USC offensive tackle Matt Kalil has decided to forgo his senior season and seek entry into the 2012 NFL draft.
Kalil, a projected top-five pick, informed Trojans coach Lane Kiffin, other staff members and teammates of his decision to turn pro. Kalil has received numerous All-American honors this year.
The 6-foot-7, 295-pound Kalil redshirted as a freshman, was backup to Charles Brown his second year and then started his final two years for the Trojans at left tackle.
Much-hyped USC running back Dillon Baxter no longer is a member of the team but is still enrolled at the school, coach Lane Kiffin announced Tuesday.
Baxter, a sophomore, did not make the trip with the Trojans to South Bend for USC’s game vs. Notre Dame last week, instead heading home to San Diego for the weekend. He skipped a practice last week because of what was called a “family issue,” and arrived late to another session because of what was called an “academic issue.”
“The decision has been made for Dillon Baxter to focus on his academics,” Kiffin said in a statement Tuesday. “As he does so, he will not be part of our football program.
“However, we will continue to support him with our academic services department.”
Dillon Baxter had 29 yards on nine carries this season for the Trojans.
During the weekend, Kiffin declined to add more context to the situation or to comment on Baxter’s status, first immediately after the Trojans’ 31-17 win over Notre Dame and then during his weekly conference call with the media on Sunday, when he said he’d wait to address Baxter’s status until it was “finalized,” leading to rampant speculation that the second-year player would transfer to another school.
But as of Tuesday, he remains enrolled at USC. Kiffin also has set a precedent of allowing players kicked off the team to return, as was the case last season of then-freshman receiver Markeith Ambles, who re-joined the team in January after a two-month hiatus.
Full story at espn
Arik Armstead, a 6-foot-7, 280-pound offensive tackle from Elk Grove, Calif., has rescinded his official commitment to USC.
Armstead, one of the nation’s premier lineman and the top-ranked player in the West in the ESPNU 150, said he’ll still consider the Trojans but is now wide open to other colleges.
“I was already taking visits but I wanted all the schools recruiting me to understand that I had a legitimate interest in them,” Armstead said.
Armstead wouldn’t get into specifics of why he changed his mind, but he did say that “my family has been a little disappointed with some things going on at USC.”
USC currently is on probation and banned from participating in bowls due to the Reggie Bush scandal. In addition, Armstead’s older brother Armond, a fourth-year senior and two-year starter on the defensive line, was redshirted due to an undisclosed medical condition. Armstead did not cite those issues, though.
Full story at ESPN
University of Southern California running back Marc Tyler dislocated his left shoulder in the third quarter of the Trojans’ 30-9 win over Cal at AT&T Park on Thursday and could be out an extended period of time.
Tyler, a redshirt senior, suffered the injury on the first play of the second half, when he was tackled 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage by Cal linebacker Aaron Tipoti. Tyler knew immediately he had dislocated the shoulder, he said, but the team’s training staff popped it back into place on the sidelines.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be out,” Tyler said. “This (has) never really happened to me before.”
Full story at ESPN
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — After scraping past Minnesota and playing a close game against Utah, Southern Cal is facing its biggest test of the season this weekend — against a team it has beaten 11 straight times.
Hitting the road for the first time this season, the 23rd-ranked Trojans head into the desert Saturday night to face Arizona State in a game between the two favorites to win the Pac-12 South. The Sun Devils haven’t beaten USC since 1999 and have lost five straight in Tempe, but their potent passing game and smash-you-in-the-mouth defense certainly has the Trojans’ attention this time.
“It’s going to be very competitive and they’re going to be ready to play,” USC coach Lane Kiffin said. “They’re a great team and they’re really great when they play at home, so we’re going to have to go in there with a lot of young guys and stay focused.”
USC (3-0, 1-0) had its best offensive game of the season last week against Syracuse, piling up 501 total yards as maturing junior quarterback Matt Barkley passed for 324 yards and a school record-tying five touchdowns to five different receivers in the 38-17 win.
Doing it at home against a school more known for its basketball program is one thing. Doing it against an athletic, aggressive defense on the road will be an entirely different challenge, particularly for such a young team.
Still hampered by NCAA sanctions that have limited scholarships, the Trojans have a depth chart loaded with underclassmen and inexperienced players. They handled the first three games at home fairly well, but will be facing not only a hostile environment at Arizona State, but players who are known to be hostile themselves.
Led by feisty and furious linebacker Vontaze Burfict, the Sun Devils have developed a reputation as being a bit nasty, of — at least in the eyes of some opponents — taking things a little too far after the whistle. The Trojans certainly fall on the watch-your-back-against-them side and have even prepared for some of the extracurricular stuff in practice.
“Our service guys were popping guys right and left after the whistle, hitting them, hitting their helmets, just to kind of prepare for that,” Barkley said. “We’ve given our guys heads-up about that type of behavior, and we won’t let it affect us.”
Arizona State (2-1) might have some extra motivation, too.
Back in The Associated Press poll last week for the first time since 2007, the Sun Devils followed it up by floundering at Illinois.
Able to fight past numerous mistakes to beat Missouri and enter the poll at No. 22 the week before, Arizona State couldn’t do it again in an error-filled road loss to the Illini last Saturday.
Hurt by penalties and finding no answer for Illinois’ blitzing defense, the Sun Devils were humbled 17-14 after being plagued by penalties, missed opportunities inside the red zone, three turnovers and six sacks of quarterback Brock Osweiler. A little embarrassed by their performance, they’re hoping to show it was an anomaly by playing better against USC.
“The Illinois game, and I’ve looked at it three times now, there were just some goofy things that happened that wouldn’t normally happen,” Osweiler said. “We’ve broken it down as a team and looked at those mistakes we made, and I can’t go out and guarantee that those will never happen again, but I have a pretty strong gut feeling that we’re going to take care of those mistakes and clean them up.”
They’ll need to against the Trojans.
Despite not being eligible for the postseason and the limits on the roster, USC is among the most talented teams in the country.
Barkley isn’t making some of the same mistakes that plagued his first two seasons, throwing for 892 yards and nine touchdowns with one interception. He plays behind one of the nation’s best offensive linemen in Matt Kalil and sophomore receiver Robert Woods leads the country in receptions with 33 for 361 yards and four touchdowns.
USC’s defense isn’t too shabby, either, filled with fast, athletic players who converge on the ball quickly.
The Trojans are, in other words, a lot like the teams that have had Arizona State’s number for the last decade.
“I don’t see much difference in the USC this year than the other four years that we’ve played them,” Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson said.
He and the Sun Devils hope at least the outcome will be a little different this time.
Unlike some other leagues, the Pac-10 changes its name when it expands. It apparently changes everything else, too. Larry Scott’s extreme makeover continued even during the offseason, when the conference addressed football officiating deficiencies; 11 were let go, one retired and 16 were hired (no doubt prompting fans within and without the Pac-10 — sorry, Pac-12 — to celebrate). The 2011 season will also bring blandly but geographically named six-team divisions and a conference championship game, which will be played at the home of the division champ with the better résumé.
Lots of questions to answer with this “new” conference….I’m very interested to see how USC responds after a bad year for their standards. What will Kiffin do in his second year with the Trojans? Can he actually coach or just recruit?
How will Oregon respond to coming oh so close in the BCS Championship game? The Ducks are losing quite a few starters, including three linemen on each side of the ball.
Read more at SI.com