Mark Sanchez leaves practice with knee injury

Mark Sanchez was carted off the practice field this morning due to an apparent knee injury. Mitch Mustain is the backup quarter back.

Pete Carroll said Sanchez dislocated his kneecap. Rehab will start on Monday and then will be day to day. Other Trojans have had this injury and they were able to come back in 10 days.

Carroll was quoted as saying "We lucked out".

Rumors spred that Sanchez might have been goofing around a bit and may have resulted in the injury. Though it is said now that he went to throw the ball and landed awkwardly to a player, before practice had started.

Hot SC Song Girls

via Busted Coverage, hat tip to Deadspin and hat tip to National Lampoon Splog

SC Song Girl Lindsey Michelle Grubbs (Brunette):

USC Flashback Fantasy Camp with Pat Ruel

Pat Ruel gives these old dudes a hard time.

Mark Sanchez will win the QB job

It appears Mark Sanchez's leadin' the USC QB battle.

LA Times

- The Dude

aside from him getting injured, he's VERY likely to
win the job. Carroll's "it's all about competition"
mantra is sorta bs. It's a great thing and I wouldn't
want him to change it but in these types of situation
he often gives the more senior player the job having
claimed in the past that "it was just the right thing
to do" (like keeping Chauncey Washington the starter
last year when there were easily 3 other backs as if
not more talented than he was).

The more troubling thing is that he hasn't made any
real change to the coaching staff and UCLA's made a
MAJOR upgrade in their staff. I expect that game to be
an actual game this year. It's also troubling that
Sanchez has "more but not all" of the offense down
than Mustain. Mustain not having it down is a little
understandable since he's only been in the O for a
year, but Sanchez has been in the same O now for 3
years. He should have it down pat. Not just "got it a
little better". Sark's an up and coming coach but he
should be answering to a wise veteran who knows how to
organize the big picture stuff. Instead the O is
controlled by a bunch of kids (relatively speaking).

But yeah... expect sanchez to win the job. Mustain had
a huge scrimmage but those who went to the scrimmage
said that mustain got a little lucky and even though
his stats were worse Sanchez looked more in control
and was the "clear leader" of the offense. I'm sorta
pulling for Mustain myself cuz i've heard many a not
so flattering thing about Sanchez. And many feel that
Sanchez'll be given the job til the first loss. But I
do think in the end Sanchez'll have the gig and he'll
do pretty well with it. The O is going to be
interesting this year. If it sucks this year you can
put the blame SQUARELY on Sarkisian's shoulders. And
honestly, i wouldn't be surprised if it was subpar.
McKnight and Allen Bradford (2 rb's have lit it up),
and a WR here or there has done okay (although there's
still no real identity there), but they need a TE to
step up and the OL is patchwork at best. The D is
gonna have to carry this team and they're going to be
replacing their two best DL's and an all pac10 LB in
Rivers. The DB's should be freakin SICK though.

Needless to say i'm expecting a rough road ahead.
While rivals like ND were adding STUD defensive
coaches like Jon Tenuta and UCLA was adding Chow, we
stood pat with a coaching corps that was
underexperienced and had PROVEN that they were (at
best) inconsistent based on the results last year.
Ugh.

SC's 2008 Class Breakdown

So SC's class isn't as good as the past couple years
class. It's still in the top 10 but it's not insane
like it's been in the past. Partially that's because
they don't have a ton of rides and partially it's
because they don't have a QB more than one WR and a
real RB. You don't take big skill position guys and
you don't even really have a chance at a super high
ranking. It doesn't really matter though cuz SC just
about every year has the highest average "star rating"
for it's recruits. This year there's only one team
(Notre Dame) that's better than SC's.

There was really only one big disappointment heading
down the stretch and that was that this kid from
Arkansas who came out to SC a few times decommitted
from SC and switched to Arkansas at the last minute.
He's a WR who SC was likely gonna use at CB but when
Petrino got hired at Arkansas he suddenly wanted to
play WR bad... SC said they'd give him a chance but he
went with the local school in the end. Bummer cuz we
could've used him as a cb (a big need for SC).

