Thirteen down, two to go. The countdown of the 15 USC players to watch in spring practice is nearly complete.

For Nos. 3-15, see below. For No. 1, check back in a couple of hours.

NO. 2 — RB ALLEN BRADFORD

Profile: 5-11, 235, redshirt senior

2009 stats: 13 games, 115 carries, 668 yards, 5.8-yard avg., 8 TDs

Why he’s one to watch: USC fans finally might get what they have been clamoring for — Bradford in the lead-tailback role. I’m saying “might” for now because all positions are open to competition under the new coaching staff, and there are plenty of tailbacks eager to snatch carries. But Bradford is the heavy favorite, and with good reason.

Thanks to good health and playing time, Bradford had by far the best year of his career last season. He showed he could be both punisher and finisher, particularly against Oregon State, when he rumbled for a career-best 147 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.

That was Bradford’s only 100-yard performance, not altogether surprising considering he never had more than 17 carries. If Lane Kiffin uses Bradford the way he used Montario Hardesty at Tennessee, Bradford could have 10 100-yard games. But Hardesty didn’t have C.J. Gable, Marc Tyler and Curtis McNeal behind him. So the carry distribution is still to be determined.

What isn’t is Bradford’s other role on this team. When times were tough during the Pete Carroll-Kiffin limbo period, Bradford became one of the Trojans’ primary leaders. That he took that sort of initiative tells me he’s ready to step up and have a breakout season.

PLAYERS TO WATCH SCHEDULE

• Monday, March 8: No. 15 — DL Armond Armstead
• Tuesday, March 9: No. 14 — QB Mitch Mustain; No. 13 — OLB-DE Devon Kennard
• Wednesday, March 10: No. 12 — WR Brice Butler; No. 11 — RB C.J. Gable
• Thursday, March 11: No. 10 — TE Blake Ayles; No. 9 — WR-RB Dillon Baxter
• Friday, March 12: No. 8 — WR Kyle Prater; No. 7 — OT Matt Kalil
• Monday, March 15: No. 6 — WR Ronald Johnson; No. 5 — CB Shareece Wright
• Tuesday, March 16: No. 4 — LB Chris Galippo; No. 3 — S T.J. McDonald
• Wednesday, March 17: No. 2 — RB Allen Bradford; No. 1 — QB Matt Barkley

USC football: 15 players to watch in spring (No. 2) is a post from: USC

At the bottom of the post, readers can vote to select the most classless act. One vote per IP address, so give it careful consideration.

Let's get to the finalists:

1. Chip Kelly, Oregon

Oregon leads punchless Washington State, 45-0, in the third quarter of an Oct. 3 game at Eugene, when the Cougars recover a fumble at the Ducks' one-yard line. It takes three plays, but quarterback Marshall Lobbestael sneaks in for a touchdown, cutting Oregon's precious lead to 45-6.

Kelly should have other things to worry about — like keeping his players out of trouble. Instead, he decides to challenge the touchdown call. Although he loses the challenge, the Ducks somehow hang on for a 52-6 victory.

Washington State's Paul Wulff says afterward, "We'll have plenty of motivation moving forward, believe me."

2. Randy Edsall, Connecticut

Connecticut defeated Syracuse, 56-31, on Nov. 28, but the Orange won't forget what happened in the final minute. The Huskies led, 42-31, and were facing fourth and 11 at the Orange 28 with 53 seconds remaining. Syracuse was out of timeouts.

Instead of calling a run play to help bring this to a merciful end, Edsall calls for a pass. Zach Frazer throws a touchdown to Marcus Easley, putting Connecticut ahead, 49-31. The Huskies would return a fumble for another score with eight seconds remaining.

Syracuse's Doug Marrone didn't comment afterward, but his postgame handshake with Edsall was described as being "uncomfortable." Orange safety called Frazer's pass "a little cheap shot."

