Football

• Check out this classic 1932 USC billboard. [Conquest Chronicles]
• Ted Miller interviews Steve Sarkisian, who wants to be a head coach but isn't "in any rush." [ESPN]
• Despite losing his first two season openers at Virginia, Al Groh is glad to have USC first on the schedule. [Roanoke Times]
• Lawrence Jackson inks an $11.25-million deal in Seattle. [AP]
• A Notre Dame commit guarantees three straight victories over USC. Too bad Carson doesn't play for Indy, because they could have some great conversations. [Conquest Chronicles]
• Here's a comparison of USC commit Matt Barkley and Georgia prospect Aaron Murray. [ESPN]
• David Baker, father of Sam, is stepping down as AFL commissioner. Could the Pac-10 gig be next? [Conquest Chronicles]
• Pat O'Hara is moving into the AFL -- as the L.A. Avengers head coach. [Avengers]
• Offensive administrative assistant Al Dorsey is headed to the Raiders, at least for a couple of weeks. [USCRipsIt]
• Yup, still the offseason ... tomorrow you can vote for whether USC or Florida State has the better helmet. [ESPN]

Hoops

• USC ranks 132nd in ESPN's list of prestigious basketball programs since the 1984-85 season, just after Iona and Austin Peay. Ouch. The Trojans are seventh in the Pac-10. [ESPN]
• Highly touted recruit Lance Stephenson has an impressive week in Vegas. [LA Times]
• Tyler Honeycutt and Renardo Sidney aren't too shabby, either. [LA Times]
• What's the big deal about a high school hoops tournament, anyway? This article explains. [LA Times]

Elsewhere

• USC song girls are so hot it's newsworthy. Yes, Deadspin counts as news. Speaking of which, Facebook photos also surfaced from a trackster and soccer player. I'll let you do the oggling Googling. [Deadspin]

While much of the country hasn't begun to thaw out, the Trojans started spring practice under beautiful SoCal skies. At first it seemed like there might be a little rust, but then Joe McKnight would take a fast step or Christian Tupou would show some muscle and the team looked sharp as always.

All eyes are on the battle at quarterback battle but there's little to report on that front. Mark Sanchez is still the leader and Mitch Mustain is hot on his tail. Aaron Corp, who used to look pretty lanky, seemed much more solid (he's added 18 pounds since coming to USC). Coach Pete Carroll remained noncommittal on whether he'll even name a starter by the end of the 15-session camp. Regardless, the fact that USC has a trio of five-star recruits competing for quarterback should frighten the bejebus out of their opponents in 2008.

Yet another five-star quarterback, Matt Barkley, was also on the practice field. He was just stopping by since he's only a junior in high school. The youngest ever Gatorade National Player of the Year has already committed to the Trojans.

There will be several other compelling position battles to watch. Ricky Rosas, special assistant to Pete Carroll and Gatorade bartender extraordinaire, said he plans on paying special attention to the tailbacks and wide receivers. Similar to last year, USC has an embarrassment of riches in their backfield. In the receiving corps, transfer Damian Williams from Arkansas was a breath of fresh air and looks ready to make a big impact.

Speaking of Ricky and Barkley, both are nominated in the 2008 Southern California Sports Awards put on by ESPN 710.

LA Times football writer Gary Klein stopped by after practice to talk shop -- click play to get some more reflections on USC's first day back in the trenches:

You can also catch a few minutes from Pete Carroll's post-practice media gaggle:

UPDATE: If you listen to the audio above, Carroll doesn't get pinned down on naming a quarterback by the end of camp, merely saying, "That'd be nice ... I don't care when it happens." But offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian left little doubt that it will happen by April 19. I wouldn't call that a discrepancy, just more specificity.

In case you thought that the USC Trojans weren't going to take the University of Illinois seriously in its Rose Bowl match-up, just take a look at what Pete Carroll and the Coaching staff did on their first day off after the regular season ended, according to official Trojan blog USCRipsit. Something makes me think that offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian will be asking Oj Mayo to join him and his colleagues next year.

