Football

• Dennis Dodd wrapped up his series of position coach evaluations by naming Pete Carroll top head coach in the land. [CBS Sports]
• The Matt Barkley hype is up to another unprecedented level. USC's future quarterback is the first junior ever to be named high school athlete of the year -- out of all male sports. No pressure, kid! [LA Times]
• Thomas Williams inked his first NFL contract. [AP]
• Chilo Rachal signed as well. [RF365]
• Hey ladies! Taylor Mays is a football star, funny, and apparently single. Check out this interview. [Video on USCFootball.com]
• USC is an early 18 point favorite over Virginia. [Vegas Insider]

Hoops

• DeMar DeRozan is good to go. [LA Times]
• O.J. Mayo made the US Select team to prep for international competition. [AP]
• SI dubbed O.J. Mayo the #8 breakout freshman of 2007-08. [Sports Illustrated]
• Davon Jefferson says he has no regrets. [Riverside Press-Enterprise]

Elsewhere

• Another publication tried to re-rank the top school in all sports from last year. USC was seventh. [Sports Illustrated]
• A trio of Trojans made Sports Illustrated's gallery of best college photos from 2007-08: Desmond Reed, Vidal Hazelton, and Janessa Currier.

• Thomas Williams is learning what life is like as an NFL rookie. [Times-Union]
• Recruit #12: USC signs 4-star wide receiver out of South Carolina. [SC Playbook]
• USC is a popular bet to win the national championship. [MR. SEC, h/t Da Wiz]
• Somebody's taking a really, really early look at USC-Virginia. [RF365]
• Oregon State could be the big sleeper game of the year. I couldn't agree more. [Coaches Hot Seat]
• With Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen joining a couple other key college football figures in retirement, could the BCS change? Not likely. [NYT Quad Blog]
• If not the BCS, could expansion be on the table? Probably not, but here are the contenders. [Fanblogs.com]

Hoops

• Ready for another mock draft? Here's O.J. Mayo at #3 again. [ESPN]

Elsewhere

• The NCAA track and field championships start today. [Daily Trojan]
• Football player Ron Mix and swimmer Lenny Krayzelburg were inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. [NJSHOFAM]
• Oregon State is bigger, meaner, oranger. They might want to have that looked at. [Building the Dam]
• Los Angeles is TitleTown, obviously! [ESPN]
• Are Bush and Tush hearing wedding bells? Run, Reggie, run! [Larry Brown]

Final draft [ESPN Insider]

Historical Perspective: USC has sent 446 players to the League via the draft. 42 have been picked in the 7 years since Pete Carroll arrived, including 11 in the first round.

No Rush: For four USC draft picks, an extra year in school may have rewarded them with a big payday. Gary Klein explains in Sunday's LA Times.

No Hype: An interesting forum post found that 10 first rounders in this draft were given two stars or fewer coming out of high school (by at least one of the top recruiting services).

The Trojans:

• Sedrick Ellis (DT) - New Orleans - 1st round, 7th pick
  • Times-Picayne's blog story
  • The Saints traded up to get Ellis
• Keith Rivers (OLB) - Cincinnati - 1st round, 9th pick
  • Enquirer article
  • Enquirer video interview
• Sam Baker (OT) - Atlanta - 1st round, 21st pick
  • Journal Constitution article
  • The Falcons traded up to get protection for new quarterback Matt Ryan
• Lawrence Jackson (DE) - Seattle - 1st round, 28th pick
  • Post-Intelligencer article
  • The Seahawks actually traded down from 25th
• Chilo Rachal (OG) - San Francisco - 2nd round, 8th pick (39th overall)
  • Chronicle article
  • Transcript of Chilo's conference call
  • Local reaction is that the 49ers had a boring draft
• Fred Davis (TE) - Washington - 2nd round, 17th pick (48th overall)
  • Post article
  • The Redskins got two receivers as well as pass-catching Davis
• Terrell Thomas (CB) - New York Giants - 2nd round, 32nd pick (63rd overall)
  • Post blurb (seriously, this was the best coverage we could find in the New York press)
• John David Booty (QB) - Minnesota - 5th round, 2nd pick (137th overall)
  • Star Tribune article
  • LA Times article
  • Booty slipped lower than some though he might, but the Vikings traded up in the 5th round and now it's a great match.
• Thomas Williams (OLB) - Jacksonville - 5th round, 20th pick (155th overall)
  • Times-Union article
• Chauncey Washington (RB) - Jacksonville - 7th round, 6th pick (213th overall)
  • Times-Union article

USC had a phenomenal draft. Nearly 13% of picks drafted in the first round were USC Trojans. USC owned 11% of picks through the end of the second round. USC had 10 draft picks overall, the most out of any school, including four in the first round (also the most out of any school). Here's the draft breakdown by Trojan player.