The really good news is that the big surprises for SC
were that we landed the top DE in Michigan (this kid
Nick Perry who had 36 sacks his senior year against
good competition. It's a state record. I don't even
know how you get 36 sacks. That's just insane. Plus
he's like 6'4" 250 and has running back speed). THe
other surprise is one of the best CB's in the
nation... A kid named TJ Bryant who hails from Lincoln
HS in Tallahassee... which is about as much of a
traditional feeder program to a school (in their case
Florida State) as you could expect to see. They almost
ALWAYS feed kids to FSU so this was pretty big get for
SC. He's a really good athlete and nearly ideal size
for the type of CB's Carroll likes (6'1" 180 and
fast).

The overall for the rest of the class is as follows...

SC had the biggest need at OL and DL and they
addressed those needs really really well (the party
line on this class is that 'it's not the best class in
the nation but it's the best class for SC's needs'
(which are often two different things).

Ryan Kalil's brother Matt is probably the best OL
prospect in the nation and he's all SC (and a LOT
bigger than his bro at the same stage. Ryan was like
6'1" 255 his senior year. Matt is 6'7" 295).

Tyron Smith is another great OL that SC's bringing in.
He's referred to by some people as "the OL with the 6
pack" he looks like he belongs on American Gladiators
or something. He's 6'5" 270 and he's pretty much all
muscle. He'll need to add some bulk and get up to the
290 range before he can really see the field. He's got
incredibly long arms and he should be one of the best
prospects to come in in this class. He and Kalil are
the two headliners. They also got 3 other OL kids
who're all highly rated.

Daniel Campbell is a big fat kid (6'5" 330) but he's
suprisingly nimble on his feet. He's gotta hit a
weight room bad but he could ber like Deuce Lutui was
for SC if he gets in shape. He's got lots of potential
but if he's a lazy-ass it may hinder his development.

Matt Meyer is another one of the kids who's a good,
big kid and is already in school. Smart kid too.
Turned down stanford to come to SC.

The last OL is Khalid Holmes. He's Alex Holmes (former
SC tight end) brother and is a very good looking guard
prospect.

The guy who probably has the best chance of seeing the
field early is a kid named Blake Ayles. He's a great
TE prospect (maybe the best in the nation) and he
could be a great weapon for SC very soon (his biggest
competition is another good TE prospect named Anthony
McCoy). Tough kid too. I'm hoping he's SC's version of
Zack Miller... a TE who played at ASU a few years back
who was an immediate impact player.

RB/WR/LB/S DJ Shoemate is a versatile athlete and a
real good player who went up against top competition
in southern california (he and Kalil are teammates at
a school called Servite that plays in the toughest
Southern CA league called the Pac-5). He played a lot
of rb and is coming off a foot injury from two years
ago. Personally i don't think he'd make a great RB (at
least not as great as some of the other kids SC
already has). But no one really knows what position he
will play. I thikn he'd make a great safety (athlete
wise at least) or a great fullback but a lot of people
scoff at those ideas. Chris Galippo (the best LB in
the nation who came to SC last year and was a teammate
of Shoemate's at Servite) said "Shoemate doesn't have
a defensive bone in his body". The good news is that
if he is on O he has a lot of skills... he can run,
can run between the tackles, and can really catch.
He's also a great kid and a total team guy. He's been
committed to SC for like two years too.

Brice Butler is a WR from Georgia who i think also has
a really good chance of seeing the field early. If you
watched his hs film next to the average hs WR kids
film you'd noticed how polished this kid looks. He's
got GREAT "dwayne jarrett like" hands and he runs
great routes. He's a lot like Steve Smith but a little
bigger. Not a burner but he's going to be one of those
reliable WR's who our qb's love and who they'll go to
whenever they're in trouble.

On DL SC has 5 kids coming in. The aforementioned
Perry who's the real headliner, Armond Armstead,
Jurrell Casey, Malik Jackson and Wes Horton. Horton is
the one i'm least impressed with. He plays at a very
good HS program (Notre Dame Sherman Oaks HS), but he
seemingly hasn't seen a real weightroom yet. He'll
need a year or two in SC's strength and conditioning
program before he can hit the field if you ask me.

