USC Trojans

The USC Trojans are on their way to Haiti.

A group of USC football players -- several of whom took part in graduation ceremonies on Friday -- departed from Los Angeles last night for Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. before connecting on a flight bound for the Caribbean country.

The purpose of the trip is to build houses in an area of the country which was severely damaged by an earthquake in 2010. The USC contingent will be in Leogane and Sous Savanne, where they will also visit orphanages and provide supplies that have been donated for the trip.

Among the USC players participating are Matt Barkley, Khaled Holmes, Kyle Negrete, T.J. McDonald, Hayes Pullard, Nickell Robey, Scott Starr, Devon Kennard, Dion Bailey, Robert Woods, Max Wittek, Cody Kessler, Cyrus Hobbi, Kevin Greene, Joshua Shaw and Luke Freeman. The trip was organized in part by Barkley’s father, Les, who will also be on the trip along with the rest of the Barkley family.

Les Barkley had been part of a relief effort to Haiti after the earthquake and worked with a disaster relief organization, Hope Force International, to arrange for the current trip.

The group will return to Los Angeles May 16. For a photo of the group click here.

How much can we really learn from spring? Funky scrimmages with backwards scoring systems; depleted depth charts; completely new installs for four teams. Actually, more than you'd think. Here are five things we learned about the Pac-12 during spring.

1. Quarterbacks are still in limbo: Be it Stanford, Arizona State, UCLA, Oregon or Colorado, almost half of the teams still don’t know who is going to be under center when the season starts. Stanford funneled its list of five down to two, Josh Nunes and Brett Nottingham. ASU still has a three-way battle with Michael Eubank, Mike Bercovici and Taylor Kelly -- though coach Todd Graham said they have a better idea than they are probably letting on publicly. The very private competition between Marcus Mariota and Bryan Bennett at Oregon remains in question -- though Mariota was spectacular in the spring game while Bennett faltered. Still, coach Chip Kelly said that one game isn’t going to be his basis for comparison. UCLA coach Jim Mora wanted to name a starter by the end of spring, but no one has “grabbed” it, so we’ll have to wait until August before learning whether Brett Hundley, Kevin Prince or Richard Brehaut gets the gig. And at Colorado, the competition was put on hiatus when Nick Hirschman broke a bone in his foot and couldn’t compete in spring drills. One has to think that was a huge advantage for Connor Wood to get almost all of the reps with the first-team offense.
2. Not everyone has quarterback issues: Teams thought to have quarterback question marks heading into spring seemed to have resolved them. In Utah, Jordan Wynn is completely healthy, and both coach Kyle Whittingham and offensive coordinator Brian Johnson have declared Wynn their guy. While Mike Leach hasn’t officially declared Jeff Tuel his starter, it’s hard to imagine anyone else winning the job in the fall, short of Tuel suffering a significant injury or amnesia. He had a splendid spring, and appears to be a great fit for Leach’s offense. And at Arizona, Matt Scott seized the job early and left little room for any competition. Coach Rich Rodriguez has been gushing about how quickly Scott has adjusted to the offense. At Cal, Zach Maynard, once thought to be challenged by freshman Zach Kline, appears to not only have held on to the job, but distanced himself from pursuers.
3. Wide receivers aplenty: And there are plenty of those in the conference. USC has probably the best tandem in the country in Robert Woods and Marqise Lee. Cal’s Keenan Allen (though he missed spring drills) should continue to put up big numbers, and Washington State’s Marquess Wilson should flourish in the Cougars’ new system with Tuel as his quarterback. Markus Wheaton and Brandin Cooks could challenge the USC duo statistically if quarterback Sean Mannion continues to develop. There are stars on the rise at Arizona State (Jamal Miles) and Stanford (Ty Montgomery), and a potential star at Washington (James Johnson). Look out Biletnikoff, the Pac-12 is a comin'…
4. The conference of defense? The Pac-12 might never bunk its reputation as an offensive-centric conference (especially when it keeps churning out offensive talent). But there is a surplus of talented defenses and defensive players who were on display this spring. Washington seems to have plugged its leaks with new defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox. There’s a 3-4 trend sweeping the conference, and with notable playmakers like Star Lotulelei (Utah), John Boyett (Oregon), Dion Jordan (Oregon), Chase Thomas (Stanford), Josh Shirley (Washington), T.J. McDonald (USC) and DeAndre Coleman (Cal), it’s easy to see why some of the Pac-12 defenses will get the same kind of love as the offenses do in 2012.
5. Confidence is at an all-time high: As it should be in the spring. The four new coaches all feel confident about the systems they have installed. Stanford feels as good as it ever has about its running game. USC and Oregon should get lofty preseason rankings, and this is the time of the year when fans go through the schedules game by game and always seem to come up with a minimum of six wins. Sorry to say, there are teams in the conference that won’t make it to a bowl game this season. But when you hear the coaches talk about their teams, you’d think the conference is going to go 12-0 in the postseason. This is a magical time for fans filled with hope and possibility. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Dr. Arthur C. Bartner, the director of the Trojans Marching Band, will be inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday night. Dr. Bartner has been leading the Spirit of Troy since 1970 and has developed it into one of the most well-known college marching bands in the country.

