Wednesday's Practice Notes

It was a beautiful day for football practice today, and what made it even more beautiful was the sound of helmets crashing. Today the team wore helmets & shoulder pads in what was supposed to be a day of light contact. Light contact? The only light the players saw was a green light for lighting players up... and that's exactly what happened. Here are a few notes from Wednesday's practice.

• The offensive line didn't impress today, especially in the 11-on-11. The d-line got to the quarterback with ease. There were numerous sacks and a few pass break ups. Hopefully the o-line will show some improvement in the next coming weeks.

• Vidal Hazelton and Vincent Joseph got into a little scuffle today. During a receivers drill Joseph said something to Hazelton that got him pretty worked up. Hazelton called Joseph out and the two went head up on the next drill. After a good pop the two went at and continued to go at it even after Hazelton's helmet popped off. Coach Morton broke it up and called all the receivers and the corners in for quick chat. He told the players that he loved the fire and energy, but doesn't want to see anyone get hurt.

• McKnight was officially introduced to college football today. He's received a lot of praise the last two days, however today he received nothing but pain. McKnight was planted by Kevin Ellison and moments later he was lit up by Will Harris. I think those two hits stuck with him the rest of practice as he ran sideline-to-sideline trying to avoid defenders. Thomas Williams kindly informed him, "That shit don't work here! Not here!" This all comes a day after McKnight was sent flying to sidelines when Terrell Thomas gave him a one handed blow and politely told him, "I don't know who you think your fuckin' with!"
  

• Stafon Johnson was by far the best back today. He looked very shifty and powerful. However after one of his better plays of the afternoon Coach Carroll stopped the practice to call him out in front of the entire team. Apparently after Stafon trucked Vincent Joseph or Will Harris he tossed the ball at them. Carroll yelled, exclaiming that this is not the kind of football we play and that foolishness like that is what will negate good plays.

• Emmanuel Moody got bitched by Michael "Slim" Morgan. Of all the backs Moody looked the least impressive today.

• Marc Tyler, Broderick Green, and Brandon Carswell all participated in today's practice. Not wearing should pads, all three players sported the yellow jerseys. The three looked good, however Brandon Carswell was the most impressive snagging balls over defenders.

• I seem to be seeing more dropped passes by the receivers than usual, even from the sure-handed Patrick Turner and Travon Patterson.
  

• During a receiver drill Josh Pinkard lined up against Patrick Turner. After making the catch the long-armed Turner gave Pinkard a nice stiff arm and took the ball up the field. After the play Pinkard said "I just cant get to him," and he and Terrell Thomas went on to talk about how difficult it is to tackle PT.

• Luther Brown appeared to have injured his right leg. Toward the end of the practice he had his pads off and was limping around the field.

• Freshmen linebackers Chris Galippo and Malcolm Smith both looked impressive today in practice.

Stay tuned for more practice notes as the guys here at USC Sports Talk will try to attend as many practices as our summer work schedules (or lunch breaks) will allow us to.

Fight On!