would not address a question this week about the cancellation of the Trojan Rewind show. From time to time, we forget to mention little things like this but figured you would want to know.

The USC band and song girls performing at freshman orientation tonight.

Demar DeRozan is not the only athlete who took the SAT or ACT in June. Several football recruits are also awaiting test results or taking summer classes to determine their eligibility in the fall. One of those is Venice tailback Curtis McNeal, who we hear USC is optimistic will meet NCAA requirements.

Back to Oregon.

Mark Sanchez made the watch list for the Davey O'Brien Award. Then again, so did Jimmy Clausen. Here's the complete list:

The Onion tackles the O.J. Mayo investigation.

Former defensive tackle Manuel Wright's had offseason tryouts with the Cincinnati Bengals and Arizona Cardinals.

Here's some more quotes from Mater Dei quarterback Matt Barkley after the Gatorade luncheon.

ESPN is moving its high school All-American game to the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. Among those confirmed to play is USC commitment Matt Barkley along with targets WR Marlon Brown of Memphis, Tenn., and LB Manti Te'o of Honolulu.

A couple readers noticed ESPN.com took note of the Song Girl controversy on this blog. This is definitely not going to make some people happy.

Former North Carolina forward Alex Stepheson informed USC he will enroll in the fall.

Forward Tyler Honeycutt of Sylmar, already offered a scholarship by USC, has now been offered by UCLA.

Here's a priceless quote from Mater Dei quarterback Matt Barkley at today's Gatorade luncheon, courtesy of Daily News colleague Ramona Shelburne.
``I don't think I'll be in the limelight that much. I'm not as much of a party guy as Matt (Leinart). I guess that's one of the differences.''

Long-snapper Chris Pousson (6-4, 240) is from St. Augustine High School in San Diego and has received a scholarship. He was considering walking-on at Stanford before USC gave him a scholarship.
With Pousson and Cooper Stephenson on scholarship, it shows there's been a few extras floating around since February, in addition to the one vacated by Alfred Rowe.

Mater Dei quarterback Matt Barkley was named the Gatorade High School Male Athlete of the Year today at a luncheon that featured USC alumni Matt Leinart and Allyson Felix. Let's hope when it comes to off-field behavior, he mirrors Felix more than Leinart.
Barkley was the first non-senior to win the award.

You probably already saw this today from USC: ``Seating capacity in the Coliseum has been upped from 92,000 to 93,607 with the addition of seats in the lower northeast (Sections 27 and 28) and southeast (Sections 1 and 2) areas of the stadium.''
The side benefit is that USC will probably claim a new attendance record this season no matter how many no-shows there are at the Coliseum this season.

This was sent along from some readers who were fans of a 1985 calendar featuring USC students.

We hear Demar DeRozan scored quite well on his ACT exam that he received results on last week. Now sometimes a good score raises its own set of issues with the testing services but so far we have not heard anything about that.

I know how much time USC spends thinking of ways to ``maximize'' securing more of its fans' money, so here is a breakthrough idea courtesy of a German soccer team.
``Hamburg HSV has opened a specially designated cemetery within earshot of its Nordbank arena where fans can be buried in club colours on a football stand-shaped lawn reached via a goal-shaped entrance.''
Imagine USC offering fans the chance to be buried at Exposition Park in cardinal and gold, a stone's throw from the Coliseum, with a goal-post shaped entrance.

O.J. Mayo made a three-quarters court shot from 69 feet to beat the first-quarter buzzer in his Summer League game on Monday.
"I thought it wasn't going to make it to the rim," Mayo told the Associated Press. "I was surprised. After practices recently, we have been practicing half-court shots. I made a few there, and now I made one in a game."
Good thing Mayo made it or he would have gone 4 for 17 from the field.

I asked a college coach for a breakdown on Sylmar's 6-8 forward Tyler Honeycutt, who has been offered a scholarship by USC.
``He's skinny, has nice range and is a real prospect,'' the coach said. ``He's really kind of like (Arizona forward) Chase Budinger. Not as good, but that type of player.''

Here's the quarterbacks selected for the Elite 11 camp.

One question per person please.