3. Lane Kiffin, Tennessee

The first-year Volunteer coach's body of work was a classless act, from accusing Urban Meyer of cheating to his one-minute farewell press conference, featured above. But with his 4-4 team entertaining an overmatched Memphis on Nov. 7, Kiffin made several jackass decisions.

After taking a 14-0 lead less than six minutes into the first quarter, the Volunteers tried an onside kick.

Leading 35-0 late in the first half, Tennessee called a timeout when Memphis faced a third-and-eight play at the Tigers' 14.

The Volunteers went for it three times on fourth down in the first half.

The take-no-prisoners approach paid off. Tennessee built a 49-7 lead and held off a late Tiger charge for a 56-28 victory.

A smug Kiffin said afterward: "It came to me during the week that I had to make sure they felt my intensity — we're really going after this thing."

4. Jim Harbaugh, Stanford

The Nov. 14 "double nickels" game. The Cardinal were steamrolling USC, 42-21, when Toby Gerhart rumbled into the end zone. Instead of kicking the extra point, Harbaugh decided to go for two — probably because he couldn't go for three. The try failed, but Stanford tacked on one more score for a 55-21 bludgeoning of Pete Carroll's Trojans.

Carroll was not happen with Harbaugh, asking him in the postgame handshake, "What's your deal? What's your deal?"

Harbaugh retorted, "What's your deal?"

Carroll, when asked about Stanford's try for two, said: "I don't know what they were thinking with that."

Harbaugh offered this: "I thought it was an opportunity, the way we were coming off the ball, the way our players were playing — that it was the right thing to do."

5. Pete Carroll, USC

One would think Carroll would have learned a lesson about being a good sport after what Harbaugh did to him, but USC's coach failed to rise above it in his team's next game on Nov. 28. With the Trojans holding a 21-7 lead over UCLA with 52 seconds remaining, Carroll decided to stick it to the Bruins, calling for Matt Barkley to throw deep to Damian Williams. The play worked for a 52-yard touchdown and Carroll celebrated like a 13 year old at a Miley Cyrus concert.

The benches emptied and the teams nearly went at it. When things settled down, USC held on for a 28-7 victory.

Carroll and USC said afterward that Rick Neuheisel and UCLA deserved it because they were using timeouts with the verdict already decided. Of course, Carroll didn't feel the same way two weeks earlier when Stanford rolled it up on USC.

6. Max Hall, Brigham Young

The Cougar quarterback let his feelings be known after a 26-23 overtime victory over rival Utah.

"I don't like Utah. In fact, I hate them. I hate everything about them. I hate their program, their fans. I hate everything. It felt really good to send those guys home."

Video later surfaced of Hall landing a cheap shot to a Utah player after his winning touchdown pass.

7. Mike Leach, Craig James and Texas Tech

Plenty of blame to go around. Leach allegedly put receiver Adam James in an electrical closet off the press room at Jones AT&T Stadium. That resulted in a complaint by James' dad, Craig, an analyst for ESPN. Leach was suspended and eventually fired, a day before he was due an $800,000 bonus. Leach then said Adam was a slacker and that Craig was a always calling and acting like a LIttle League dad.

Craig said he was merely protecting his son, but documents suggest he threatened the university with a lawsuit for improper treatment of a student-athlete, i.e. his son, who was recovering from a concussion. The only winners here are Tommy Tuberville, the new Tech coach, and attorneys. The fans? The heck with them! Tech just announced a hike in ticket prices for 2010!

Leach's appearance on "Friday Night Lights" was filmed in Austin on Sept. 18, the night before his team played Texas and lost, 34-24. No wonder he lost control of the team in midseason.

8. Rich Rodriguez, Michigan

You can't do this list without Rich Rod, who continues to drag this storied program to new, embarrassing lows.

No stranger to litigation (see West Virginia), Rich Rod was sued for allegedly defaulting on a real estate loan to build condominiums near Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium. One of his business partners in the failed venture is facing five felony counts and possibly 50 years in prison.

