Being the best football player in the state is no longer good enough. Not for Pete. He wants his athletes to excel at every sport. Or at least prove excellent in two or three. Take redshirt freshman and backup DE/DT Trey Henderson for instance. Henderson played basketball and track while at Vancouver College and threw hammer for USC's track team last season. In fact the strength, speed and agility that comes with track seems a good match for Trojan football players. As according to WeAreSC:

[4-star receiver/CB commit Randall Carroll] who is finishing up his junior year at Cathedral, ran a scorching 10.42 in the 100 and a 20.91 in the 200 to capture the titles and join recent USC football players as Darrell Rideaux, Kareem Kelly and Justin Fargas as California State sprint champions. Both times for Carroll were the leading times in the state this year.

Brian Baucham, an incoming cornerback from West HS in Torrance, took up the sport of hurdling two months ago in an effort to stay in shape for football season and ended up as the state champion in the 300M hurdles with a time of 37.26 (best in the state this year)...Another incoming Trojan, Blake Ayles from Orange Lutheran, also did well as he took 2nd place in the discus with a personal best throw of 193-06.

Taking Pete's words to heart, same goes for tailgating too... I say forget all these one hit wonders. I myself am going for the hat trick this 2008 season. Yes, the DePo strives to excel at flip cup, beer bong and beer pong. It's a lofty goal...but with proper training and tolerance building, I think I can get there.

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]

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.)