USC football: Up and running
Tailback competition is 10 deep at USC
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In search of a salve for last season's oft-ailing running game, USC is turning to a familiar page in its playbook - Student Body Right. As in, line up a veritable student body of candidates at tailback and everything should be right.
When the Trojans, who are finishing up spring practice this week, return in August, there figures to be a line at tailback that runs 10 deep.
Among the options are three players who last season rushed for 100 yards in a game, another who kept Reggie Bush on the bench for a year, and another who might be the next Reggie Bush.
In all, there will be seven candidates who arrived at USC as Parade All-Americans, generally the most prestigious high school honor.
Nobody was throwing any parades for the USC running game at the end of last season.
Relying on two true freshmen - C.J. Gable and Emmanuel Moody - and a veteran who had missed the previous two seasons with poor grades - Chauncey Washington - the Trojans were solid on the ground for the first half of the season. But they sputtered badly in their two losses, to Oregon State and UCLA, being held below 100 yards for the first time since Notre Dame did it in 2004.
In their Rose Bowl win against Michigan,
the Trojans simply gave up on the run, going 29 consecutive plays in the second half without handing the ball to a running back.
The Trojans ran for the fewest yards - and had the fewest attempts - since coach Pete Carroll's first season in 2001.
Carroll believes there will be more consistency in the running game - and consequently more balance in the offense, which must replace play-making receivers Steve Smith and Dwayne Jarrett - simply because there's more experience.
Gable and Moody combined for 190 carries, and Washington, fellow fifth-year senior Desmond Reed, and sixth-year senior Hershel Dennis - "the guys who have been here eight or nine years," Carroll said - have seen a lot.
Stafon Johnson and Allen Bradford, another pair of highly touted backs, didn't play much as freshmen last year, but they too should have a better understanding of the offense.
"They just are barely holding onto the scope of what's being asked of them in a freshman year," Carroll said.
"Basically, it's an identification of the defense, an ability to pick out the guys they're supposed to block in pass protection, the schemes. That stuff comes so much faster in the second year. The first time around they're worried about their own stuff.
"That's why we try not to overload guys. We try to spot play them, just to get them as far along as we can and then we go into the second year, third year - now you can really load them up."
That formula applies to most freshmen. Whether it applies to one of the summer arrivals, Joe McKnight, remains to be seen.
McKnight, from River Ridge, La., might be the closest thing to Bush. He averaged 15.5 yards per carry, 30.8 yards per catch and scored 30 touchdowns in leading John Curtis High to its third consecutive state 2A championship.
Along with McKnight, another pair of Parade All-Americans is one the way: Broderick Green from Little Rock, Ark., and Marc Tyler from Oaks Christian.
At some schools this might be an embarrassment of riches.
At USC, it provides two things: competition and insurance.
If Saturday's scrimmage at the Coliseum had been the season opener, half the tailbacks would have been out of commission. Tyler is two months from being fully recovered from a broken leg and the four sophomores-to-be were in street clothes: Gable with a sore neck, Bradford with an ailing hip, Johnson recovering from shoulder surgery and Moody with a strained hamstring.
The reminders of their status are not so subtle. After the scrimmage, Carroll noted that "all the young guys fell out of the competition," which he called "interesting." Running backs coach Todd McNair has dubbed the injured quartet "The Fantastic Four."
"He's just messing with us," Gable said. "Nobody likes to be on the sideline watching. I'm just trying to get healthy and get back on the field."
Taking particular advantage Saturday was Dennis, who showed an estimated crowd of 15,000 why he was able to hold down the starting job in 2003 despite the arrival of Bush and LenDale White.
Dennis, who missed the past two seasons after twice tearing knee ligaments, looked quick and elusive despite wearing a left knee brace. Though he played mostly against the second-team defense, he took a short screen pass from Mark Sanchez and went 43 yards for a touchdown, and 22-yard run, 10-yarder on third-and-9.
Afterward he was rewarded with a hug from Carroll.
"I'm just trying to get back in shape and play football again," said Dennis, who is awaiting word from the NCAA on whether he'll be granted a sixth year of eligibility. "It's been a long time for me. It was real important to show everybody, the coaches, I was durable - I could tote the rock a couple times."
Watching from the sidelines and taking mental notes was Tyler.
He also considered Tennessee and Notre Dame, which offered the prospect of more immediate playing time.
"Every school uses that," Tyler said. "SC has all the running backs there, and coach Carroll is leaving for the NFL."
In fact, Tyler says he helped recruit McKnight when they were together at an all-star game. When you go to USC, he says, you know you're going to have to compete for a job.
Still, with this many numbers, isn't somebody likely to transfer, switch positions or find himself staring up a mountain of a depth chart?
"Definitely, somebody's not going to fit in," Tyler said. "But they don't have a big back that can catch the ball out of the back field like I can and can run inside and outside. I know Chauncey's big, but he doesn't do all that."
Despite the differences in age, physique and running style, each in the long line of tailbacks will carry something else when they're handed the football this fall.
"When I get on the field," Tyler said. "Hopefully, I'll be good enough to stay on the field."
billy.witz@dailynews.com
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TROJAN TAILBACKS
NAME, YEAR
Allen Bradford Sophomore
Hershel Dennis Senior
C.J. Gable Sophomore
Broderick Green Freshman
Stafon Johnson Sophomore
Joe McKnight Freshman
Emmanuel Moody Sophomore
Desmond Reed Senior
Marc Tyler Freshman
Chauncey Washington Senior