Former USC basketball player Jarvis Turner is the basketball coach at Birmingham High School in the San Fernando Valley.

Here's the nonconference schedule of the Mountain West Conference. See how popular a lesser conference is with the bigger conferences. San Diego State goes to Notre Dame? And why does Wyoming play Tennessee in November?

Here's the leftover questions from the Open Forum that needed to be answered.

It's a good thing NBA Summer League stats are meaningless because O.J. Mayo's got 20 turnovers and only eight assists in four games. He made 5 of 17 shots against San Antonio on Monday.
At least he is playing. Davon Jefferson did not see action the Lakers' first two games.

Back in answer mode.

Some of those conventional old recruiting questions.

Finally, a Mitch Mustain question!

Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel starts a national book-signing tour for new book "The Winners Manual for the Game of Life" on Tuesday. We'll see how this collides with ``Win Forever'' on Sept. 13.

This question involves Nick Montana, the son of Joe Montana. My own question is why does the greatest quarterback of all time (arguably) need Steve Clarkson to tutor his son? Doesn't he know enough to teach him himself?

Nike and Henry Bibby, now those are timeless topics. By the way, Nike, I mean Oregon is claiming its $200 million, 12,500-seat arena will be the most expensive ever built. Maybe they will do the one thing USC has not: Finish it.

A helpful reader forwards this ticket bulletin, ``if'' you belong to a support group.

The running backs earn more words in this segment than the Song Girls.

In this segment, we point out that 1985 was more than just a Golden Age for the Song Girls.

CBS basketball analyst Billy Packer is out according to the Miami Herald and will be replaced by Clark Kellogg. Clark Kellogg? Why didn't CBS just get rid of Jim Nantz and Seth Davis too and start over?
Packer did deliver one of my favorite lines of the season regarding USC basketball:
``This may make all the recruiting experts angry but (O.J.) Mayo is a good player, he is not a great player . . . he could be a good player. He is not a great player.''
I doubt any of the remaining suck-ups at CBS would deliver that line, especially Davis, who is a Tim Floyd-crony.

It's that time of the week, when we answer that inquiring minds want to know.

That's the over/under figure for how many incoming freshman do not meet NCAA requirements.

If you have a question, you can still post it in the Open Forum.

Here's the Big East Conference schedule.

Here's the nonconference schedule for the Mid-American Conference.

Pete Carroll said other than Chris Galippo, there are no real injuries right now and players who were hurt in the offseason (like Kaluka Maiava) are progressing fine.

Narbonne, featuring USC recruit Byron Moore, lost to Lakewood 29-23 in the title game of the Tournament of Champions.

USC recruit Demar DeRozan said he received the necessary ACT score to academically qualify. He still needs to be certified by the NCAA Clearinghouse.

We hear that Fox Sports Net (Prime Ticket) canceled the ``Trojan Rewind'' show and will no longer televise Pete Carroll's Tuesday press conferences. With more than one local sports channel, it's hard to believe Carroll does not have a coaches' show, like so many other college programs. Something doesn't add up here.
Perhaps Caesar doesn't sway the masses like we thought or he is a victim of poor promotion.

Nike took over a practice gym at the Galen Center on Thursday and Friday to shoot a commercial featuring Utah Jazz point guard Deron Williams. The ad was originally supposed to star Lakers guard Kobe Bryant but as they say, ``things didn't work out.''

A few days ago we mentioned USC was recruiting guard Lance Stephenson of Brooklyn, N.Y. And we mentioned he was sent home a day eary from the Steve Nash/Nike Point Guard Camp for undisclosed reasons.
But we missed this quote from his father in the New York Times, where his father talked about Brandon Jennings skipping college and going to play in Europe for a year.
``We're looking at it and we're interested just like anyone else,'' Lance Stephenson Sr. said.

Davon Jefferson did not play in today's Lakers-Pistons summer league game in Las Vegas.

O.J. Mayo scored 15 points in his first summer league game with Memphis but also had eight turnovers.

Does the fact middle linebacker Chris Galippo underwent two back operations make the recruitment of linebacker Manti Te'o even more vital to USC's interests?

Here's the nonconference schedule for Conference USA.

