Trojans’ secondary a growing concern


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Someone is the hero and someone is the goat in spring practice. Someone enjoys success at another’s expense. And through three weeks of spring ball for USC, that message largely rings true. At present, the Trojans’ collection of receivers is playing the role of hero. The receiving corps shined during Saturday’s 52-play scrimmage at the […]

Toughness is key for Trojans


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High-profile athletes take a lot of barbs during their careers — both warranted and unwarranted. But perhaps no insult gets tossed about more recklessly by armchair fans than the “soft” label. And, unfortunately for the players, when the label gains momentum, it often sticks. We’ve all seen it: the receiver who alligator-arms a pass in […]

What’s the wait with USC coaching search?


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It’s been 16 days since the USC men’s basketball team’s season ended in the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas against a terrible Utah team at the Pac-12 tournament. The Trojans, who had been playing well under interim head coach Bob Cantu, stumbled toward the finish line, losing five of its last seven games. […]

Barkley deserves a first-round draft status


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Wednesday’s pro day has come and gone, and with it the bulk of the gauntlet that is NFL draft preparation is now, for the most part, finished. Sure, interviews and private team meetings remain, but for Matt Barkley and the rest of the USC prospects, the case has been made as to where they deserve […]

What if USC made it to March Madness?


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What if USC had made the NCAA tournament? A silly hypothetical, I know. The Trojans were nowhere near qualified enough to make it to March Madness. They were an average basketball team at best, with an interim coach at the helm to boot. But it’s the last week of March — we have Cinderella teams […]

USC can’t remain absent in March


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Following UCLA’s 83-63 loss to Minnesota in the opening round of the NCAA tournament on Friday night, USC redshirt junior forward Ari Stewart tweeted the following: “UCLA about to be right back in L.A. with us,” he said. On the one hand, it served as an entertaining, harmless jab at the Trojans’ crosstown rival, which […]

USC defense must blend old with new


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Every year, across the country, the same thing happens: Schools hire a new head football coach or new assistants. Once spring practice starts, the new schemes and playbooks that each new coach brings are proclaimed to be so much better than those that came before. Sure enough, early returns on new USC Defensive Coordinator Clancy […]

Men’s basketball won’t make noise in tourney


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The Pac-12 tournament is here. For USC and a handful of other teams, it represents a last-ditch effort at a Cinderella run to March Madness. For the five squads currently in position to make the NCAA tournament — the Arizona Wildcats, UCLA Bruins, Cal Golden Bears, Colorado Buffaloes and Oregon Ducks — it’s basically bracket […]

Sunday’s melee gives USC black eye


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Let’s put it this way: If you notice athletes prominently featured on Deadspin on a Sunday, they probably aren’t featured for any philanthropic reasons. It isn’t because they visited a downtown Boys & Girls Club. And it isn’t because they hosted an anti-crime campaign insisting people should “shoot baskets, not guns,” or anything like that. […]

Kiffin gambles with moving Tuerk to center


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For all of his detractors who grumble about his predictable, cautious play-calling, no one can accuse USC head coach Lane Kiffin of not thinking outside the box in other ways. Of course, a great deal of that thinking has been controversial and not exactly aboveboard. News broke just last week that NCAA will institute, for […]