Booty set to start at QB for Trojans - Daily Breeze
As the rain fell, postponing what was supposed to be USC's final day of spring football practice, an air of intrigue settled over the campus.

In 3½ months, the Trojans will open preseason camp with junior John David Booty as the starting quarterback, the heir to a throne held for the past six or so years by two Heisman Trophy winners.

Yet since Booty missed all but the first day of spring drills before being sidelined by a herniated disc that required surgery, freshman Mark Sanchez still has a chance to usurp the crown after three weeks of impressive work.

Which led to some interesting ways for Coach Pete Carroll to express how Booty is the starter and Sanchez is the challenger...

Also, Booty still is No. 1 - LA Daily News
Booty Listed No. 1 at Quarterback - LA Times

[DiTrani] Feast your eyes on these pupils - Bergen Record
On Helix's first snap, quarterback Alex Smith found Reggie Bush with a swing pass, which Bush carried 55 yards for a touchdown.

Yes, that's the same Alex Smith who was the first pick in the 2005 NFL draft by the San Francisco 49ers. And yes, that's the same Reggie Bush who two weeks from today promises to be the first player selected in the 2006 draft by the Houston Texans.

What are the odds of two players from the same high school backfield becoming No. 1 selections in the draft? Astronomical would be putting it mildly. The Manning brothers played at the same high school (Isidore Newman in New Orleans), but not at the same time.

Bush and Smith being among the five finalists for the 2004 Heisman Trophy was amazing enough. But two No. 1 picks in the draft?...

...By the way, Bush also was the Helix punter -- although he rarely kicked the ball. It wasn't often that the offense was stopped...

Will USC supply Steelers with top pick? - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Halfback LenDale White and safety Darnell Bing, two components of Southern California's national champions two of the past three years, will visit the Steelers Monday and Tuesday as the team winds down its interviews on the South Side with draft prospects next week.

Both will be considered as possible first-round draft picks by the Steelers, who will have interviewed as many as 30 players over the past several weeks at their headquarters. The Steelers have the No. 32 choice..

Confidence brims over Trojans QB - Inland Empire Press-Enterprise
...despite spending as much time at USC as Reggie Bush and LenDale White, fellow members of his recruiting class, Booty is still on the young side in college football years...

...With 210 pounds on his 6-foot-3 frame, up from 190 when he arrived, Booty was in the best shape he's ever been in at the start of the spring. And now, post-surgery, with his herniated disc repaired after it set off back spasms too severe to play with, he can't believe how good he feels.

"I just know it doesn't hurt at all anymore, it feels great," Booty said as he looks to two months more of rehab work...

Sartz Regains His Starting Spot - LA Times
Several positions will be undecided when USC releases its end-of-spring depth chart today, but not strong-side linebacker.

Coach Pete Carroll said Thursday that senior Dallas Sartz, a two-year starter who sat out nearly all of last season because of a shoulder injury, regained his spot despite strong play last season by sophomore Brian Cushing, who also is coming off shoulder surgery...

...With a surplus of talented linebackers, Carroll and defensive coordinator Nick Holt have experimented with various alignments during spring drills...

Lott playing it smart with football program - San Bernardino Sun
Ronnie Lott always made a big impact on the football field, dealing out bone-rattling hits as a member of the USC and San Francisco 49ers football teams.

Now Lott, the former Eisenhower High School star, continues making his presence felt, according to an announcement made Thursday. The four-time Super Bowl champion defensive back will serve as chairman of the National Advisory Board for the National Football Foundation's Play It Smart Program...

[Banks] Snap Judgments - CNNSI
...Is USC's LenDale White this year's Maurice Clarett?...

...Maybe the news this week that White has a hamstring tear and won't be able to run much for another month or so will actually help stop his perceived first-round free fall...

...Here's one more key way that White isn't Clarett in USC colors: He won't drop out of the first round, let alone all the way to the final pick of the third round...

White has hamstring tear - Denver Post
...Results of an MRI on White's powerful, but troublesome right hamstring came back Thursday showing a moderate tear near the pelvic region...

...The hamstring tear will sideline the...star until mid-May, which means White will not have a personal workout prior to the April 29 NFL draft and may not be ready for the mini-camp of the NFL team that selects him.

"He should recover fine," Dr. Eldridge said. "He just needs time to heal. But I could see where he would have been in considerable pain had he tried to run."

This is a rare case when an injury brought not bitterness but sweet vindication to an athlete...

...White said he initially felt his hamstring go while working out on a Cybex machine, which measures knee strength, during the scouting combine...

[Syken] Go broke for Bush - CNNSI
...This is the year some team should do "the Ditka Trade." Give it all away. Bundle all your picks -- for a running back. For Reggie Bush.

First, the Texans should be open to trading their first overall pick, because they don't need Bush. Running back isn't their problem. Almost everything else is...

...here's the team I'd really like to see do the Ditka Trade. It's a conservative team for which such a move would be completely out of character, but it's just what they need: Indianapolis. The Colts went 14-2 last year, but somehow they need Bush more than the Texans do...

Palmer's passes first sign of spring - Official Bengals Website
He’s not doing any seven-step drops or sprint-out passes yet, but Pro Bowl quarterback Carson Palmer just throwing the football again on the Paul Brown Stadium turf is a sight for sore eyes.

“Nothing’s changed. His arm is still the same,” said wide receiver Chris Henry, the last man to catch a real pass from Palmer and who has caught some of his first rehab balls the last couple of weeks...

SOY fundraiser ‘a roaring success’ - Whitehorse Daily Star
Ed Hervey has experienced a lot of things in his football career, with eight seasons and two Grey Cups as a receiver for the Edmonton Eskimos under his belt, but the CFL veteran found himself in unfamiliar territory this past weekend.

