TrojanNYC.com

Shareece Wright Ruled Academically Ineligible for 2009/2010 Season

From LATimes.com:

"Shareece didn't get it done," Coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "He didn't get the GPA he needed to get."

Wright, a redshirt junior, sat out last season with a neck injury. He had been projected as a starter. That job will now go to Josh Pinkard, who will move over from safety.

Very disappointing news.  Shareece, who sat out most of last season with a neck injury, was poised to have a big season.  He's been our best overall corner (perfect compliment to Kevin Thomas who's more of a straight cover corner) in his ability to play tough in bump-and-run and make plays in the flats.

Shareece's academic troubles go as far back as his days at Colton HS.  During his recruitment, the coaches slow played his offer because there were questions about whether he would qualify academically. Disappointing to see his academic troubles resurrect in what many expected to be his breakout year.

If there is a silver lining here, Shareece will likely (although it's no lock) come back for his final year at SC. It would make sense since his stock will inevitably drop and the questions of whether his neck injury can withstand a season of football will linger.

From a depth standpoint, thankfully, the defensive backfield is the deepest squad on the team; an area where we go a legit 3-deep.  The starting line-up will be Kevin Thomas who'll remain the main cover guy, Josh Pinkard will move to the opposite CB spot from FS, Will Harris will play SS, and Taylor Mays will move back to his original position at FS.

In reserves, you got T.J. Bryant who can step into the starting spot immediately, Marshall Jones and Brian Baucham who are also game-ready, and the freshmen duo of Torin Harris and Byron Moore Jr. who exceeded all expectations during Fall camp.

This group is still tops in the Pac-10, but nationally, you have to give the full nod to Florida now with Janoris and Joe Haden as better cover guys and Will Hill and Major Wright as equally impressive as a group compared to Taylor and Will.

Shareece Wright Avoids Jail Time; Pleads No Contest to "Disturbing the Peace"

From OCRegister.com:

USC defensive back Shareece Wright will avoid jail time after pleading no contest to disturbing the peace in San Bernardino Superior Court on Thursday in an incident at a Colton party broken up by police last Labor Day weekend.

As part of a plea agreement, Wright pled no contest to disturbing the peace,  a misdemeanor, his attorney Carlos L. Juarez said. Wright will be on one-year court supervised probation, fill pay a $456 fine and perform 200 hours of community service. Upon completion of the community service the charge will be reduced to a citation and eventually removed from his record, Juarez said.

Glad people see through this "disturbing the peace" nonsense (check the comments in the article above). First, they tried to charge Shareece with "resisting a police officer" even though he was never arrested the night of the incident.  How often do you resist a police officer and not get arrested?  Then the DA lowered the charge down to a misdemeanor trying to get Shareece to accept a 90-day jail term; of course Shareece's lawyers didn't budge.  Now they've reduced the charge down to "disturbing the peace" which will eventually be a citation when all community service are completed.

So, again, this case went from a felony charge all the way down to a citation. What a waste of time for all parties involved.

Shareece Wright Declines Plea Bargain Offer by San Bernardino County District Attorney

From LATimes.com:

Wright, 21, continues to decline a plea bargain offer by the San Bernardino County district attorney that would drop the charge to a misdemeanor but leave him responsible for a 90-day jail term that could be served on weekends.

"We don't think there should be any consequence to this other than maybe community service," Wright's attorney, John Vega, said after the hearing before San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge John N. Martin. "We're not in agreement that he serve any time for this."

This is a bizarre case.  To refresh your memory, Shareece went to a friend's going-away party back in his hometown because his friend was being shipped off to Iraq; neighbors complained that the party was too loud so Colton police arrived to break it up and ended up arresting 3 of Shareece's friends.  Shareece was taken into the police stations for questioning but ultimately let go.  

All the ruckus was settled until roughly a week later, when the District Attorney charged him for resisting arrest, which begs the question, why was Shareece charged for resisting arrest yet not arrested at the scene?

Seeing the progress of this case, the charge against Shareece looks shaky. Bottom-line, we know Shareece didn't actually assault or resist an officer otherwise he would have been arrested along with his friends.  So what does that leave?  Something minor, which is why Shareece's attorney is calling the DA's bluff.  No one is going to serve a 90-day jail term over this type of nonsense. Stuff like this happens every weekend.  

Hopefully this blows over so Shareece can go back to knocking heads.

Injury Update - Notre Dame Week

Here's the update:

• John David Booty - Threw with a glove today and looked better than expected.  Could possibly play this Saturday but will likely play a back-up role. 

• Rey Maualuga - Listed as doubtful due to hip pointer.  Thomas Williams would start in place of Rey. 

• Brian Cushing - Coaches are playing it cautious in bringing Cush back due to him reaggravating his ankle injury already.  Likely won't start but might put in some minutes on Saturday. 

• Stafon Johnson - Listed as day-to-day for a sprained foot. 

• Shareece Wright - Practiced today and stated he'll play on Saturday.  Shareece will back-up Terrell Thomas who also has a hamstring injury. 

• Sam Baker - Stated he wants to play on Saturday, but is listed as doubtful due to hamstring injury.