For what it's worth, on the summer basketball camp circuits this week, there is increasing speculation that DeMar DeRozan will not meet NCAA entrance requirements.

If you want to raise your profile, the best way to do it is to decommit. For example, if Byron Moore of Narbonne simply committed to USC, he would just be part of the group of current commitments who were not named Matt Barkley or the enigmatic Randall Carroll.
But since he originally committed to UCLA and changed his mind, suddenly everyone is aware of him. So if you're curious about his skills, he and his Narbonne teammates will be playing tomorrow at the Tournament of Champions at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe Springs.

Former USC forward Davon Jefferson is playing for the Lakers' summer league team in Las Vegas. Jefferson's teammates include former UCLA players Lorenzo Mata-Real and Cedric Bozeman.

Item: Notre Dame will honor 2008 College Football Hall of Fame inductee coach Lou Holtz with a life-sized statue near Notre Dame Stadium.
OK, so it's not quite to the level of giving USC band director Art Bartner a statue on campus (I'm not joking), but how did Holtz merit a statue? Is it merely because Notre Dame's been fairly mediocre since his departure? If Holtz gets a life-sized statue, what does Knute Rockne get? A 200-foot statue?
But hey, at least they won't wipe Rockne's name off a sign, like USC essentially did when it decided to demean legendary coach Howard Jones by making him share billing on the practice field sign that bears his name.

The daily ``live'' hour-long show on TrojanTV will be no more this fall. Instead, there will be installments of coaches' and athletes' interviews.

A new NCAA rule (that was not well publicized) allows high school students to take one additional core class in summer school after graduation. This helps explain why about a handful of incoming freshmen football players did not report to summer school.

We hear linebacker Manti Te'o of Honolulu currently lists USC as his clear leader although he remains uncommitted. It's worth noting because he might be the best uncommitted player in the nation, or at least considered the top prospect by many schools.

An NCAA panel formally approved some rules changes today, including moving kickoffs to the 30-yard line and returning to the old rule of starting the clock on kickoffs only when the ball is touched on the field of play.
Here's all the details:

If you are going to write a column defending the use of the nickname, University of Spoiled Children, you might want to know the difference between a ``cheerleader'' and ``song girl'' at USC.
Here's the first paragraph: ``A few weeks ago, John McCain made a little joke at his wife's expense. Referring to her alma mater -- Cindy McCain is a graduate of the University of Southern California, where she was a cheerleader and sorority sister -- he called it "USC, the University of Spoiled Children.''
It pretty much all falls apart after that inexcusable gaffe.

Back to Oregon.

Here's some Pete Carroll quotes on Chris Galippo's surgery.
``It's very similar to the surgery he had before but on a different disc. He should be back somewhere between Games 3, 4 or 5.''
Here's the story in today's paper.

A Texas football website lists USC's uniforms as the fourth-best in the nation. You'll be shocked to see who finished first.
As for the Trojans, it says, ``If you saw a high school team with those wide yellow should stripes on the jersey or the double stripe on the pants you'd think they were ugly but Southern Cal somehow pulls it off.''

We hear Nick Montana, the son of Joe Montana, almost transferred to Venice instead of Oaks Christian. Any time you hear a quarterback might go to Venice, that means he's listening to Steve Clarkson, who was Matt Leinart's personal passing coach.

USC linebacker Chris Galippo will be out about three months following back surgery to repair a bulging disc. This is not the same disc Galippo underwent surgery on last fall but the surgery is similar.
He is expected to return somewhere around Games 3, 4 or 5. The injury occurred about a month ago and doctors recommended surgery, which took place last week. Galippo enjoyed a good spring and starred in the final scrimmage at the Coliseum with nine tackles, three sacks and two recovered fumbles.

Another name recruiting junkies like to discuss is shooting guard Lance Stephenson of Brookyn, N.Y. He is rated the No. 2 shooting guard in the nation and lists USC as one of his top choices.
But he got cut from the USA 18-and-under team yesterday and was sent home from the Steve Nash/Nike Point Guard Camp a day early. Could be another Davon Jefferson in the making.

