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USC Football: Soma Vainuku Beastin On The Weights

Soma is expected to get looks at LB and FB.  Regardless of position, he's going to truck some dudes at the next level.  Thanks to Duke for the link.

Injuries: Jarvis Jones' Career Possibly Over Due to Neck Injury

CLK announced today that Jarvis' career could possibly be over due to a neck injury he suffered last season in the Oregon game. The fact that he announced this publicly definitely isn't a good sign.
The situation is a strange one since the details of the injury have been kept quiet. Some are saying the neck injury revealed a bigger problem/condition.
This is a big loss because 1) Jarvis was a rising star and showed great potential as a freshman and 2) it's yet another hit to our already thin LB corp.
Best of luck to Jarvis.

Position Switch: David Ausberry Possibly Moving to Tight End?

Latest reports have DA practicing at the tight end spot. It may just be a 1-practice thing but it'll be interesting to see if there is a legitimate position switch possibility here.
It would make sense from a necessity standpoint since Rhett Ellison isn't a receiving TE and Blake Ayles continues to have injury issues. Jordan Cameron was recently moved to TE to provide depth but Aus fits the recent mold of receiving TE (i.e. Anthony McCoy/Fred Davis) better than any other player on the team.
It would have been nice to see Aus make this move earlier. He definitely has the frame to become a TE, it just might be too late to get his weight up, learn blocking assignments, etc. Definitely intriguing possibility though.

Transfer: Bryce Brown Officially Leaving Tennessee

Announced this morning that Bryce is officially leaving Tennessee for personal reasons involving his family. The media has speculated that he'll likely end up at either K-State to join his brother Arthur (who recently transfered from Miami) or come to SC due to his relationship with CLK.

Not sure how SC would make sense in this equation since it's no closer to his family. It would make sense from a football standpoint since he'd be eligible to play in 2011 when we have no power back with significant game experience on the roster. Even still I'd be shocked if this actually happened. I think it's a good bet that he ends up at K-state.

Sanctions: Pete Carroll Confident About NCAA Case

From ESPN.com:

"Everything went very well," Carroll said. "I think the university did everything they could to put all of the truth and information out there in front of the committee, and I think everyone there felt good about the process. There are still some issues that need to be determined in the next month or so, but I don't think we could have done any better than what we did."

Carroll says he believes USC will be fine after the rulings are revealed and will be glad when the cloud of suspicion that has been hanging over the football program for the past four years has cleared.

"It wasn't a very difficult process, it was a just matter of validating the information that had already been turned in because we had already done everything we could do beforehand," Carroll said. "There were some questions that the committee asked that I was glad they asked. I was glad I was there to help out because there was some stuff nobody else could have answered and nobody else could have commented on but the head football coach, so I'm glad I was there to contribute and more than anything to help the university.

Good sign.  It's never made sense to me that SC would get sanctioned heavily. There have been far more blatant cases in recent years that have ended up with lighter punishments than what some in the media believe will be handed to the program next month.

My prediction is we forfeit wins and lose a few scholarships.  Nothing major.

Recruiting: Seantrel Henderson Set to Sign With USC on Tuesday

Looks like this roller-coaster ride will finally come to an end:

On Sunday, Henderson’s father, Sean, said that his son will his letter of intent on Tuesday at 2:45 p.m. CST during a ceremony at Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul, Minn. and then fax it to U.S.C.

“It is U.S.C.,” the elder Henderson said in a telephone interview. “There’s no doubts. A hundred thousand, trillion percent, it’s U.S.C. It’s 100 percent.”

...But Henderson said the reason that his son didn’t sign last Thursday was because “there were people that wanted to be there that couldn’t be there.” He dismissed speculation by some that he and his son delayed signing to try to generate more publicity.

With Seantrel signing, that gives USC the top class in the nation for 2010.  Very impressive start for CLK, even though he can't take full credit for the class, he does deserve some credit for keeping the class intact and pulling some major recruits like Seantrel, Nickell Robey, Glen Stanley, etc.

Seantrel is easily the most important recruit of this class.  With Butch Lewis graduating and Tyron Smith likely gone after next year, we will have Seantrel and Matt Kalil to fill out the tackle spots in 2011.  Matt played RT against Boston College in the Emerald Bowl and looked more comfortable at that spot.

Recruiting: Seantrel Henderson Expected to Sign With USC This Week

According to Shandel Richardson of South Florida Sun Sentinel (beat writer for UM). Big news.

Eligibility: Marshall Jones & Hebron Fangupo Given Extra Year of Eligibility

...due to season-ending injuries suffered last year.
Marshall really hasn't been able to get on the field much, but Hebron looked great last year before going down with a broken ankle. This will be huge depth wise.

USC Commitment: Elite 2012 WR Jordan Payton Commits to USC

Jordan will be a junior next season at Oaks Christian. Many already consider him one of the top receivers in the state.
Normally I wouldn't think much of a commitment this early but it appears he follows in the mold of players like Dillon Baxter, Chris Galippo, D.J. Shoemate, etc. who have grown up die-hard SC fans.

LSUFreek: Carson Palmer With Batman & Robin

Link to Ochocinco's "I will be Robin" quote.