Michigan has gone to 33 consecutive bowl games until Rich Rod arrived. Now they've missed the postseason two years in a row. If that's not bad enough, the NCAA alleges that Rich Rod's program committed five potential major rules violations. Somehow, he's still the coach.

9. Mike Locksley, New Mexico

Nothing quite like punching your receivers coach in the face after a coaches meeting. That's what Locksley did, landing a blow to Jonathan "J.B." Gerald in September.

Locksley showed more fight than his team, which finished 1-11 and ranked near the bottom in nearly every NCAA offensive and defensive category.

Here is the Shelley Smith interview with Lane Kiffin where Kiffin talks about receiving death threats after it was announced he was leaving Tennessee.

Kiffin says he received death threats [espn]

Seantrel Henderson, the manchild tackle from Cretin-Derham Hall High in St. Paul, announced Wednesday that he planned to attend USC. But he has yet to sign his letter of intent.

Henderson will wait until USC appears before an NCAA infractions committee from Feb. 19-21. The school is under investigation for possible rules violations involving the football and basketball programs.

Henderson, who has yet to qualify academically, has until April 1 to sign his letter of intent.

Henderson follows the path blazed by Terrelle Pryor in 2008 and Bryce Brown in 2009. Pryor delayed his college choice in part to concentrate on helping his high school basketball team's quest for a Pennsylvania state championship. He waited until March 19 before announcing that he would sign with Ohio State.

Brown's recruitment was more complicated because it included Brian Butler, his controversial trainer and recruiting adviser. Brown announced for Tennessee on March 15.

Three players already enrolled in school are Kyle Prater (WR), Patrick Hall (DB) and Dillon Baxter (WR).

Early reports are that LB Glen Stanley of Eastern Arizona CC picked USC. He was formerly committed to Tennessee.

WR Markeith Ambles has committed to USC. He was also formerly committed to Tennessee.

Offensive lineman Giovanni Di Poala of St. Bonaventure High School in Ventura committed to USC.

No surprise here but, USC has officially approved the signed letter of intent for WR Robert Woods.

USC has also officially approved signed letters of intent from DT George Uko, DB Nickell Robey, QB Jesse Scroggins, TE Xavier Grimble , TE Randall Telfer, TE Christian Thomas, DB Dion Bailey, DB Demetrius Wright , DB Anthony Brown,RB D.J. Morgan, LB Hayes Pullard and FB Soma Vainuku.

Oh, reckless social networking. What would recruiting be without you?

As any UT frat boy with Heather's smoking hot "Sports Animal" poster tacked up in his dorm room can confirm, Ambles has good taste. Alas, at 25, Heather has outgrown recruits. (Although she's not above an unfortunate double entendre or two.)

Tennessee picked up three commitments out of the weekend despite the snow; not surprisingly, Ambles wasn't one of them. Presumably, he's delaying his announcement for some signing day shenanigans on Wednesday. If hastily installed coach Derek Dooley hasn't made the acquaintance of the Vol hostesses yet, this might be a good time.

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Hat tip: Rocky Top Talk

Boise State has its infamous "Smurf Turf," and Nebraska has what it likes to call the "Sea of Red" to describe the vast crowd inside Lincoln's Memorial Stadium. As of next fall, though, neither of them will have anything on I-AA Eastern Washington, which announced plans Wednesday to install an actual field of red:

Taking a cue from Boise State's famous blue turf, Eastern Washington is planning to install an artificial red playing surface inside its football stadium. The Big Sky program's official school colors are red and white.

Former EWU star Michael Roos, now in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans, has pledged $500,000 toward the "Red Turf Project.'' School officials in Cheney hope to raise additional private money and have the field installed for the 2010 season.
[...]
"There is no doubt that one of Boise State's claims to fame has been their blue turf and like it or dislike it, it has certainly brought them a tremendous amount of notoriety," EWU athletic director Bill Chaves said. "In a similar vein we have a tremendous opportunity at Eastern to do the same by differentiating ourselves with the red turf while providing a superior playing surface."

