Linebacker Uona Kaveinga has been released from his USC scholarship and will transfer to BYU, Coach Carroll announced this afternoon. Kaveinga, a rising junior from Leuzinger High in Lawndale, rotated in as a backup middle linebacker and special teams player for the Trojans this season.
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Best of luck to you Uona! Good luck to you at BYU....some of us fans and supporters will miss you at USC. Coach Pete Carroll needs to realize that there is an awful lot of good talent that is sitting on his bench. I don't know how true it is but watching the UCLA Bowl game I heard Coach Neiheisel say that he plays underclassmen to gain experience....something that USC Coach Pete Carroll needs to do more of.
I'm sorry Mary, but I have to disagree with you. Pete Carroll plays more underclassmen than most coaches do. That has been the reason that USC has been so successful. Unfortunately for some players they don't get as much playing time as they hope to.
Either way, good luck at BYU Kaveinga....
Carroll plays more true freshman than any NCAA coach in recent memory. Devon Kennard not only played extensively (true freshman), but started. Jarvis Jones, before he got hurt, played extensively (true freshman). And of course, Barkley, the face of the entire program: true freshman. Uona Kaveinga just never made much headway in the program, only sporatically playing on special teams. Waiting, particularly at the linebacker position at USC in the last handful of years, is a must. Rey, Cush, and Clay, all waited behind linebackers named Dallas, Lofa, and Keith Rivers. They paid their dues and learned the position from the best linebacker coach in college football: Ken Norton, and more importantly, learned the defensive scheme. Look at where the four linebackers who left are in the NFL, all starting - STARTING in the NFL - and Cush is a Pro Bowler. It is obvious Kaveinga had other priorities and his capacity to compete was not measurable to the other Trojans in the program. Kaveinga was a middle linebacker and there was no way he was outplaying Chris Gallippo, one of the better linebackers to come into the program in the last 10 years. Just compare Kaveinga to Jarvis Jones or even to Devon Kennard (a defensive end recruit playing outside linebacker!!!!) and his transferring is better for the player and for the program. It gives another scholarship to another potential Trojan linebacker like Hayes Pullard, Jordan Hicks, or Christian Jones. It just thins the linebacking corp, which is already really light and lacks any level of depth with Frankie Telfort being diagnosed with the heart condition, Jordon Campbell hurt, and even Shane Horton hurt this season. USC has two defensive end recruits: Kennard and Greene playing linebacker, which gives you insight into the program needing backers badly.