USC getting some bad press from SI.com.
Flying solo
Problems grow during USC off-season
Posted: Friday April 22, 2005 1:01PM - written by Arash Markazi
You know that feeling you get when a couple of members of your favorite band start coming out with solo records? They're not officially done, but everyone knows it's a matter of time before things come crashing down and they break up. I'm starting to get that same feeling about the USC football team.
First, you had half the coaching staff, including offensive coordinator
Norm Chow, leave the team in the off-season. Then you had starting cornerback
Eric Wright getting arrested for allegedly raping someone at a frat party attended by 10-15 other players. Although
charges were dropped, it's never a good sign to have your starting cornerback sitting out of spring ball because of legal problems.
More news trickled out of 'SC last week. There was a fight between receiver
Steve Smith and tight end
Dominique Byrd over money Smith owed Byrd that resulted in Byrd
getting a broken jaw. The scuffle took place in the players' apartment after the two were playing video games and resulted in this classic exchange that would put any
Jean-Claude Van Damme script to shame.
SMITH: You know Byrd ... I really don't want to fight you.
BYRD: Nah, we've got to.
(Smith swings and breaks Byrd's jaw)
While head coach
Pete Carroll has been optimistic his team can overcome the losses and turmoil, it may be easier said than done. As spring practice wrapped up last week there were serious doubts that Byrd, running back
LenDale White and defensive linemen
Frostee Rucker and
Manuel Wright would be academically eligible to play this season and they were all listed
at or near the bottom of their position lists on the end-of-spring depth chart. Carroll went so far as to say, "It's going to be a challenge to get all the guys back," and Wright has already explored the option of entering the NFL supplemental draft.
With the actual NFL draft taking place this weekend, you have to wonder if
Matt Leinart wishes he would have skipped all this drama and taken the guaranteed money that would have come with being the No. 1 pick. Apparently, all Leinart needed was a
promise from a team holding a top pick that he would be their guy and he would have been in New York this weekend.
•
Cock Fighting -- Southern Cal isn't the only USC having problems off the field this off-season. Two South Carolina football players were
arrested last Sunday and charged with marijuana possession, raising the total number of Gamecocks arrested since the end of last season to 11. This came on the heels of coach
Steve Spurrier poking fun at Tennessee for having more off the field problems than his squad. Isn't that like
Carrot Top poking fun at
Pauley Shore for having more box office flops?