The NCAA has no provision addressing the color of playing surfaces -- at least not yet -- because it hasn't had to consider the issue outside of the relatively obscure venues at Boise State and Division II University of New Haven, which installed its own blue turf last year. If it goes through with it, then, EWU's lava motif will be breaking ground on what promises to be a run on multi-colored turf by publicity-starved schools across the country; eventually, somebody somewhere is going to with black. (I'm looking at you, Idaho.)

Until then, Woodward Field, thy name is "Blood."

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Picture courtesy EWU Athletics. Hat tip: The Wiz.

It has been nine days since Lane Kiffin announced he was leaving Tennessee for USC, but Volunteer fans are not ready to let it go. A look at some of their creative work that is making the rounds in cyberspace.

At the moment, perhaps no major figure in school history has done as wrong by Tennessee as now-former coach Lane Kiffin, who abruptly slipped away in the middle of the night last week for his dream job at USC, abandoning a proud program after a single mediocre season and briefly turning the Knoxville campus into a borderline riot zone as Kiffin staged his escape. Still, at least one Vol fan is willing to commemorate the brief Kiffin era at Tennessee, by putting the coach's name on the most appropriate building he could think of:

Knoxville attorney Drew McElroy has filed paperwork with the Knoxville City Council's Public Properties and Facilities Naming Committee to rename a waste water treatment plant the "Lane Kiffin Sewage Center."
[...]
McElroy said after driving down Neyland Drive and seeing all the history, it hit him. Renaming the Kuwahee Wastewater Treatment Plant would be the best way to let Kiffin know he understands why the coach left.

"It dawned on me--Lane Kiffin told us that he hoped the fans would understand. I thought 'Well, naming the wastewater plant for him would let him know, I think very clearly, we do understand,'" McElroy, an off-and-on season ticket holder, said. "We want to memorialize his stay here, and I think this would be doing it appropriately."

McElroy ponied up the $262 filing fee himself, but any changes to the treatment plant's name may take a while: The relevant committee only meets a few times a year. Given the widespread sentiment in Knoxville over the last seven days, though, I suspect the Kiffin hate can wait as long as it needs to for its day in city hall.

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Hat tip: Larry Brown Sports, via The Wiz.

A Knoxville attorney has filed paperwork with the City Council's Public Properties and Facilities Naming Committee to rename a wastewater treatment plant the "Lane Kiffin Sewage Center."

Drew McElroy says he wrote the $262 check for the application fee and mailed it to the City Council's Clerk last week.

"It dawned on me — Lane Kiffin told us that he hoped the fans would understand. I thought 'Well, naming the wastewater plant for him would let him know, I think very clearly, we do understand,' " McElroy said. "We want to memorialize his stay here, and I think this would be doing it appropriately."

He added: "We don't have to rename the entire facility after him, just a part of it."

McElroy passes the facility each time he attends a game at Neyland Stadium.

"What [Kiffin] says about it? I could care less," McElroy said. "Knowing what we know now, I don't think anybody is angry he's gone."

McElroy's proposal has quickly gained popularity.

"I think it'd be very fitting. He's definitely garbage," Tennessee student Paul Mills said.

Click here to listen to Lane answer some tough questions on the Dan Patrick show.

And pictured above is Lane’s wife Layla. You got to love the knob in the background with the UCLA t-shirt pointing at her, typical Bruin behavior. Stay classy FULCA.

Lane Kiffin explains why he left Tennessee for USC [cnnsi]

Today is not the day to use the word "seismic," but there aren't many adjective too strong for the shift in college football over the last three weeks. If you fell asleep on the night that Alabama beat Florida and Texas beat Nebraska to end an unusually uneventful regular season on Dec. 5, and didn't wake up to survey the landscape until sometime next August, you'd think almost 10 years had passed.