WeAreSC: How did you find out about the induction?

Bartner: John Hamilton (one of the members of the Hall of Fame board) called me and let me know. The Hall of Fame is something I’ve obviously known about for years, especially since the band plays at every one of them (laughing). My name has always been bandied about, I’ve been on the bubble, but I never got that call. Now I did. And to have it happen under Pat Haden as the athletic director is special. I’m one of the few who was here when Pat was playing so we’ve got a long history together, he’s just a super guy.

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NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- The 42 nominees for the 2012 Lott IMPACT Trophy were announced on Monday at the Pacific Club.

The Lott IMPACT Trophy has been presented each year since 2004 to the college football defensive player who best represents the character traits of Impact, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity.

Named for Pro Football Hall of Famer and USC All-American Ronnie Lott, the award nominates 42 players in honor of Lott’s jersey number.

“Each year we are proud to present a list of college football players who exemplify the things we believe in,” Lott said. “This group is no exception. These young men are terrific players and great role models.”

The 2012 Lott IMPACT Trophy watch list includes seven players who were nominated last year as well: Manti Te'o (Notre Dame), John Simon (Ohio State), Brodrick Brown (Oklahoma State), T.J. McDonald (USC), John Boyett (Oregon), Jordan Kovacs (Michigan) and Brandon Jenkins (Florida State). The 2011 LOTT IMPACT Trophy winner was Luke Kuechly from Boston College.

Several former NFL and college stars gathered on Monday for a luncheon to announce the 2012 watch list.

The first speakers were former Los Angeles Rams offensive linemen Jackie Slater and Doug Smith, who shared memories of their teammate Rich Saul, who passed away recently.

A pair of former NFL quarterbacks -- Jim Everett and Steve Beuerlein -- spoke about the rise of the spread offenses in the league.

Former rival coaches John Robinson (USC) and Terry Donahue (UCLA) spoke and it was mentioned that they played each other 10 times in college, with each coach winning five games. Donahue said he tried to get Lott to be a Bruin and even made a home recruiting trip.

“I have great memories of recruiting Ronnie Lott in high school,” Donahue said. “He was wearing a USC sweatshirt when I came to his home on a visit, I knew right away we were in trouble.”

Lott was the final speaker at the luncheon and he quickly paid tribute to his fellow Trojan Junior Seau, who died last week at the age of 43.

“Junior played the game the right way,” Lott said. “He paid respect to those who came before him and he treated everyone as his buddy. That’s what I think when I look out at this room and see people like Rosey Grier, Marlin Briscoe, Sam Cunningham. Guys who have accomplished so much and who have done it right. We can all do great things and that’s what this trophy is about, it’s about honoring young men who are doing things right, not only on the field but off the field as well. We’re very proud of that.”

The 2012 Lott IMPACT Trophy will be awarded on Dec. 9 at the Pacific Club with former United State Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice as the guest speaker.

Midlands Recruiting Coordinator Damon Sayles sits down with new USC commit Eldridge Massington (Mesquite, Texas/West Mesquite), a four-star wide receiver.

When it was first announced that USC’s Galen Center would be the host venue for the 2012 NCAA Men’s Volleyball national championship, it’s hard to imagine the scene which would take place for the title match.

A vocal and enthusiastic crowd of 9,612 (which is the third largest crowd ever for a college volleyball event) was treated to a fantastic battle between the No. 2 seed USC Trojans -- playing on their home floor – against top-seeded UC Irvine. When all was said and done, the Anteaters had captured the title -- their third in the last six years -- by virtue of a 25-22, 34-32, 26-24 sweep.

Having a three-set match that is decided by seven total points gives an indication of how close things were, even if the Trojans acknowledged UC Irvine as the better team on this night.

"I thought it was pretty clear that UCI was the better team. You have to give all the credit to them,” said USC senior Tony Ciarelli, the ACVA National Player of the Year.

The Anteaters were led by Carson Clark -- who was named the Most Outstanding Player on the All-Tournament team -- as he had a match-high 22 kills. Connor Hughes had 13 kills and Kevin Tillie had 11 kills as UC Irvine defeated the Trojans on their home floor for the second time in nine days, the previous victory coming in the semifinals of the MPSF Tournament when the Anteaters came back from a two-set deficit.

"We're disappointed to come up short in this match," said USC head coach Bill Ferguson. “I wanted to win this match really badly, but if I take a step back and get realistic, I'm unbelievably proud to be here. We were not the most talented team I've had since I've been here, but we worked and grinded and played vollleyball the right way. I thought the level of play was unbelievable. And the fan support for both teams was unbelievable. I don't think there's ever been an atmosphere like that for a national championship game. We took college volleyball to a new level tonight, and that's something we're very proud of.”

USC finished the season with a 24-6 record and has advanced to the NCAA Final Four in three of the past four years under Ferguson. The last USC national title in men’s volleyball was in 1990.