University Southern California Trojans
USC Football Conducts Intrasquad Scrimmage
August 13, 2000 | Football
Aug. 12, 2000
LOS ANGELES-- USC tailback Petros Papadakis rushed for a pair of short touchdowns and quarterback Mike Van Raaphorst threw a 6-yard scoring pass to tight end Gregg Guenther to highlight an 84-play intrasquad scrimmage before 1,000 fans on Saturday (Aug. 12) at its UC Irvine training camp as the Trojans concluded their first week of pre-season drills.
Papadakis, who missed the entire 1999 season with a serious foot injury, rushed for 40 yards on 7 carries, including a 32-yard burst. Tailback Sultan McCullough had a game-best 85 yards on 12 tries, including a 48-yard run, while fellow tailback Malaefou MacKenzie added 35 rushing yards on 7 attempts.
Quarterback Carson Palmer, who missed the last 9 games of 1999 with a broken collarbone, completed 8-of-14 passes for 135 yards, including a 48-yard toss to wide receiver Marcell Allmond. Van Raaphorst, who has 15 career starts, was 6-of-7 passing for 50 yards, while freshman Matt Cassel hit 4-of-12 throws for 33 yards.
Guenther, a 6-8 freshman, caught 3 passes for 42 yards.
USC, which struggled in the kicking and punting area in 1999, also ran 25 extra field goal and punt plays during the scrimmage. David Newbury, who was inconsistent last year as Troy's placekicker, hit 4-of-5 field goals, with a long of 47 yards. Freshman John Wall was 3-of-5 and David Bell was 1-of-5. Punter Mike MacGillivray averaged 53.0 yards on his 5 boots, with each punt traveling more than 50 yards.
Defensively, safety DeShaun Hill and linebacker Darryl Knight had 9 tackles each, linebacker Aaron Graham had 8 stops and freshman safety Matt Grootegoed made 7 tackles and caused a fumble. Safety Kevin Arbet returned an interception 18 yards. The Trojans blocked 4 punts and a field goal, with fullback Lee Webb knocking down 3 field goals.
A number of Trojans sat out the scrimmage with minor injuries, including linebacker Markus Steele (hamstring), defensive tackles Ennis Davis (knee), Ryan Nielsen (shoulder) and Shamsud-Din Abdul-Shaheed (hamstring), safety Troy Polamalu (concussion), tight end Antoine Harris (hamstring), wide receivers Kareem Kelly (knee strain) and Steve Stevenson (hamstring), and offensive guard Trevor Roberts (foot sprain). All but Roberts are expected to resume practicing on Monday.
"We still have a long way to go," said third-year USC head coach Paul Hackett. "But we've gotten in a solid week of work and this scrimmage was the culmination of that. Today, we put the team in an atmosphere of pressure and competition where they had to perform. For the most part, they did well. Overall, I'm happy with the scrimmage.
"Offensively, the highlight was the running. The passing was okay, although the tight ends made some nice plays. The defense started really fast and battled well, considering they were missing so many players.
"All things considered, while we have a ways to go, I'll sleep well tonight."
USC has two weeks remaining before it opens its 2000 seasons on Aug. 27 against Penn State in the Kickoff Classic in Giants Stadium.
"We have a big mountain to climb against Penn State," said Hackett, "but we're off to a good start."
