University Southern California Trojans
Football Concludes First Week of Practice with Scrimmage
August 22, 1999 | Football
Aug. 22, 1999
IRVINE, Calif. -- In the USC football team's first major game-like action of 1999, tailback Sultan McCullough ran for a pair of short touchdowns and quarterbacks Carson Palmer and John Fox each threw scoring passes to highlight a 94-play intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday (Aug. 21) at UC Irvine as the Trojans concluded their first week of preseason practice.
McCullough, who scored on 1- and 2-yard runs, gained 88 yards overall on 29 carries.
Palmer, who was 9-of-15 overall for 135 yards, hit wide receiver R. Jay Soward for a 65-yard TD, while Fox, who was 6-of-10 for 54 yards, connected with tight end Chad Cook for a 28-yard score. The jack-of-all-trades Fox serves as a backup linebacker, holder on placekicks and third string quarterback behind Palmer and Mike Van Raaphorst (who was 6-of-7 passing for 69 yards in the scrimmage).
USC's only other touchdowns came when cornerback Kris Richard blocked a Mike MacGillivray punt and safety DeShaun Hill returned it 28 yards for a TD and when safety Troy Polamalu wrestled the ball away from tailback Jabari Jackson and ran 14 yards for a score. Soward had an 80-yard scoring punt return called back because of a penalty.
McCullough and Jackson (5 carries for 30 yards and 4 catches for 14 yards) got most of the running workload, as starter Chad Morton was limited (2 carries, 13 yards) because of a tight hamstring, backup Petros Papadakis was out after suffering a broken foot on Friday and reserves Frank Strong (thigh bruise) and Malaefou MacKenzie (hamstring strain) were held out.
Polamalu had a team-best 8 tackles (he also forced another fumble besides the one on which he scored). Linebacker Zeke Moreno added 7 stops. Defensive linemen Shamsud-Din Abdul-Shaheed, Omar Nazel and Anthony Daye each recovered a fumble.
Besides losing 4 fumbles, the Trojans were hit with 15 penalties (9 by the offense) and missed a pair of field goals (50- and 47-yarders by David Bell). The day's only casualties were offensive lineman Trevor Roberts and defensive tackle Bernard Riley, who both suffered ankle sprains that could sideline them for a week.
USC continues practicing at UC Irvine through Aug. 27, then returns to its own campus for a week of preparation prior to its Sept. 4 opener at Hawaii.
USC INTRASQUAD SCRIMMAGE STATISTICS
RUSHING TCB YDS AVG TD LG Morton 2 13 6.5 0 13 Van Raaphorst 3 12 4.0 0 12 Pierson 2 5 2.5 0 4 McCullough 29 88 3.0 2 8 Gomez 8 25 3.1 0 10 Palmer 1 -6 -6.0 0 -6 Jackson 5 30 6.0 0 11 Landrigan 3 5 1.7 0 6PASSING PA PC PI PCT YDS TD LG Palmer 15 9 0 .600 135 1 65 Van Raaphorst 7 6 0 .857 69 0 24 Fox 10 6 0 .600 54 1 28
RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD LG Soward 2 87 43.5 1 65 Jackson 4 14 3.5 0 9 Morton 1 6 6.0 0 6 Pierson 2 16 8.0 0 11 McCullough 2 -2 -1.0 0 3 Swanson 2 26 13.0 0 21 Nickels 2 16 8.0 0 9 Brown 1 7 7.0 0 7 Cook 1 28 28.0 1 28 Stevenson 2 36 18.0 0 24 Kelly 1 16 16.0 0 16 Gomez 1 8 8.0 0 8
PUNTING NO YDS AVG LG MacGillivray 3 140 46.7 55
DEFENSE TAC LS/YDS SAC/YDS DFL FC/FR Nielsen 1 1/5 Ford 1 Abdul-Shaheed 4 0/1 Childers 1 Keneley 5 Nazel 1 0/1 Moreno 7 Abdul-Malik 3 2/7 1/6 Wallace 3 Graham 2 1/1 Prosser 1 Fox 3 Knight 4 Richard 2 1BP Simmons 1 Reese 2 1/6 1/6 M. Fletcher 1 Rideaux 2 2 Gibson 1 Ohalete 2 Morgan 1 Hill 2 S. Fletcher 2 Polamalu 8 2/1 Arbet 5 2/7 1 Shapiro 2 1/4 Ann. Harris 5 Luce 2 Daye 0 0/1
SCORING
Soward 65-yard pass from Palmer (Newbury kick)
Hill 28-yard run with blocked punt
Cook 28-yard pass from Fox (Newbury kick)
Polamalu 14-yard run with recovered fumble (Newbury kick)
McCullough 1-yard run (Bell kick)
McCullough 2-yard run (Newbury kick)