Sedrick Ellis - 1st round, 7th pick to the New Orleans, Saints.
Keith Rivers - 1st round, 9th pick, to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Sam Baker - 1st round, 21st pick - to the Atlanta Falcons
Lawrence Jackson - 1st round, 28th pick - Seattle Seahawks

Chilo Rachal - 2nd round, 8th pick - San Francisco, 49ers
Fred Davis - 2nd round, 17th pick - to the Washington Redskins
Terrell Thomas - New York Giants - 2nd round, 32nd pick (63rd overall)

John David Booty - 5th round, 2nd pick - Minnesota Vikings
Thomas Williams - 5th round, 20th pick - Jacksonville Jaguars

Chauncey Washington - 7th round, 6th pick Jacksonville Jaguars

The 2007 Jacksonville Jaguars were a well-rounded playoff team, led by a David Garrard who completed 64% of his passes for and 18 touchdowns to just 3 interceptions. Their eventual ’07 demise came by way of a second-half defensive collapse to the undefeated New England Patriots in the second round of the playoffs. It makes sense then, that the Jaguars spent their first four picks on quality defensive and special teams players.

That includes USC outside linebacker Thomas Williams, with their 5th round, #22 selection. Williams struggled to get on the field at USC, mainly due to the Trojans ridiculous depth at his position. When a space came up on special teams, Williams jumped head first into the task. His speed, tackling and blocking ability added to his special teams versatility. Williams ended up winning a part of the USC 2007 Co-Special Teams Player of the Year Award, which is likely what landed him the Jaguars' job. In addition to the Special Teams accolade, Williams was a All-Pac-10 Honorable mention pick and also landed USC’s Most Inspirational Player Award.

Gotta love our defense, here's the review:

Positive - Defensive Pressure

• The defense brought the pressure and Sean Canfield ended up being sacked 9 times.  The game-plan was an easy call to make considering the questionable status of OSU's star all-purpose back, Yvenson Bernard, and the immobility and poor decision-making skills of Sean Canfield, but that doesn't take away from the execution of the defense itself.
  

Negative - Non-Existent 2nd Half Offense

• Our drives in the 2nd half:

1st Drive - 4 and out
2nd Drive - 3 and out
3rd Drive - 3 and out
4th Drive - 3 and out
5th Drive - 7 and out
6th Drive - 5 and end of the game

Simply pathetic.  The inconsistency of our offense continues to be the bane of this team. 

Player of the Game - The Entire Defense

• Tempting to give it to a player like Everson Griffen, but the defense played solid as a unit.  For example, after Everson's 1st sack, it was Thomas Williams who had a nice pass break-up across the middle which helped set up 3rd and long giving Everson the green light to blow outside and get to Sean Canfield once again.  Sequences of plays like the one just mentioned happened throughout the game and therefore the entire defense should be awarded. 
  

Play of the Game - JDB to Patrick Turner for 13 Yard TD

• PT threw some nice stutter steps off the line gaining a step on Brandon Hughes up the sideline; JDB then threw a nice pass over the top of Brandon and into the fully extended arms of PT.  Nice throw and catch.
  

Final Thoughts - Defense Against Cal

• Watching how this defense responded to the more free and loose defensive game-plan on Saturday gives me hope that the same type of pressure will be brought against Cal and Nate Longshore.  Of course it will need to be tightened against Cal's explosive players, but the key to this game will be making Nate feel uncomfortable in the pocket and forcing him to try and make plays on the run.  Our safeties need to come up big this week not only in support against Hawkins/Jackson, but also in being active and waiting to capitalize on errant throws.   

Should be a tough game this Saturday.  It doesn't matter that Cal has been playing mediocre the past few weeks, they will wake up for this game and our defense will need to step up big to help out, once again, our struggling offense.  Hopefully JDB can get in-sync with the receivers this week...