Joe Montana's son, Nick, who impressed onlookers at the Rising Stars camp, is transferring to Oaks Christian

Questions anyone?

One player who constantly gets mentioned with USC basketball recruiting is 6-10 forward Renardo Sidney. One rumor gaining traction is that Sidney might skip his senior year at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles and play in Spain.
And even if he doesn't, there's a growing feeling he will spend a year in Spain and skip college altogether.

Time to wrap up the forgotten Open Forum questions, including that elusive Josh Tatum query.

I almost forgot, here's the Pete Carroll on an aircraft carrier video
here
Actually, I didn't forget, but now I can mention what I told Carroll what I heard about this trip. When do you have time to coach?

Q: Back before last year's Rose Bowl you were speculating on the "end of the Trojan Dynasty" if they lost or didn't put on a good show, since they had blown the Stanford game which was so embarassing, then lost to Oregon. However, you then seemed to post that the dynasty was still alive after the big Rose Bowl win.
So my question is, if USC blows another chump game this year a la Oregon St. in 2006 and Stanford in 2007, would you say the dynasty is over and the luster is gone?

Individual game tickets for USC home games go on sale July 20. Don't get your hopes up regarding the Ohio State and Notre Dame games, however, because these individual sales usually apply to the non-marquee contests.

USC is one of about six schools to offer a scholarship to 6-8 forward Tyler Honeycutt of Sylmar.

Whatever you think of USC, the Trojans should win another Pac-10 title just because the rest of the conference is worse than a year ago, with the possible exception of Washington.
Let's take a quick look:

Oregon -- worse
Cal -- worse (improved team chemistry might make them better)
Oregon State (worse)
Stanford (just as bad)
Arizona (just as bad)
Arizona State (same)
Washington (better)
UCLA (same or worse)
Washington State (worse)

This does not mean USC will not a lose any Pac-10 games, but this is not a daunting lineup of opponents by any measure.

Maybe the Oregon cheerleaders have a TV show because they are in the entertainment capital of the world, Eugene, Ore.

Back on the answer track.

Eastern Washington has cheerleaders?

Maybe we'll change this to Song Girls Tuesday.

Lots of answers today.

We will now answer the Open Forum questions from last week.

An alert reader points out that Comcast SportsNet in Portland televises a show titled, ``Cheerleaders of Oregon.'' Perhaps an Oregon reader can fill in some details.
Here's the link to the TV schedule: http://northwest.comcastsportsnet.com/tv_listings.aspx

We did not answer the original Open Forum questions, but it is now our top priority. Of course, we were just testing to see if anyone noticed. Yeah, that's it.

The level of questions is falling fast.

Here's more answers to your vital questions.

Mississippi State installed one of the college football's largest HD video boards in the nation, and the largest in the SEC, when the new fixture becomes operational in October. I recently was told the Coliseum's new video board is installed. But does it work?

Linebacker questions are asked here!

Memphis was the only NBA team in the lottery that did not contact USC regarding O.J. Mayo. Perhaps the fact GM Chris Wallace is from West Virginia, like Mayo, was enough to seal the deal.
Then again, considering Wallace made the worst trade of the year when he sent Pau Gasol to the Lakers, maybe it says something else about him.

Whether or not I want to talk about it, people do seem to be asking well-thought out questions about you-know-what in this forum.

Demar DeRozan is participating in the Lebron James Skills Academy this week in Akron, Ohio. DeRozan recently took the ACT and is awaiting the results to determine if he is academically eligible.

Outside the Pac-10, today's picture comes from the University of Miami.

In case you were gone this weekened, there's still time to ask questions in the Weekend Forum.

Although USC recruit Maurice Simmons' trial is scheduled for July 24, it will probably begin a few days later because of where the trial sits on the court's schedule.

What does USC coach Tim Floyd think of forward Davon Jefferson not getting drafted?
``He's going to have to follow a different path,'' Floyd said. ``Sometimes it's better not to get drafted than to get drafted late because you can find a team that might have a need for that type of player. But he'll have to play in the summer league and see what happens.''