Hervey was in Whitehorse as a special guest at the Sports Celebrities Festival Dinner Auction, for the benefit of Special Olympics Yukon.

And while helping out in the community isn’t anything new...snowmobiling and bowling aren’t normally on his agenda – at least, not 5-pin bowling...

...“I believe it’s our job to give back to the community. A lot of people helped me get to where I am, so if I can help raise money for a great cause and inspire people, it’s the least I can do.”

Hervey is certainly one of those athletes who puts his money where his mouth is...

Point-counter-point - Who should be USC's QB: Booty or Sanchez? - Daily Trojan
Kevin Merfeld - Point
John David Booty has demonstrated he can stand in as an intern on "Grey's Anatomy" given his three years of practice holding a clipboard.

But believe it or not, that's not all he can do...

Alex Delanian - Counterpoint
Scraggly hair, immense leadership capabilities and confidence to spare. Sound like somebody you know?

Mark Sanchez isn't just the heir to Matt Leinart's throne - he's the next great college quarterback...

Maualuga continues to mature at USC - Eureka Times-Standard
...The engaging middle linebacker with the gentle smile...was honored with the John McCay Award, doled out annually to the Trojan that exhibits the most competitive spirit.

Not Matt Leinart, not Reggie Bush -- Rey Maualuga. Yeah, promising would be a slight understatement.

However, to whom much is given much is expected, and this year, expectations have been exponentially heightened, both in the eyes of the USC coaching staff, and Maualuga's...

..."When the formation is there, without a doubt, I know what to do.”

According to Maualuga, his coaches feel the same, and they have conveyed to Maualuga their desire for him to take his seemingly infinite potential to the next level, and the level beyond that.

”They (the coaches) have to see it, I have to show them how bad I want it,” said Maualuga...

White confident he's "not Clarett" - Denver Post
...While White cringes when compared to Clarett, there's one similarity White wouldn't mind: being drafted by the Broncos. White said he has had limited contact with the Broncos, who have the No. 15 and No. 22 picks in the first round and are in the market for a running back.

"I think I'd fit in Denver great," White said. "The Broncos run a zone attack all day, and that's what I did at USC. Being in Denver would be great with me."...

USC's Justice a confident fellow - Philly Daily News
Assuming they deliver newspapers to the hotel where the Eagles kept this week's visiting draft prospects, there might have been some lively conversation around the breakfast table yesterday morning.

In yesterday's Daily News, Southern Cal offensive tackle Winston Justice said he thinks he's better than Virginia's D'Brickashaw Ferguson, the OT experts project as the top offensive lineman in this year's draft, scheduled for April 29-30.

Well, it turns out that the Eagles' group of visiting prospects included both Ferguson and Justice...

Bulb busting light source invented - The Register
Researchers working on organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) have made a critical jump that could finally call lights out time for the humble bulb. Since OLEDs are transparent when switched off, the prospect is of whole surfaces like walls, windows, or even curtains flooding rooms with brilliant white light.

University of Southern California Professor Mark Thompson said: “This process will enable us to get 100 percent efficiency out of a single, broad spectrum light source.”

The American team's breakthrough was to make OLEDs able to emit the daylight-style white light needed in homes and offices...

One-on-one with Matt Leinart - ESPN
Last month, ESPN.com voters dubbed NFL draft prospect Matt Leinart the Hottest Male Athlete of the Year. With good reason...If they gave out an Oscar for Biggest Man On Campus, Matty would win walking away -- and his impressive armful of lovely lady friends could rival any leading lad's in Hollywood.

Knowing all this, we decided to send our own Mary Buckheit -- Page 2 writer and resident Barbie expert -- to crack the core of this Ken doll and ultimately place the crown upon the deserving tresses of this Man of Troy...

[Schein] Despite 40 brouhaha, don't pass on White - Foxsports.com
...1. I'll take a stance that's been very unpopular in NFL circles over the last few weeks and make the case for LenDale White...

...he is right about his performance on the field; it was nothing short of dominating at USC. His bruising style, combined with shockingly quick feet, will translate into stardom at the next level.

And the result of the negativity of the last eight weeks might just be a large running back with a large amount of talent coming into the league with a large chip on his shoulder...

...2. I really believe White is the second-best running back in the draft behind his former college teammate Reggie Bush...

...3. Speaking of USC players, the third Trojan off the board on draft day, behind Bush and Matt Leinart, will be offensive tackle Winston Justice...

[Finke] The Vultures Are Circling - LA Weekly
...Lovett is truly trying to ape McCormack and grow CAA, à la IMG, into the next giant of the sports-agency business on the broad back of no less than USC megastar quarterback Matt Leinart...

...In recent days, Lovett was the driving force behind CAA’s hiring of three major IMG sports agents, two in football, one in baseball. On one level, it’s a perplexing move into a hypercompetitive arena since sports agenting, especially in football, is taking it on the chin like never before. There used to be 1,100 certified agents in the pigskin business; that number shrunk by 300 after a purge by the players union...

Mike Williams knows there's no excuses now - Ann Arbor News
Mike Williams isn't trying to make excuses for last season and he knows that excuses won't be tolerated this season...

...Williams is slowly getting himself back into shape and hopes to reduce his previous playing weight of 235 pounds to 220.

"Everybody makes me sound so fat. It's more about conditioning," said Williams, who knows that Martz needs speed to run his high-tempo offense. "With Martz, 230 (pounds) doesn't really fit. I want to get down to 220 -- I've got some bets going on. I know you've got to be able to run and you have to be just as fast on play one as play 60 (in a game). If I'm going to be where I want to be personally, and that's be a full-time starter and put up some big-time numbers -- the things I'm expected to do -- then I've got to be in shape."...