University Southern California Trojans
USC Football Begins Spring Practice Thursday
March 06, 2000 | Football
March 6, 2000
LOS ANGELES -- As the 2000 USC football team begins spring practice--which runs 15 sessions from this Thursday (March 9) through April 15--the Trojans are riding some big-time momentum that they hope will carry over into the fall.
Consider:
"Yes, we have some momentum coming into the 2000 season," said Hackett. "This is a very important year for the development of our program. This is the year to turn the corner and become a legitimate contender for the conference championship."
In all, 71 players return from last year's team, including 33 who were on the season-ending 2-deep, 44 who were lettermen and 52 who saw playing time in 1999. The 1999 Trojans went 6-6 overall (all 6 losses were by 10 points or less, a first in USC history) and tied for sixth in the Pacific-10 at 3-5. Troy started off 2-0 and appeared headed to a promising season, but when starting quarterback Carson Palmer went out with an injury in the third game, USC lost 6 of its next 7.
"We're a better team this year than we were in either of the last 2 years," said Hackett. "Our strength will be on defense, where we are deep and experienced. And we have some tremendous skill position players on offense, so we should be okay on that side of the ball if the offensive line continues to develop. As for special teams, this is where I expect us to make a marked improvement, so we can be dangerous there."
USC's defense sports some of the nation's top players. Both returning starting linebackers--Zeke Moreno in the middle and Markus Steele on the weak side--should get some consideration for the Butkus Award. Moreno, Troy's tackle leader in 1999 with 108, will be starting for his third year. Steele, who made an immediate impact in 1999 after transferring from a junior college, topped USC in tackles for losses with 12 last season and was second in total tackles (91). Each found the end zone in 1999, Moreno twice (on an interception and fumble recovery) and Steele once (on a fumble recovery).
The third starting linebacker last season, Sultan Abdul-Malik, has returned now to defensive end, where he started in 1997 and 1998 (he was USC's sack leader both years). He had 27 tackles on the strongside last year. He'll compete with 1999 starting end Lonnie Ford (25 tackles).
Both 1999 starting defensive tackles are back: Ennis Davis, a 1998 All-Pac-10 first team choice who was hampered all of last season while recovering from a knee injury but still posted 31 tackles and 5 sacks (he also returned an interception for a TD), and Ryan Nielsen, who had 39 stops. The other end spot again will be manned by last year's co-starters, Matt Childers (24 tackles) and Shamsud-Din Abdul-Shaheed (22 tackles).
Three starters return in the secondary, including cornerbacks Kris Richard, who led USC in interceptions last fall with 6 (2 were returned for scores), and Antuan Simmons, a 3-year starter who had 49 tackles, 3 interceptions and 3 blocks in 1999, plus safety Ifeanyi Ohalete (84 tackles, team-high 15 deflections, 2 interceptions), who will move from free to strong safety this season.
Other key defensive personnel on the roster are cornerbacks Darrell Rideaux, who started twice last year and made 31 tackles, and Kevin Arbet (13 stops, 1 interception returned for a TD), and linebackers Darryl Knight (17 tackles), a 2- game starter in 1999, and Kori Dickerson (14 tackles), a converted end.
The only defensive starter missing from last season is graduated 1999 All-Pac-10 first team strong safety David Gibson, a 3-year starter who had 241 career tackles (81 in 1999). Aaron Williams, who started 6 times in his career at tackle, is USC's only other significant defensive loss.
Troy's 5 returning starters on offense are 2-year starting left tackle Brent McCaffrey, right guard Zach Wilson, a 1999 Freshman All-American second teamer, center Eric Denmon, 3-year starting tight end Antoine Harris (33 career catches), and fullback Charlie Landrigan (11 catches in 1999).
Two other offensive positions--quarterback and left guard--have players coming back who started a significant number of games in 1999. Palmer, who is 15th on USC's career passing list (169 completions) while starting 8 games at quarterback in his career, started Troy's first 3 contests last fall before breaking his collarbone (he completed 73.6% of his passes in 1999). He was succeeded in the lineup by Mike Van Raaphorst, who started the next 5 games (he was 139-of- 258 for 1,758 yards and 8 TDs in 1999) before giving way to John Fox. Van Raaphorst is USC's No. 9 career passer (with 232 completions and 15 career starts) and he owns the school's single game passing yardage record (415 yards versus Stanford last year). Faaesea Mailo, who has 8 career starts, started 5 times at left guard in 1999 while sharing time with Donta Kendrick.
There are a number of other top offensive performers returning, including young wide receivers Kareem Kelly, the 1999 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and USC's second-leading receiver last fall (54 catches, 4 TDs, 2 starts), Marcell Allmond (14 catches, 2 TDs, 3 starts) and Steve Stevenson (6 catches, 1 start), tailbacks Sultan McCullough, the Pac-10's 1999 100 meters champion (his 10.17 best time makes him the fastest Trojan footballer ever) who ran for 413 yards last season, Malaefou MacKenzie, who has 481 career rushing yards, and Petros Papadakis, who missed all of 1999 with a foot injury after running for 365 yards and a team-best 8 touchdowns while starting 4 times in 1998, guard-tackle Trevor Roberts (3 starts in 1999) and fullback Brennan Ochs (4 career starts).