Here's the update:

• John David Booty - Threw with a glove today and looked better than expected.  Could possibly play this Saturday but will likely play a back-up role. 

• Rey Maualuga - Listed as doubtful due to hip pointer.  Thomas Williams would start in place of Rey. 

• Brian Cushing - Coaches are playing it cautious in bringing Cush back due to him reaggravating his ankle injury already.  Likely won't start but might put in some minutes on Saturday. 

• Stafon Johnson - Listed as day-to-day for a sprained foot. 

• Shareece Wright - Practiced today and stated he'll play on Saturday.  Shareece will back-up Terrell Thomas who also has a hamstring injury. 

• Sam Baker - Stated he wants to play on Saturday, but is listed as doubtful due to hamstring injury.

• Chilo Rachal - Expected back today, but is likely day-to-day.   

And amazingly that's the short-list...

The pain was obvious, but Thomas Williams didn’t know just how costly a sprained knee cap would be when he had to leave the 2005 Cal game. He had to watch the final three games, including the Rose Bowl, from the sideline that year, then he watched two younger linebackers, Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing, move ahead of him on the depth chart the following season. Williams, now a senior, figures to get his first start since that day when USC plays at Washington on Saturday… continue

*** "I don't know any more about Chauncey (Washington) than I did last night. He has
a sore shoulder. (PER THE TRAINERS--Shoulder sprain, day-to-day)''

*** "C.J. (Gable) is fine. He could've scrimmaged last night. He's
available. I'd think McKnight would have to get back Monday to have
a chance. He was running well last night.''

*** "The offensive line did a nice job in general in the
scrimmage. Carswell and Ausberry had good nights. Hazelton made a
ridiculous catch on the touchdown. (Garrett) Green did well. The catchers did
well and so did the runners. We handled all the game administrative
situations really well. The scrimmages were just like having three
preseason games in the Coliseum.''

*** "I think Charles Brown is okay. He just had back spasms. Radovich
got some playing time. Baker should be okay, too. He could've
played last night.''

*** "Thomas Williams got an ankle and achilles. I think he'll be
okay. Bradford has a little groin and should be fine. Rivers went
back and played.''

"This (Thursday) would normally be a day off after a game. Tomorrow we start
getting into stuff with Idaho."

Watched the scrimmage today and these are the things that jumped out at me:

• Best Player:  Stafon Johnson
  
  • I was going to say a tie between Stafon and Chauncey, but I really liked the way Stafon hit the holes.  When Stafon scored his 2nd TD, you saw a little bit of everything:  setting up a block, nice cut/burst, and great vision.  Credit to C.J. Gable for his performance last season, but in my mind, Stafon is clearly the #2 tailback. 

• Biggest Surprise:  Brandon Carswell
  
  • Ran very nice routes and showed great hands on a few catches. 

• Biggest Disappointment:  Patrick Turner, Fred Davis, and JDB
  
  • Patrick Turner was nonexistent the entire scrimmage.  I saw him suited up and on the field, but I don't recall him being in any play. 
  • Fred Davis dropped a few balls that hit him square in the chest.  To me that's disappointing considering he's an All-American candidate and starting senior. 
  • I know Coach Carroll praised JDB's performance and his stats look good on paper, but his incompletions were all balls that could have been intercepted.  He had one pass where he nearly the WR/TE in the back.  He rushed another pass to Anthony McCoy.  He forced a throw on a post route to David Ausberry that would have been intercepted by an above-average CB.  Am I saying JDB is a bad QB?  No, but I still think he's an average QB when pass protection is anything less than par.

• Play of the Game:  Allen Bradford's 30 Yard Run
  • Yeah, I know Stafon's run where he sped down the sideline and cutback to the middle was exciting, and I also know Vidal's TD catch where he had to readjust and make a leaping grab was great as well, but none of them came against the 1st team defense.  The way Allen made Rey miss in the backfield and then turned it up a gear and sped past Keith Rivers for a 30 yard gain was outstanding. 

• Overlooked Play of the Game:  Taylor Mays closing the gap on Allen Bradford
  
  • I've seen no mention of this play.  Allen took the handoff going left and made a great cut in the opposite direction that literally opened up an entire side of the field.  As he sped past the outside DE/LB, Taylor Mays came racing in, cut the angle, and took Allen down.  I think Allen gained less than 10 yards on that play, but it should have been a 15+ yard run.