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At Pete Carroll's weekly press conference, I asked about young offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian [partial clip above]. Later on, I followed up with some of the questions that readers from this blog have had in comments and emails. Carroll made it clear that he's confident in his staff. In his assessment, the real issues have been injuries, inexperience, and even himself. At the same time, he doesn't like the simplicity of the blame game and thinks it's often more complicated. We'll have more on that coming up. For now, here's some perspective on his staff ...

Steve Sarkisian is in his first year as offensive coordinator. John Morton has never coached college kids before [editorial note: he coaches wide receivers, a unit that has struggled this year]. Do you worry about the experience level of some of your coaches?

No. I've been around young guys and old guys. Some guys just have a knack of communicating with people and they're almost seamless in the way they deal with it because they communicate so well. These are both terrific guys. They're great communicators. That's why Sark has always been the guy, since Norm left, that talked to the team and set the plan in motion. Even when [Lane Kiffin] was the coordinator, Sark was always the guy who was in front of them all the time. There are certainly some first time things happening, though. You can't avoid that.

Any that really concern you?

No. These guys are great at what they do. You guys [the media] don't realize how involved everybody's been all along and how much these guys have done. All through our planning, for the years that we were here -- when Norm was here, and Lane, and Sark -- those guys all mixed together. They all did everything. Norm did a great job of raising those guys up ... and when he left we had the biggest year in the history of the school. They've been so intricately involved, there hasn't been a transition ... Except for when Sark was with the Raiders, he sent every play in to the field. Every single one, in every big game and situation, he was the last word that put the play into motion. He continues to do that now, so it isn't a big change. I know everybody thinks it is, but it's not that.

So Sark's a communicator. What about a tough guy, a bad guy out there?

He's [Sark's] real tough. He's very hard on these guys. He's a hard-line, competitive guy. He's been a great competitor in his career (when he played) and he's carried it over to his coaching, and it comes across quite clearly. These guys respect him. They do everything he asks them to do. He has a good sense for how to mix all of it -- sometimes you're teaching, sometimes you're motivating, sometimes you're disciplining. He's just a natural at it.

A lot of people have been grumbling about the lack of a dedicated special teams coach. Does that bother you?

It's an area for us to improve, yeah. All the years in the NFL, we always had somebody. It's more focused than you might think. Dave Watson does a ton of the stuff. He does like 80% of the stuff. He's the one who's most focused [on it]. T-Mac [Todd McNair] is the one that talks to him and delivers the message to him. So it's more so than you think. David is doing it for his first time, that's new for us. He still relies on Nick [Holt] to do his aspects of it and Pat [Ruel] to do his aspects of it .... But the organization of it, the handling of the stuff on the sidelines, the game plan, the actual in-game communication is really handled by Dave Watson.

That's an area we've known for years we can improve at. I had a guy in here a year ago and it didn't work out. We haven't been committed to that.

If you had one more coaching position allowed under NCAA rules, what would be your first hire?

I would definitely hire a special teams guy. We're raising Dave to be that. He's in the process of becoming that, so I think it's working out. This is the best we've been on special teams, I think, since we've been here. I think we've been really good. Returns are solid. Our coverage is good. We're kicking the ball well, punting the ball well, handling it, creating turnovers. This is the best we've been all around -- and we should be. We should be good. We've got a lot of good players to choose from. But you can always get better. If you realize the scope and the depth that long-term NFL coaches have in special teams, they're incredibly gifted in what they bring. There is value there.

You've lost a lot of talent over the years ... Chow ... Orgeron ... of the guys you've lost in coaching, who do you miss the most?

I think we miss Lane the most. He's been here since the first day. The fact was that he was on offense, and I'm on the other side of the ball. He's an extraordinary coach.