Among the key losses from the 1999 offensive unit are 2-year starting tailback Chad Morton, USC's No. 8 career rusher (2,511 yards, including 1,141 yards with 15 TDs in 1999) who also is in Troy's all-time Top 25 charts for punt returns, kickoff returns and total offense, 4-year starting lineman Travis Claridge (a 1999 All-Pac-10 first teamer), wide receivers R. Jay Soward, USC's No. 4 all-time pass catcher (161 grabs, including 51 last fall), No. 2 kickoff returner and No. 18 punt returner who scored 32 career touchdowns (averaging 48.6 yards each), and Windrell Hayes, who caught 79 passes in his Trojan career (a team-best 55 in 1999 with 4 TDs), guard Jason Grain (16 career starts, including 5 last season before hurting his knee), tackle Matt Welch (a 1998 starter) and tight end-long snapper Pat Swanson, as well as the previously- mentioned Fox (USC's No. 10 career passer with 220 completions in 13 career starts, including going 67-of-125 for 844 yards and 4 TDs while starting Troy's final 4 contests of 1999) and Kendrick, who started 8 games at guard in his career.
Mike MacGillivray, who has a 39.4 average in his 2-year career (41.4 in 1999), returns as the punter, and David Newbury (11 field goals and 40 PATs in 1999) is back as the placekicker, as is 3-year kickoff man David Bell.
Although USC plays 7 of its 12 games at home, its 2000 schedule begins with a challenge as the Trojans travel to East Rutherford, N.J., to play Penn State in the Kickoff Classic. Beyond that, Troy doesn't have a long road trip, going to defending Pac-10 champion Stanford, 1999 bowl teams Arizona State and Oregon State, and UCLA. Visiting the Coliseum are non-conference foes Colorado (the 1999 Insight.com Bowl winner), Notre Dame and San Jose State, plus Pac-10 opponents Oregon (the 1999 Sun Bowl champ), Arizona, California and Washington State.
"I'm cautiously optimistic about the 2000 season," said Hackett. "If we can build on the momentum we have right now, we have a chance to do well."
RETURNING STARTERS (17)
OFFENSE (5)
OT Brent McCaffrey
TE Antoine Harris
C Eric Denmon
OG Zach Wilson
FB Charlie Landrigan
DEFENSE (10)
LB Zeke Moreno
LB Markus Steele
DT Ennis Davis
CB Antuan Simmons
CB Kris Richard
DT Ryan Nielsen
DE Sultan Abdul-Malik
DE Lonnie Ford
S Ifeanyi Ohalete
DE Matt Childers
DE Shamsud-Din Abdul-Shaheed
(Notes: Childers and Abdul-Shaheed shared 1999 starts, Abdul-Malik started at LB in 1999)
SPECIAL TEAMS (2)
P Mike MacGillivray
PK David Newbury
OTHERS RETURNING WITH CAREER STARTS
QB Mike Van Raaphorst (15)
QB Carson Palmer (8)
OG Faaesea Mailo (8)
TB Petros Papadakis (4)
FB Brennan Ochs (4)
WR Marcell Allmond (3)
OG-OT Trevor Roberts (3)
WR Kareem Kelly (2)
CB Darrell Rideaux (2)
TB Malaefou MacKenzie (2)
LB Darryl Knight (2)
WR Steve Stevenson (1)
LB Kori Dickerson (1)
S Frank Strong (1)
1999 RESULTS
(6-6 overall, 3-5 6th place tie Pac-10)
| 62 | at Hawaii | 7 |
| 24 | San Diego State | 21 |
| 30 | at Oregon (3OT) | 33 |
| 37 | Oregon State | 29 |
| 24 | at Arizona | 31 |
| 24 | at Notre Dame | 25 |
| 31 | Stanford | 35 |
| 7 | at California | 17 |
| 16 | Arizona State | 26 |
| 31 | at Washington State | 28 |
| 17 | UCLA | 7 |
| 45 | Louisiana Tech | 19 |
2000 SCHEDULE
| Aug. 27 | Penn State (at Kickoff Classic) |
| Sept. 9 | Colorado |
| Sept. 23 | San Jose State |
| Sept. 30 | at Oregon State |
| Oct. 7 | Arizona |
| Oct. 14 | Oregon |
| Oct. 21 | at Stanford |
| Oct. 28 | California |
| Nov. 4 | at Arizona State |
| Nov. 11 | Washington State |
| Nov. 18 | at UCLA |
| Nov. 25 | Notre Dame |
