Written by Dave Dulberg, USC blog contributor
The first weekend of fall camp is officially in the books...
- The injury list gained two new additions on Sunday as TE Christian Thomas and CB Brian Baucham were held out of practice with injuries to the hip and hamstring respectively. Two of Saturday's casualties, DT Christian Tupou (knee) and CB Torin Harris (concussion), also did not practice. Lane Kiffin said both injuries were not believed to be serious, although the team will continue to run tests on Harris.
- As was the case on Saturday, OL Giovanni Di Poalo (shoulder), OL Cody Temple (back) and DT/LB J.R. Tavai (hamstring) were all sideline bystanders on Sunday as well.
- Freshman Marqise Lee shined on special teams, although not in the return game. Lee's speed and quick hands were put on display as he downed three punts inside the five-yard line.
- Although PK Andre Heidari's conditioning has come into question during the first four days of camp, the freshman made the most of his reps on Sunday. After missing wide left from under 40 yards, Heidari ended his day by knocking in two attempts from over 50 yards.
- Matt Barkley rebounded nicely from his three-interception performance on Saturday. His talented core of WRs and TEs, however, did not. During seven-on-seven drills, six different guys dropped passes.
- Play of the day: On the final play of practice, freshman QB Max Wittek threw a deep fade intended for WR Brice Butler in the back right corner of the end zone. Unfortunately for Wittek, JC transfer Isiah Wiley timed his jump perfectly and made a tremendous leaping grab for the interception much to delight of the entire defense.
- Kiffin once again mentioned the play of freshman RB Amir Carlisle after practice. Among the halfbacks, the head coach said Carlisle "continues to stand out every day." He did however add that any true assessment of the position cannot be made until he sees all of the backs compete in real game situations.
- While Carlisle has gotten plenty of recognition through four days, Curtis "Moody" McNeal (pictured above) excelled in all facets on Sunday. Combined with two long running attempts, McNeal continued to look more and more disciplined in pass blocking schemes as day four rolled along.
- WR Robert Woods has now added another element to his already versatile game, trash- talking. Earlier in camp, Woods and CB Torin Harris got into a war of words. During several occasions on Sunday, the sophomore once again showed off his new gift of gab to the likes of LB Chris Galippo and S T.J. McDonald.
- Woods on his vocal presence: "I just got tired of the defense always out-talking the offense and the offense has always just been quiet and letting it happen. I am just trying to speak up, get the offense in tune and get hyped up when we make plays."
- Kiffin called tomorrow night's 7 PM scrimmage at the Coliseum the first "big test" for this team during fall camp. The inter-squad matchup will feature something that was often missing due to injuries during last year's fall camp, tackling. The scrimmage will be closed to the general public due to the NCAA sanctions.
- Here's the coach after another three-hour affair on Howard Jones Field:
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