Since Christmas alone...

Urban Meyer suddenly retired, then un-retired despite legitimate health concerns that could keep him from returning to the sideline this fall; Mike Leach was suspended and then fired by Texas Tech for allegedly isolating Craig James' concussed son in not one but two separate enclosed spaces; Adam James subsequently released a creepy, dubious cell phone video from inside the infamous closet, and pass-happy Texas Tech hired a coach with an old school philosophy based on running and defense; Jim Leavitt was fired by South Florida for allegedly grabbing and slapping a player who later admitted to lying on his coaches behalf to save Leavitt's job, which Leavitt immediately demanded back; Pete Carroll abruptly resigned to follow his NFL dreams, just days before news emerged that major NCAA sanctions against the program he led for nine years could be mere months away; within a few hours, Carroll had been replaced at USC by the sport's biggest lightning rod, Lane Kiffin, whose departure nearly sparked riots in Tennessee, and who immediately set about reassembling the regime that oversaw the scandal that put the Trojans in the NCAA's crosshairs in the first place.

Somewhere along the way, Bobby Bowden coached his 417th and final game at Florida State, Ohio State ended a decade-long Big Ten losing streak in the Rose Bowl, Boise State completed an undefeated season and Alabama won a national championship in a game in which a two-time Heisman Trophy finalist was knocked out on his team's fifth offensive snap. Lately, that's what qualifies as mundane.

I hesitate to predict an end to the thunderclaps, with the Tennessee and South Florida jobs still open and three frantic weeks to go until recruits officially sign on to their respective schools, but it's certain already that the first season of the new decade will kick off with a landscape reminiscent of the flattened tress following the Tunguska Event. The reigning juggernauts on either coast, USC and Florida, will both be wracked by major attrition, uncertainty and, if Meyer fails to return, a potentially crippling regime change; their mantle of sustained dominance has apparently been assumed by Alabama. The two most unique and consistently entertaining coaches in the country, Pete Carroll and Mike Leach, each vacated his post under wildly different circumstances within days of one another. The most feted quarterbacks of the last three years, Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford, will be struggling for respect in the NFL. Notre Dame's latest (and most promising) reclamation project is underway. Boise freakin' State has a significant chance to open the 2010 season ranked in the top five, and to close it at No. 1. So does Oregon, which not that long ago would have seemed every bit as awkward in the frontrunner role as Boise.

Actually, the idea of a Ducks-Broncos rematch for the 2010 title would be all too appropriate: They kicked off last fall with the only moment of the regular season that matched the last few weeks for surprise and sheer unbelievability, and would make it abundantly clear to the world how thoroughly the old order has been overthrown. Maybe we're not there yet -- the other likely favorites will be more familiar powers Alabama and Ohio State -- but the changing of the calendar has done a remarkable job of reminding us to check our assumptions at the door.

Thankfully, as news spread this morning of a genuine disaster that appears to have left thousands dead and many more homeless following a series of major earthquakes in Haiti, one of the local purveyors of all things Vol found a more productive outlet for the anti-Kiffin sentiment sweeping town:

In the wake of University of Tennessee football coach Lane Kiffin's unexpected resignation, some fans have apparently taken to burning Kiffin-related T-shirts. But Dan Burks, co-owner of the West Knoxville apparel store Hound Dogs, has a better idea.

Burks said Wednesday that any customer who brings in an "It's Time" T-shirt can get 20 percent off the purchase of a new shirt. Burks said he'll ship the old shirts to Haiti, which was devastated by an earthquake on Tuesday.

Between an inexperienced coach with a losing record bailing on the school that rolled the dice on him after a single mediocre season and hordes of undergraduates scrawling obscenities on rocks and setting things on fire, it's a little jarring for a winner to emerge on both counts. The good guys reside here, if you're interested.