Countdown to Kickoff: 4 Days

As we continue on our daily countdown towards the 2007 season, we are now just 4 days away from kicking off the season this Saturday at the Coliseum. There's a double-shot of Trojans wearing #4 this season, hard-hitting junior safety Kevin Ellison and the top rated recruit of the 2007 freshmen class in Joe McKnight...

Ellison (above) is arguably the hardest hitter in all of college football (although Patrick Cowan might think otherwise), but is also one of the most underrated players in the country. When people talk about USC's defense, you usually hear about the 10 returning starters or the linebacking corps that many consider the best in the country, but rarely is there ever a mention of Ellison. The Pac-10 knows about Ellison though, just ask Berkeley's DeSean Jackson, who provides stability at safety and is also a team leader.

Freshman tailback Joe McKnight came to USC with aspirations of greatness, but is still trying to grasp life as a college football player. Although he seemed to struggle quite a bit during fall camp, he never wavered or hung his head. McKnight is very talented and offers the USC offense so much versatility, and now it's just a matter of time before he catches up to the speed of the game and feels fully comfortable with the playbook. Hopefully he'll be healthy and ready to go for the Idaho game on Saturday.

Fight On!