Armstead was a real under the radar guy but he's a
really good athlete (especially for a DT who goes
about 6'4" 290) He's sorta the same height/weight as
Manuel Wright... the DT who played at SC a few years
back. He does have huge man-tits though. It's like he
needs a tit reduction. High motor DL type though and
that's hard to find in these big kids.

Casey is one of the biggest and best DL's in the
nation. THere's sortof a west coast bias against west
coast DL's and for west coast skill position players,
but if you ask me Casey's one of the best in the
nation. He's gonna be our Patterson/Ellis of this
class. Kid has huge, thick legs, he's fast and he
fucks shit up real good for the O. Real strong and
active kid. If you watched him in hs you'd be thinking
'who the hell is that kid? he's gonna be in the league
some day.'.

Malik Jackson is a lean but very good DE. He's about
6'4" 230 so he's gonna have to add some bulk to see
the field but the kid is just a football player. He's
active, tenacious and has a really high motor. One of
the more respected hs football analysts thinks that
he's teh best DL on the west coast but doesn't get the
love cuz his offer's are so minimal (some services
judge how good a kid is based on the prestige and
numbers of offers he gets from schools). But his
offers were low cuz his grades are equally low. He's
probably the biggest worry as far as getting a kid
into school in this class. That said, if he gets into
class and if he adds weight, in a couple years he
could be one of our best DE's. DE and CB are a big
need coming up for SC so it's good to have these guys
in the pipeline immediately.

Like i've said before, the great news is that the '09
class is gonna be sick. That's gonna be the class full
of headliners. SC already has something like 6 of the
top 100 prospects already committed and i think the
next closest school has 2. SC is going to absolutely
clean up next year. UCLA may challenge for a couple
kids and surprise SC fans a little here or there but
this class is already off and running and Matt Barkley
is a huge draw. If we run the table on the top 3 local
WR's (which could happen) people are gonna sh*t.

--DJP

USC Wide Receivers

I miss Smith and Jarrett. Hopefully USC'll get some cool wide receivers soon.

- The Dude

Funny you should mention that Dude...

This weekend, SC had about a dozen or so of the top
local juniors visit unofficially (meaning it was on
their dime) this weekend to hang out with Carroll and
shoot the shit. SC got the top prospect in the nation
for the class of '09 (that's the hs seniors starting
in September), who's already committed to SC (Matt
Barkley) to drop by with some of his fellow class of
'09 committed players and help recruit the kids SC was
trying to lock up.

Carroll is basically throwing down the gauntlet on
UCLA with this move. UCLA sorta got the drop on SC in
recruiting last year by hosting a big 'junior day'
during the summer (SC and UCLA each have em... SC's
last year wasn't that well attended for some reason).
so SC's response is to have a "small" junior get
together this weekend and the results are pretty f'n
positive for SC.

Just from this weekend, they're already rumored to
have committments from two top WR's (Patrick Hall and
De'Von Flournoy (he's not white)... neither of which
were thought of as SC locks (and pretty much everyone
concedes that SC's '09 class is gonna be one for the
ages if all goes according to plan). And another one
(Shaquelle Evans (another kid who's not
white))reportedly getting an offer and thinking pretty
hard about pulling the trigger (Flournoy, Evans and
this kid Rolando Jefferson are basically the top 3
west coast WR's this year... the 4th is actually a guy
SC already has and is likely gonna make into a
corner).

On top of that they also supposedly landed the 2nd
best corner in the nation (Cliff Harris), AND the top
DE in the nation (Devon Kennard) and a top 10 prospect
overall just flew out from Arizona on his own dime to
hang out with SC prospects (this kid had 25 sacks last
year in highschool. dayum!).

Tomorrow i guess a bunch of the prospects will get
together, hang out and watch the superbowl together (a
big secret weapon in recruiting is getting those
really charismatic kids to commit early so that they
do a lot of the recruiting for you (plus there are no
rules to govern them from recruiting like there are
for coaches)). SC's got those kinds of kids in spades
already (Harris, Barkley and TJ McDonald (son of SC
all american and NFL stud Tim) are all workin it
pretty hard). Nothing really helps like having a stud
qb helping you recruit other skill players on O.