The Pac-10 summer basketball media guide is out and the USC roster includes two players named Marcus Simmons. The second one is actually Marcus Johnson, the transfer from UConn. For a second, we thought Simmons was listed twice to try and maximize his scholarship.
Link to roster is after the jump.

USC guard Daniel Hackett is currently in Italy working out like he did last summer with the national program. Hackett is expected to return before the start of school.

I bumped into a recruit today who signed with Pac-10 school in February and already said he is thinking of transferring -- before he's even gone to school yet. This illustrates how easily kids view transferring these days.
If he were a USC recruit, I would have suggested going to Oregon, in exchange for a cheerleader.

It's the USC Song Girls from a couple years ago.

It feels like a Saturday, so why not get a jump on the weekend questions. One per person please.

Basketball recruit Nikola Vucevic (6-9, 230) is projected to play three positions (small forward, power forward, center) right now for USC. He is not expected to redshirt.

Not USC's but Oregon State's nonconference slate. The Beavers go to Penn State and Utah (ask UCLA about that) and host Hawaii in their lone home game.

The Clippers' signing of Baron Davis is being hailed by many writers, but I'm guessing Coach Mike Dunleavy will get some advice from USC coach Tim Floyd, who happens to coach Dunleavy's son, James.
Davis and Floyd had a horrible relationship in New Orleans for one season, perhaps the worst in Floyd's NBA career.
Something tells me there will be rocky moments in Clipperland if they start struggling.

Forward Alex Stepheson is still undecided and we hear Arizona State is now in the picture, besides USC and UCLA.

Although he was not at the Rising Stars camp, linebacker Manti Te'o of Honolulu remains one of the top priorities (along with defensive end Devon Kennard) and USC believes it will be one of his two finalists.

Michael Carney, the attorney for USC recruit Maurice Simmons, also represented former USC cornerback Jason Oliver in the mid-1990's

Former USC sprinters Torri Edwards and Angela Williams along with Allyson Felix (who attended USC but did not compete) will all be part of the USA 4 x 100 relay team at the Olympics. Edwards also qualified for the 100 meters.

In Phil Steele's pre-season college football preview, he ranks the Pac-10 as the fourth-best conference in the country. The SEC, Big 12 and Big Ten are ahead of the Pac-10. The ACC is fifth overall.

Some of you might be interested to know that Celeste Fremon, the author of the popular Los Angeles Times Magazine piece on the Song Girls, is the creator and editor of a blog, WitnessLA.com, which focuses on ``street news, views and stories of justice and injustice.''

We hear UCLA is still recruiting Narbonne's Byron Moore, who defected to USC earlier this week. There's been increasing speculation that Moore's friendship with Cathedral wide receiver Randall Carroll and Carson tight end Morrell Presley may solidify the commitments, after they wavered in recent months.

Back to Oregon.

Time for more questions.

New recruit James Boyd, the Song Girls selection committee and the status of some free agents are topics here.

The fullback position, the Rising Stars camp and Notre Dame/Beano Cook are discussed here.

Topics on the table: Davon Jefferson, the Song Girls and recruiting rules.

And now, a question about the wide receivers.

A rare quarterback question.

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sportsline, who is one of the hardest-working college football reporters, rated Pat Ruel as the top offensive line coach in the nation. And UCLA's Norm Chow as the top offensive coordinator.

A basketball question got snuck in here somehow.

Arizona State has a dance team.

More questions, more answers.

If you bought the new EA Sports college football video game, comment here on its accuracy.

Is anyone still worried USC does not have enough commitments? Of course, it's a double-edged sword for some analysts, who believe too many early commitments can be risky.

Regarding the naming rights and the Coliseum. Why is it that Germany would not allow its Olympic Stadium, which was modeled after the Coliseum, to have any sponsors attached to its name?

The readers are speaking!

Or maybe we'll call this ``How many questions can I answer on the Song Girls?''

USC's told Narbonne recruit Byron Moore that he might play cornerback in addition to safety. Most colleges, including UCLA, wanted him to play safety.

Could Maurice Simmons' legal woes be improving?
The district attorney's issued a warrant for the alleged victim to show up for the hearing, which raises questions about whether he will show up and testify.
Full details at bottom of story linked below.
http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_9749628