University Southern California Trojans
Soward, Claridge and Davis Named All-Americans
June 21, 1999 | Football
April 16, 1999
LOS ANGELES -- The pre-season football All-American teams are starting to be announced and three Trojans already have been honored.
USC senior wide receiver R. Jay Soward has been selected to the first teams of the Playboy magazine and Athlon magazine teams. Athlon also selected senior offensive guard Travis Claridge and junior defensive tackle Ennis Davis to its first team.
Soward, a candidate for the Biletnikoff Award, made the Playboy team as a kick returner. In his career, he has scored a touchdown every 6.9 times he has touched the ball (27 TDs on 186 plays), with those scores having come 4 different ways (19 on receptions, 3 on kickoff returns, 3 on reverses and 2 on punt returns). He has averaged 49.5 yards per touchdown. He is eighth on USC's career reception list (110 grabs, including 44 in 1998) and third on the all-time kickoff return chart.
Claridge, who has started all 36 games in his Trojan career, and Davis, who made 47 tackles in 1998 (including a team-high 13 for losses), were All-Pac-10 first teamers last season. Davis is sitting out the current spring football practice while recuperating from January surgery to repair a torn knee ligament, but should be ready to go in August.
These Trojan players will be featured in the magazines when they hit the newsstands later this summer.