On top of the kids who showed up, SC now has two
commitments from teammates (harris and mcdonald) of
another top WR in the west (ronaldo jefferson) AND the
2nd best LB in the nation (vontaze burfict) would've
got his offer and likely would've committed to SC
tonight if he didn't have a prior commitment (we'll
have to see if it pans out. the best LB in the nation
is this Hawaiian kid name Manti Te'o and he's gonna be
at SC this summer... kid is a freakin maniac on the
field). On top of all this, SC is after this WR kid in
Tennessee (marlon brown) who's like 6'5" 210 and plays
like he's 5'10" 180. Very fast and athletic. He's not
a 'southern boy' with shit grades like most of the
kids in SEC country either. He's got an offer from
Stanford... SC's got a decent but not great chance
with him.

The WR class this year is okay (Butler's very good but
who knows if Shoemate'll play WR or not. and they lost
this kid Chris Polk to Washington cuz he wanted to
play RB and SC ain't the place to get that opportunity
right now). But next year should be the
sheeeeeeeeeeeeeit.

SC actually does have a lot of good WR prospects on
it's team right now but the production SUCKED this
past year. All hs kids are rated on the 5 star system.
And while it's not a perfect judge of talent it's a
decent gauge to go off of. Anyhow SC's WR's last year
were Turner (5 star), Hazelton (5 star), Ausberry (4
star) and Ronald Johnson (5 star). There wasn't
another team in the nation that had that high a rated
WR corps. And the production sucked! IMO the arrow of
blame points right towards the coaches.

Still... coming up in the system SC has Brandon
Carswell (4 star), Joe Adams (4 star and maybe a
corner but a good WR nonetheless), Travon Patterson
(3 star but a "surprise") and the name to keep an eye
on... Damian Williams (4 star transfer from Arkansas
but reportedly VERY good). If the WR's don't produce
this next year it's all on the coaches if you ask me.

So yeah, don't worry about SC getting top WR's. Worry
about them being able to develop all of the awesome
talent they get (in short: worry about what the
coaching changes are that SC makes in a month or so).
Tonight was one of the biggest surprise "news nights"
for SC recruiting in a little while. Letter of intent
day is only a couple days away and supposedly SC is
gonna be "surprising" a couple southern schools...
which is always funny cuz southern schools fans flip
their sh*t when they lose to a team that gets as much
media love as SC. They'll be accusing SC of all kinds
of outlandish stuff... like paying players and the
like.

--DJP

Barkley coming to SC

It's been common knowledge for
months that Barkley was going to SC. He told people at
an SC game this year (he's been to SC practices
countless times) when they asked him if he were going
to SC "Is the Pope Catholic?" (he is).

His dad played polo at SC and everyone's known he was
goin to SC. In fact he's been recruiting for SC for a
few months now... and by almost all accounts he's a
great great kid. A great GPA and he does a bunch of
charity work in his own time, he's described as a high
character kid by all his coaches and teachers, etc,
etc... The only question was really when he was gonna
commit to SC.

Some schools prefer to have kids hold off for a while
to do a big public commit or to get other teams to
waste time or recruit them so they can get insight
into how the opposing teams are recruiting against
them. But EVERYONE knew Barkley (the #1 overall
prospect in the '09 class by pretty much everyone) was
all SC.

Football wise he's got a canon of an arm and a real
solid head on his shoulders. He's also been running a
pro style offense in high school since he was a
freshman in highschool (and no one really walks into
Mater Dei and starts as a true freshman... it's one of
the best programs in the nation). I watched him in a
game this past year throw a ball from the endzone,
with a defender draped all over him and who had
completely taken his legs out from under him, 45 yards
on a rope to an open receiver who went for a 90 yard
TD to seal a victory over a top rival highschool. He's
also the first EVER junior to win the National
Gatorade Player of the Year in football. If he gets
good coaching and is in the right system and stays
healthy he's gonna be SICK.

But UCLA shouldn't fret. They've got a really good QB
commit in this years class named Nick Crissman, and
below Barkley there are like 3 or 4 REALLY good west
coast QB's (i'm actually hoping that SC gets another
one of them they're so good).

UCLA may have Chow but SC is the big dog and they have
WAY more talent to put around Barkley that's already
there. Without being impartial, it's the smart thing
to do.