The "other" Southern California running back available in the NFL draft, LenDale White, looked like a potential top 10 pick less than three months ago, but could be slipping far enough to be in serious consideration for the Carolina Panthers with the 27th overall selection.
...There isn't a more talented team in America with a who's who of high school all-stars brought in by Pete Carroll. It's hard to fall too far when you have the best recruiting class in the country two years in a row. But there are big things to worry about...
...there's hope for the explosion to continue, albeit to a lesser degree, thanks to the nation's best receiving corps, a good foundation on the offensive line with tackle Sam Baker and center Ryan Kalil, and more high school All-America prospects than one team should have...
Preview 2006: Trojan defense - College Football News
...Joey Pulford of Redondo Beach hasn't touched the ocean since the day he crushed his spinal cord in July 2000, leaving him confined to a wheelchair at 16 years old.
Pinkard faces surgery - LA Daily News
Walker Lee Ashley arrived at USC a year later than expected, but the freshman defensive lineman is beginning to make an impression.
..."You gotta bounce back," offensive tackle Sam Baker said. "You can't dwell on the past. That happens in the Super Bowl, too. All the [losing] teams in the Super Bowl struggle the next year. That's not going to be us. We're going to go back and work just like we've always worked. It's really not about one game."
...Perhaps White's refusal to run the 40 was not a direct reaction to his disdain for such a system, but I do know from our very brief conversation on Sunday that we share the following three-word mantra: Film doesn't lie.
Can't-miss Bush makes choice easy - Houston Chronicle
Southern California tailback Hershel Dennis, who entered spring practice No. 1 on the depth chart, has torn ligaments in his left knee and is expected to miss the 2006 season.
Carr getting up to speed in Houston - USA Today
...Who Wouldn't Want To Play Football At USC? Like the most beautiful supermodel in the world, USC picks whom they want, and not the other way around. And that's the way it should be. I could never figure out how the USC program could ever fall into disrepair. Being a New Jersey, football-obsessed football guy I always felt that USC was the place to go if you were a hot high school football recruit. Heck, if you were ANY kind of recruit. The weather, the cheerleaders, the school, the girls, Hollywood, the girls, the film school, the girls...you get the idea. Pete Carroll has the best job in all of sports and he is doing a great job at making the job even better...
Tuesday Question - College Football News
...Although the Trojans could have as many as six players selected in the first round on April 29, the lone defensive player with a chance to be a No. 1 pick is safety Darnell Bing, certainly regarded as one of the lottery's premier prospects at his position. But after Bing goes off the board, likely in the second half of the first stanza, it could be a while before another Southern California defender hears his name called...
Since 1970, Southern California has supplied 17 first-round offensive linemen to the NFL draft. But the Trojans haven't had a first-round blocker since 1996 and none of note since 1995...
Picture for a moment that you are Reggie Bush... star running back/tailback/wide reciever for the USC Trojans; soon to be top pick in this year's NFL draft.
...If you were a potential recruit in the stands at the Cromwell Field track as players participated in the 40-yard dash, or among those who ringed the field at the Howard Jones practice facility as quarterback Matt Leinart threw passes to tight end Dominique Byrd, you couldn't help but notice familiar faces such as Casserly. Or head coaches John Fox of Carolina and Jeff Fisher of Tennessee. Or prominent player agents such as Joel Segal, David Dunn, Eugene Parker and Leigh Steinberg.
...Ballots for the 76th annual Sullivan Award were sent out this week by the Amateur Athletic Union to AAU officials, U.S. Olympic Committee members, college sports information directors and others...
...USC linebacker Collin Ashton came through with a very respectable 25 reps of 225 pounds and ran a 4.67 in the 40-yard dash. Those numbers put him on par with Iowa's Chad Greenway, a projected first-round pick...
Reggie Bush, a favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft this month, has signed his first major endorsement deal with Subway Restaurants...
Differences might be a matter of time - LA Daily News
...About an hour into the practice, Dennis caught a short pass during a noncontact drill and attempted to cut to his right. His left knee gave out and he fell to the ground...
START OF BIG THING? - NY Post
...Boone had four hits and four RBI, stole a base, made a diving stop at third base and leveled White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski in a collision at home plate. Westbrook allowed two runs in 6 1/3 innings, and relievers Rafael Betancourt and Guillermo Mota retired the final eight batters...
Bush still in the mix for Titans - Nashville Tennessean
Thousands of Longhorns fans and Texan season ticketholders will have a burr in their saddles over the snub of Rose Bowl MVP quarterback Vince Young, but so what? Drafting Bush not only is the safe decision. It is the logical, prudent one.
...Swann, 54, doesn't so much work a room as prance through it:...He stutter-steps in and out of conversations in 15 seconds or less, but never seems in a rush. Swann has mastered the art of Being a Famous Guy...
...Approximately 100 coaches, scouts and executives witnessed USC's pro day Sunday. Even for those experienced, jaded evaluators of talent, it might have been a historic day.
Fan Q&A: Keary Colbert - Official Panthers Website
...Now the 49ers must turn to the draft for an upgrade to their secondary, and many believe they are looking to land Bing with their second-round selection, the 37th pick overall.
Drowning in e-mails about cheap interest rates, international lotteries, and working from home, the tangible material on the desk was a welcome respite.
...White has gotten huge, too, but not in a good way. White weighed in at 244 pounds, which is six pounds heavier than he was at the NFL combine about a month ago. It wasn't quite as big as he was at the Rose Bowl when he admitted he was over 250 pounds because of poor eating habits over winter break.
As the 2005 college football season was winding down, there were some outside observers of the USC team who believed a good case could be made that LenDale White was actually a better NFL prospect than teammate Reggie Bush, Heisman Trophy aside.
With Houston Texans coach Gary Kubiak and general manager Charley Casserly in attendance, Trojan tailback Reggie Bush took one step closer to becoming the No. 1 overall draft pick during USC Pro Day Sunday.
...Although a crowd of nearly 3,000 (including about 200 recruits USC coach Pete Carroll brought in Sunday) cheered Bush running the 40-yard dash in 4.33 seconds, it was slightly slower than he hoped.
...USC coach Pete Carroll made a point of all but broadcasting this one. He held the event on a weekend, encouraged fans to attend and had it coincide with Junior Day, the football program's open house for high school recruits.
Leinart's Broadway audition - NY Daily News
...It was an afternoon for Winston Justice's scrapbook — and one for LenDale White's scrap heap.
..."I had been watching 'SC since I was a child and when I went on my recruiting trip I felt like that was the place I really needed to be," Bing said.
...The biggest surprise to the more than 150 scouts and NFL personnel watching, however, was Bush's ability to complete 24 repetitions on the 225-pound bench press. That beat the majority of his teammates, many of whom are bigger than him...
...“I think a lot of people were worried about arm strength. I think he answered that question,” said Chow, who spent three years at USC with Leinart before jumping to the Titans last year.
Sophomore Troy Van Blarcom arrived at USC as the heir apparent to kicker Ryan Killeen but it appears more likely he will replace All-American punter Tom Malone.
There may not be an NFL team in Los Angeles, but the league certainly will have a major presence there Sunday, when USC holds its pro-day workouts...240x160.jpg)
... When USC holds its pro day today on campus, it will be - like most things that involve the Trojans these days - an event.
