Trojans still lack one thing
LOS ANGELES — They have a shiny new national championship trophy. A Heisman Trophy favorite. A dominating defense. A top-notch recruiting class.
It’s nice to be a part of the USC Trojans these days.
But the first question asked of head coach Pete Carroll when he met the media for the first time this season on Wednesday had nothing to do with what he already has. It had everything to do with what he might get back.
“Coach, what’s the situation with Mike Williams?”
Williams, who left USC in February after his sophomore season for the NFL Draft only to be rebuked when the NFL’s early-entry draft rules held up in court, is still in the process of applying for reinstatement to college football. Carroll said he expects to find out the NCAA’s decision regarding the 6-foot-5 wide receiver around August 10, a week after the Trojans start their fall practices. If the All-American is allowed back, it will eliminate any concern about USC wideouts this fall.
“Mike’s situation is an ongoing process and has been for quite some time,” Carroll said. “Mike has done everything exactly the right way in terms of following his opportunities that were presented to him. He has worked very hard to stay in compliance.”
Williams decided to bolt for the NFL as a sure-fire first-round draft pick when a lower court opened the door for Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett to leave before the NFL’s required three-year gap between high school graduation and professional eligibility. But after Williams left school — and hired an agent — another court ruled in favor of the NFL, leaving Williams in a lurch. Without Williams, quarterback Matt Leinart would be throwing to a talented but untested receiving corps.
“We have been a program that has been reliant on big numbers from our wide receivers,” Carroll said. “I feel very strongly that everything is in order for Mike to be reinstated by the NCAA and we look forward to that happening.”
Book it
The Pac-10’s head coaches weren’t in Los Angeles just to meet the media. They also gathered for a meeting with Pac-10 coordinator of football officiating Verle Sorgen, who went over the tweaks and twists added to the rulebook for 2004. Most notable among the changes:
•The number of a player committing a penalty will be announced by the referee over the public address system, something previously done only in the NFL.
•Video cameras for TV broadcasts suspended by wires will be allowed over the sidelines, though not over the field of play.
•Head coaches will be allowed to call timeouts themselves; in the past they had to send a player onto the field to do so.
•Five new specific acts have been added to the list under unsportsmanlike conduct — imitating throat slashes, diving into the end zone unopposed, spinning the ball, taunting (the word itself had never appeared in the rules) and ridiculing. Furthermore, if anyone receives two unsportsmanlike penalties in a game (even if separated by three quarters), he will be ejected.
Perhaps not surprisingly, some of the changes were greeted with plenty of ridicule, especially the decision to make public a player’s on-field indiscretions. Sorgen responded to the coaches’ criticisms by suggesting that the change would eliminate the instance where a TV announcer would circle an innocent player on a replay, thus heaping blame on the incorrect person.
Last not least
Washington head coach Keith Gilbertson rattled off the line of the day, referring to recent turnover in the administration. “I was the head coach of Idaho for three years, had three athletic directors,” he said. “I was at California four years, had four athletic directors. And now I’ve been at Washington one year, and I’m on my third. So if you’re an athletic director, I just want you to know, I’m a carrier.”