• Martin Coleman was interviewed this weekend on SCPlaybook. You may remember that he's the artistic one on the team.
• Last but not least, Mitch Mustain had his chance to get miked up by Mark Haas at TrojanTV.
• How fast is USC commit Randall Carroll? He ran 100 meters in 10.49 seconds.

USC Basketball

• Davon Jefferson may declare for the draft and not hire an agent, giving him more time to make a real decision.
• Taylor King skipped his USC visit and will attend Villanova.
• It's a few days old, but CBS' Gary Parrish wins the award for highest opinion of USC ... he has the Trojans at No. 4 in his preseason rankings.

Other USC News

• The baseball team took two of three from No. 5 Cal this weekend, including a 17-1 drubbing that was the most lopsided in the history of the series.
• USC is No. 9 on the Princeton Review's list of "Dream Colleges."

He doesn’t cast a shadow as much as he casts an eclipse. Martin Coleman is 6-foot-5, 320 pounds, with only one player on USC’s football roster listed as larger. Yet, even at his size, he sighs. Coleman knows what’s coming the moment any of his teammates meet his girl, Ta’ahine. “They’ll be all over me, unmercifully,” he says. “They’ll beat me up pretty good. I know them too well.” continue

Make that a thin cardinal line protecting USC's backfield, which also happens to be hamstrung by injuries. While every team looses players during the season (Cal lost to Oregon State without their starting QB, Stanford beat USC without their's), can anybody in the nation match up with the Trojan's carnage?

From USC football's weekly press release:

Already this season, 11 starters or projected starters have missed games with injuries:  S-CB Josh Pinkard (6 games), C Matt Spanos (3 games), TB C.J. Gable (3 games), LB Brian Cushing (3 games), CB Shareece Wright (2 games), OG Chilo Rachal (2 games), C Kristofer O’Dowd (2 games), QB John David Booty (1 game), CB Cary Harris (1 game), WR Patrick Turner (1 game) and TB Chauncey Washington (1 game).

Also, a number of key backups have missed games due to injuries: CB Kevin Thomas (6 games), OG-C Nick Howell (6 games), TB Broderick Green (6 games), TE Jimmy Miller (5 games), LB Chris Galippo (3 games), TB Stafon Johnson (2 games), WR Travon Patterson (2 games), OT Butch Lewis (2 games), OT Charles Brown (1 game), QB Mark Sanchez (1 game), S Will Harris (1 game) and CB Vincent Joseph (1 game).  Pinkard, Gable, Thomas, Howell, Green, Galippo, Patterson have season-ending injuries.

The impact of these injuries has been enormous. The team could be one fractured finger or a healed foot away from a 6-0 record.

Looking ahead to Notre Dame, here's more from the Sports Information Department:

POSSIBLE:  TB Stafon Johnson (foot), OT Sam Baker (hamstring), S Kevin Ellison (nose), OT Charles Brown (ankle), LB Rey Maualuga (hip), OG Zack Heberer (shoulder), QB John David Booty (finger), LB Brian Cushing (ankle), OG Chilo Rachal (knee), CB Shareece Wright (hamstring), C Kristofer O’Dowd (kneecap), TE Jimmy Miller (back).

OUT:  TB C.J. Gable (abdomen), WR Travon Patterson (foot), LB Chris Galippo (back), S-CB Josh Pinkard (knee), OG-C Nick Howell (hernia), TB Broderick Green (foot), CB Kevin Thomas (shoulder), OT Martin Coleman (shoulder), DE Trey Henderson, WR Damian Williams (shoulder).

That ignores all the players who are just dinged up (see Jeff Byers, pictured above) and leaves out two recently announced injuries to Kyle Moore and Terrell Thomas (hamstring).

Here's what John David Booty's hand looked like after practice today. He didn't throw at all, but he's supposed to try tomorrow with a glove.

• #4 - Joe McKnight, RB
• #6 - Malcolm Smith, LB
• #8 - Ronald Johnson, WR/CB
• #15 - Aaron Corp, QB
• #26 - Marc Tyler, RB
• #27 - Marshall Jones, S
• #29 - Broderick Green, RB
• #37 - Jordan Campbell, FB
• #40 - Rhett Ellison, TE
• #44 - Christian Tupou, DT
• #54 - Chris Galippo, LB
• #61 - Kristofer O'Dowd, C
• #67 - Michael Reardon, DE
• #72 - Martin Coleman, OL
• #80 - Brandon Carswell, WR
• #82 - Damian Williams, WR
• #92 - Trey Henderson, DE
• #93 - Everson Griffen, DE
• #98 - Da'John Harris, DT

Joe McKnight (#4) and Marc Tyler (#26) will don the same numbers they ran wild with in high school.