• Most Embarrassing Play of the Game:  Ronald Johnson's Kick Return
  • So RoJo hesitates and drops the ball but luckily it doesn't get away from him.  He then runs laterally and shows nice burst up the middle and towards the sideline.  All that stood before RoJo and the end zone was Joe Houston and Thomas Williams (same team).  Instead of racing away from Joe by continuing up the sideline, he decides to cut back towards the middle of the field, which confuses Thomas Williams causing him to run right by Joe and he ends up being tackled.  If you didn't know already, Joe Houston is a KICKER. 

• Straight Beastin':  Sedrick Ellis
  
  • Did his usual job of clogging the middle, but what really impressed me was his ability to run down Allen Bradford and prevent him from turning up field.  You could see the two jawing at each other from the several run-ins.

• Other Random Thoughts:
  • Desmond Reed should be the punt returner.
  • I'm not sold on Vincent Joseph being the kick returner.  Yes, he averaged 20+ yards on his returns, but he also made several bad decisions (e.g. choosing to try and leap frog Cary Harris and nearly coughing up the ball in the process). 
  • Shareece Wright would have had the hit of the day, if he was allowed to hit the QB. 
  • At the moment, I think Josh Pinkard deserves to start over Taylor Mays.  He showed great coverage one-on-one. 

Overall, I came away impressed with the team.  I don't think we'll be as dominant as some people are claiming, but we are definitely NC caliber. 

First team 21, Second team 3.

• The offensive line didn't impress today, especially in the 11-on-11. The d-line got to the quarterback with ease. There were numerous sacks and a few pass break ups. Hopefully the o-line will show some improvement in the next coming weeks.

• Vidal Hazelton and Vincent Joseph got into a little scuffle today. During a receivers drill Joseph said something to Hazelton that got him pretty worked up. Hazelton called Joseph out and the two went head up on the next drill. After a good pop the two went at and continued to go at it even after Hazelton's helmet popped off. Coach Morton broke it up and called all the receivers and the corners in for quick chat. He told the players that he loved the fire and energy, but doesn't want to see anyone get hurt.

• McKnight was officially introduced to college football today. He's received a lot of praise the last two days, however today he received nothing but pain. McKnight was planted by Kevin Ellison and moments later he was lit up by Will Harris. I think those two hits stuck with him the rest of practice as he ran sideline-to-sideline trying to avoid defenders. Thomas Williams kindly informed him, "That shit don't work here! Not here!" This all comes a day after McKnight was sent flying to sidelines when Terrell Thomas gave him a one handed blow and politely told him, "I don't know who you think your fuckin' with!"
  

• Stafon Johnson was by far the best back today. He looked very shifty and powerful. However after one of his better plays of the afternoon Coach Carroll stopped the practice to call him out in front of the entire team. Apparently after Stafon trucked Vincent Joseph or Will Harris he tossed the ball at them. Carroll yelled, exclaiming that this is not the kind of football we play and that foolishness like that is what will negate good plays.

• Emmanuel Moody got bitched by Michael "Slim" Morgan. Of all the backs Moody looked the least impressive today.

• Marc Tyler, Broderick Green, and Brandon Carswell all participated in today's practice. Not wearing should pads, all three players sported the yellow jerseys. The three looked good, however Brandon Carswell was the most impressive snagging balls over defenders.

• I seem to be seeing more dropped passes by the receivers than usual, even from the sure-handed Patrick Turner and Travon Patterson.
  

• During a receiver drill Josh Pinkard lined up against Patrick Turner. After making the catch the long-armed Turner gave Pinkard a nice stiff arm and took the ball up the field. After the play Pinkard said "I just cant get to him," and he and Terrell Thomas went on to talk about how difficult it is to tackle PT.

• Luther Brown appeared to have injured his right leg. Toward the end of the practice he had his pads off and was limping around the field.

• Freshmen linebackers Chris Galippo and Malcolm Smith both looked impressive today in practice.

It wasn’t that USC was so besieged with injuries last year, but that so many of them came at one vulnerable position. The first three fullbacks went down because of season-ending injuries in the first three weeks, leaving the job to a 200-pound former walk-on (Mike Brittingham) and a converted linebacker (Thomas Williams). Some tacklers reached the USC backfield untouched, and the passing game was more vanilla than in years past… continue