About Jill Painter

Jill Painter is a sports columnist for the Los Angeles News Group, covering everything from the Dodgers, Lakers, Clippers, USC, UCLA, Kings, golf and all human interest stories in sports.

Post-practice update

Josh Pinkard has another ACL tear. He’s got the worNot sure which knee, but he already has sustained tears in both knees. And all three injuries have been non-contact … Shareece Wright is academically eligible to compete in the Emerald Bowl, Pete Carroll said … Will Harris (tooth) returned to practice.

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Happy ending?

Here’s what Kevin O’Neill had to say about his departure from Arizona.
“I don’t feel bad about the way things happened at all,” O’Neill said. “I’ll say I left Arizona and never said a bad word about anything. I let everybody (else) do all the talking. Arizona is a great place. Lute Olson is a Hall of Famer. I love the city of Tucson. My son is graduating from Arizona in a month and a half.
“I don’t feel anything different playing Arizona than Washington State or any of those other places. Would I like to beat Arizona twice? Sure. I’d like to beat UCLA twice and Arizona State twice, too. I’m proud to be the coach at USC. To me, things worked out really well. I don’t have anything bad to say at all.”

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Where in the world is Floyd?

Dwight Lewis said he still talks to Tim Floyd, who is presumably living in his house in Mississippi.
“I’m pretty sure he’s enjoying his land with his wife,” Lewis said.
Asked if he knew if Floyd wanted to return to coaching, Lewis said: “You’d have to ask him that.”

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Injury report

Kevin O’Neill has four of his top seven players out of practice with injuries.
Alex Stepheson has general stiffness resulting in trying to block a shot in practice. Donte Smith tweaked his ankle, but he’s expected to practice today. Nikola Vucevic has a sore calve muscle, and Marcus Simmons is nursing a shoulder injury. Beside that, the Trojans are perfectly healthy. O’Neill didn’t believe any of the injuries were serious.

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USC hoops gets no love

The USC men’s basketball team is ranked ninth in the pre-season Pac-10 poll that just came out this morning. Only Stanford is ranked lower. Cal is picked to win it. I’ll have more from first-year coach Kevin O’Neill later… Here’s the poll.

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Plan for Stafon

With Joe McKnight starting and getting much of the workload against San Jose State, it’s unclear how much Stafon Johnson will be involved. Johnson scored twice against San Jose State on runs of 4 and 2 yards.
“He’s significantly invovled,” Pete Carroll said. “He’s right in there. We’ll see how the game goes. We’ll see what happens and all that. We’re counting on Stafon to be right in the middle of everything for us. He’s a terrific player for us.”

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Injury notes

Running back Marc Tyler, who was running with the scout team to give the Trojans a better look of Ohio State, hobbled to the side of the practice field and was checked out by a trainer after someone stepped on his foot. It was unclear how significant the injury was, and Tyler was unavailable for comment … Butch Lewis (foot) practiced Thursday but Carroll wasn’t sure of his status because his foot was still sore. Lewis is traveling … Alex Parsons and Jeff Byers are expected to start at the guard positions and Kris O’Dowd (dislocated knee cap) at center … Drew McAllister (hip) was to be checked by a doctor after Thursday’s practice, and there was some doubt as to whether he would be traveling to Columbus … Kevin Thomas (illness) is expected to start.

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And Stafon Johnson says…

Bet you’d love to know, but Stafon Johnson and the rest of the players weren’t allowed to talk to the media on Thursday. When asked about it, Pete Carroll said they only had 44 minutes to get changed and get to the bus. USC is leaving on a 6 p.m. flight for Columbus. You might not initially think this is a big deal, but I can’t remember Carroll ever doing this. Some players take 10 minutes to get ready and they’re always hanging around Heritage Hall or we can usually talk to them while they’re walking to the bus or milling around. Why change the way you’ve always done things? Oh, that’s right. There’s that big game at Ohio State on Saturday.

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11 players drafted….and counting?

USC has 11 players drafted now. The talking heads at ESPN believe the Trojans’ competitive practices play a role in this. Safety Kevin Ellison was selected by the Chargers with the 189th overall pick in the sixth round.

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Harris to the Bills

Defensvie back Cary Harris was selected by the Bills with the 183rd pick in the sixth round. That’s 10 Trojans who’ve been drafted so far, and the draft is still going.

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