• Chilo Rachal - Expected back today, but is likely day-to-day.   

And amazingly that's the short-list...

Shareece Wright's Hit on Jake Locker

Here's the video:

Loved the hit despite the penalty.

Another Injury Update

 

Here's the updated list:

• Kristofer O'Dowd - Will have arthroscopic surgery for a dislocated kneecap and is expected to be out for 3 to 4 weeks. 

• Chilo Rachal - Sprained knee ligament and is expected to be out 3 to 4 weeks as well.

• Alatini Malu - Strained hamstring and is day-to-day. 

• Stafon Johnson - Deep bruise in his foot.  Probably will take practices off this week and be back for the game on Saturday. 

• C.J. Gable - Groin injury that has been lingering for a while now.  Not clear whether he'll be back for the game Saturday. 

• Cary Harris - Practiced today and might possibly play Saturday.  Doctors and coaches will probably tell him to rest till Arizona. 

• Shareece Wright - Hamstring strain will probably keep him out of this week's game.  Might be back by Arizona. 

• Travon Patterson - Needs surgery on foot and will be out the rest of the season. 

Very good news regarding Kristofer.

Injury Update - Washington

Here's the damage from last night's game:

• Kristofer O'Dowd - Dislocated Kneecap

• Chilo Rachal - Sprained Knee

• Alatini Malu - Hamstring

• Shareece Wright - Pulled Hamstring

• Stafon Johnson - Foot Injury (minor)

Flat out ugly game in every way. 

TNYC Fall Scrimmage Report

Watched the scrimmage today and these are the things that jumped out at me:

• Best Player:  Stafon Johnson
  
  • I was going to say a tie between Stafon and Chauncey, but I really liked the way Stafon hit the holes.  When Stafon scored his 2nd TD, you saw a little bit of everything:  setting up a block, nice cut/burst, and great vision.  Credit to C.J. Gable for his performance last season, but in my mind, Stafon is clearly the #2 tailback. 

• Biggest Surprise:  Brandon Carswell
  
  • Ran very nice routes and showed great hands on a few catches. 

• Biggest Disappointment:  Patrick Turner, Fred Davis, and JDB
  
  • Patrick Turner was nonexistent the entire scrimmage.  I saw him suited up and on the field, but I don't recall him being in any play. 
  • Fred Davis dropped a few balls that hit him square in the chest.  To me that's disappointing considering he's an All-American candidate and starting senior. 
  • I know Coach Carroll praised JDB's performance and his stats look good on paper, but his incompletions were all balls that could have been intercepted.  He had one pass where he nearly the WR/TE in the back.  He rushed another pass to Anthony McCoy.  He forced a throw on a post route to David Ausberry that would have been intercepted by an above-average CB.  Am I saying JDB is a bad QB?  No, but I still think he's an average QB when pass protection is anything less than par.

• Play of the Game:  Allen Bradford's 30 Yard Run
  • Yeah, I know Stafon's run where he sped down the sideline and cutback to the middle was exciting, and I also know Vidal's TD catch where he had to readjust and make a leaping grab was great as well, but none of them came against the 1st team defense.  The way Allen made Rey miss in the backfield and then turned it up a gear and sped past Kevin Ellison for a 30 yard gain was outstanding. 

• Overlooked Play of the Game:  Taylor Mays closing the gap on Allen Bradford
  
  • I've seen no mention of this play.  Allen took the handoff going left and made a great cut in the opposite direction that literally opened up an entire side of the field.  As he sped past the outside DE/LB, Taylor Mays came racing in, cut the angle, and took Allen down.  I think Allen gained less than 10 yards on that play, but it should have been a 15+ yard run.

• Most Embarrassing Play of the Game:  Ronald Johnson's Kick Return
  • So RoJo hesitates and drops the ball but luckily it doesn't get away from him.  He then runs laterally and shows nice burst up the middle and towards the sideline.  All that stood before RoJo and the end zone was Joe Houston and Thomas Williams (same team).  Instead of racing away from Joe by continuing up the sideline, he decides to cut back towards the middle of the field, which confuses Thomas Williams causing him to run right by Joe and he ends up being tackled.  If you didn't know already, Joe Houston is a KICKER. 

• Straight Beastin':  Sedrick Ellis
  
  • Did his usual job of clogging the middle, but what really impressed me was his ability to run down Allen Bradford and prevent him from turning up field.  You could see the two jawing at each other from the several run-ins.

• Other Random Thoughts:
  • Desmond Reed should be the punt returner.
  • I'm not sold on Vincent Joseph being the kick returner.  Yes, he averaged 20+ yards on his returns, but he also made several bad decisions (e.g. choosing to try and leap frog Cary Harris and nearly coughing up the ball in the process). 
  • Shareece Wright would have had the hit of the day, if he was allowed to hit the QB. 
  • At the moment, I think Josh Pinkard deserves to start over Taylor Mays.  He showed great coverage one-on-one. 

Overall, I came away impressed with the team.  I don't think we'll be as dominant as some people are claiming, but we are definitely NC caliber.