Ten days, 14 players and nearly 5,000 words later, we have hit No. 1 on our countdown of the 15 Trojans to watch in spring practice. But wait. There’s more. Starting Thursday, we’ll begin our position-by-position preview of spring football, including three questions (and answers) for each spot. And remember, you can follow the USC blog on Twitter at... more »
Here is how some Trojans are doing at this years NFL combine:
Joe McKnight ran a 4.47 40 yard dash. This was fifth-best among running backs. McKnight had a 10'0" standing broad jump mark and 36.5 vertical leap
Everson Griffen bench pressed 225 lbs. 32 times and ran a 4.66 40, second best time among defensive linemen.
Damian Williams bench pressed 225 lbs. 19 times, fourth best among WRs. Williams also had a 38.0 vertical leap and ran the three-cone drill in 6.79 seconds, eighth best for WRs. He also ran the 40 in the low 4.5 range.
Jeff Byers bench pressed 225 lbs. 33 times, sixth best among offensive linemen.
Anthony McCoy logged the fourth best vertical jump among tight ends with a 35.5, fourth best among tight ends. McCoy also had a 4.79 40 and 19 bench reps.
Charles Brown had a 31.5 vertical leap and 21 bench press reps.
Taylor Mays ran an unofficial 4.24 40 yard dash (video above). Most scouts clocked his 40 at 4.32 seconds. They then changed the official time to 4.43. Mays benched 225 lbs. 24 times and had a 41.0 vertical leap, second best among safeties.
Kevin Thomas benched 225 lbs 19 times, third best among cornerbacks.
Stafon Johnson courageously bench pressed 225 lbs. 13 times. To watch the video, click here.
In news outside the realm of USC, Tim Tebow is at the combine, and NFL scouts report that he is still a virgin.
Our final top 30 player rankings from 2009 will start from the bottom and work up to No. 1. Click here for Nos. 14-30. Preseason rankings are here. 12. Taylor Mays, S, USC (1): While it's hard to quantify what Mays might have gained socially, intellectually and emotionally from returning for his senior year, it's fair to say he... more »
USC senior offensive tackle Charles Brown was named to the 2009 Sporting News All-American first team and also won the Pac-10's Morris Trophy.... more »
Damian Williams, Jeff Byers, Charles Brown and Taylor Mays were all named to the All-Pac-10 first team. Williams was selected twice as a wide receiver and punt returner.
Everson Griffen, Josh Pinkard, Kevin Thomas and Garrett Green were selected to the All-Pac-10 second team. Green made the team as a special teamer.
Trojans receiving honorable mention were Allen Bradford, Jurrell Casey, Chris Galippo, Will Harris, Butch Lewis, Anthony McCoy, Joe McKnight, Tyron Smith and Christian Tupou.
To see full list of the All-Pac-10 teams click here.
Here is a list of Trojans that will be playing their last home game at the Coliseum on Saturday.
OL Charles Brown
LB Luthur Brown OL Jeff Byers (pictured above) WR Preston Cavignac
K Jordan Congdon
LB Dan Deckas
DB Rob Erickson
LB Nick Garratt
FB Adam Goodman
WR Garrett Green
S Will Harris
DB Justin Hart
OL Nick Howell
TB Stafon Johnson
S Taylor Mays
TE Anthony McCoy
OL Garrett Nolan
P Billy O'Malley
OL Alex Parsons
DB Josh Pinkard
DL Averell Spicer
CB Kevin Thomas
The Senior Salute will take place eight minutes before kickoff. These 22 players will be honored for all their hard work and dedication to the USC football program. Thank you and fight on!
Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller Eighth in a series on grounds for optimism and worry. Biggest reason for hope -- An intact offensive line leads nine returning offensive starters. Coaches often say it all starts with the offensive line (though this is an interesting contrarian argument), so the Trojans should be off to a good start with five starters returning... more »
Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller USC Trojans 2008 overall record: 12-1 2008 conference record: 8-1 Returning starters Offense 9, defense 3, kicker/punter 0 Top returners WR Damian Williams, C Kristofer O'Dowd, OT Charles Brown, OG Jeff Byers, TB Stafon Johnson, TB Joe McKnight, FS Taylor Mays, CB Josh Pinkard, DE Everson Griffen. Key losses QB Mark Sanchez, LB Rey... more »
The jury is out. Pete Carroll announced today his depth chart going into the huddle. Of course in traditional Carroll fashion, the competition for starting positions will continue throughout Summer workouts. But the Spring depth charts typically hold strong resemblance to the final list, come start of the football season.
Ted Miller at espn.com has spent the past month ranking the top 30 players in the Pac-10. Not surprisingly, numero uno is USC safety Taylor Mays.
Miller says of Mays:
No one who regularly reads the Pac-10 Blog could possibly question ranking No. 1 the conference's only returning consensus first-team All-American, the most important member of the Trojans' All-Universe 2008 defense and the almost certain first Pac-10 player taken in the 2010 NFL draft. Oh, and the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Mays also is the best all-around athlete in college football. And possibly all of football
USC had the nation's best pass defense in 2008 because of Mays. The Trojans gave up only six touchdown passes all season. Foes completed only 52 percent of their passes and averaged 134 yards per game.
Mays' presence was a giant sign posted in the secondary: "Don't even think about it." And few teams did. And when they did, well, you've seen the clips of Mays' bone-jarring hits.
USC practiced with only two healthy offensive tackles -- Tyron Smith, Matt Kalil -- because Charles Brown and Butch Lewis were out with groin injuries. Nick Howell was already out with a pulled hamstring.... more »
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