2007 USC FOOTBALL ROSTER [USCtrojans.com]

...“USC has an awesome program,” said Barkley. “Matt Leinart, obviously came out of there and it was great to see what he did. My dad played water polo and swam at USC, so I did grow up rooting for USC. I wouldn’t say that has too much of an impact of where I’m going. But I definitely grew up being a Trojan fan, going to their youth camps and practices.”

...“We have a Heisman Lane, with Matt Leinart and John Huarte so it’s definitely given me something to look to,” said Barkley. “But even my freshman year, I didn’t feel any pressure. My teammates, they did a great job of welcoming me into the program. Mater Dei just has a great quarterback tradition.”

... A well-rounded student athlete, Barkley volunteers at a local youth center doing tutoring and he’s carrying a 4.1 GPA.

Matt is rumored to be a heavy SC lean...

• Rivals released their new basketball top 25 and Greg Monroe, who has SC listed in his top 5, remains at #1.  Here are the links to the new top 25:  25-17, 16-9, and 9-1.

• 40 times posted on Scott Wolf's blog so far:

Jamere Holland 4.3
Vidal Hazelton 4.5
Patrick Turner 4.5
Stafon Johnson 4.51
Alex Morrow 4.67
Kyle Moore 4.70
Rey Maualuga 4.55
Clay Matthews 4.57
Kaluka Maiava 4.60
Garrett Green 4.5
John David Booty 4.77
Mark Sanchez 4.8
David Buehler 4.4
Dale Thompson 4.68
Luthur Brown 4.7
Butch Lewis 4.9
Drew Radovich 5.0
Taylor Mays 4.28
Cary Harris 4.3
Shareece Wright 4.4
Mozique McCurtis 4.5
Alfred Rowe 4.5
Charles Brown 5.2
Martin Coleman 5.6
Zach Heberer 5.1
Chilo Rachal 5.15
Drew Radovich 5.05
Thomas Herring 4.88
Butch Lewis 4.9
Alatini Malu 5.3

I've said it before, Taylor Mays' 40 time is just scary...

Pete Carroll signed more 5-star rated prospects than any other university in the nation this year; but with many returning starters and limited scholarships, lost the mythical recruiting title to Florida.

Something tells us that USC's two lone 3-stars may be overlooked though.

Rhett Ellison is the son of Riki Ellison, a member of USC's 1978 national championship team and 2-time Super Bowler with the San Francisco 49ers.

Trey Henderson is from Canada? When's the last time you heard of an American footballer coming from there? He was under the radar. And USC detected him.

Here's a look at the entire class including Arkansas transfer Damian Williams.

• LB Jordan Campbell 4-star 5-11/226 (Corona, CA)
• WR Brandon Carswell 4-star 6-1/172 (Milpitas, CA)
• OL Martin Coleman 4-star 6-5/290 (Huntington Beach, CA)
• QB Aaron Corp 4-star 6-4/195 (Villa Park, CA)
• TE Rhett Ellison 3-star 6-5 230 (Mountain View, CA)
• LB Chris Galippo 5-star 6-3/235 (Anaheim, CA)
• RB Broderick Green 4-star 6-1/230 (Little Rock, AR)
• DE Everson Griffen 5-star 6-4/266 (Avondale, AZ)
• DT Da'John Harris 4-star 6-4/266 (Gardena, CA)
• DE Trey Henderson 3-star 6-3/264 (Vancouver, B.C.)
• WR Ronald Johnson 5-star 6-0/177 (Muskegon, MI)
• DB Marshall Jones 3-star 6-0/185 (Westlake Village, CA)
• RB Joe McKnight 5-star 6-1/193 (River Ridge, LA)
• OL Kristofer O'Dowd 5-star 6-5/315 (Tucson, AZ)
• DE Michael Reardon 5-star 6-6/260 (Villa Park, CA)
• ATH Malcolm Smith 4-star 6-2/200(Woodland Hills, CA)
• DE Christian Tupou 4-star 6-3/260 (Sacramento, CA)
• RB Marc Tyler 4-star 6-0/215 (Westlake Village, CA)
• WR Damian Williams 4-star 6-1/190 (Springdale, AR)

Bios for all players after the jump (sorry we are still getting the white page to format downaward but highlighting the text and reading will have to work for now or you can go here.)