USC-Idaho preview
LOS ANGELES -- Everson Griffen had to think for a minute. What was the biggest crowd USC’s fast new pass-rushing end has ever played before?
“Um, not very big. Probably like 8,000 people,” said the Arizona native. “Now, I’m playing in front of 92,000 people. Once I get out there, it’s going to be pretty weird.”
For nearly a dozen USC players, tonight will be an entirely new set of experiences. The famous Trojan Walk. The roar of the Coliseum crowd as players charge from the tunnel. Cameras from a national TV station following them around.
Then they step on the field to the speed and frenzy of real college football.
For a team increasingly enamored with using freshmen players, tonight’s 7:15 p.m. opener against Idaho presents a nearly ideal platform to mix the old with the new. As many as 11 freshmen – six true freshmen and five redshirts – figure to get on the field.
Three of them, receiver David Ausberry, fullback Stanley Havili and center Kristofer O’Dowd, are scheduled to start. Others, like tailback Joe McKnight, receiver Ronald Johnson and Griffen, could play pivotal roles.
Linebackers Chris Galippo (Servite High) and Malcolm Smith will see action, at least on special teams. Butch Lewis and Zack Heberer could be in the offensive-line rotation. Derek Simmons could get some work at defensive tackle.
Tonight USC coaches and fans get to see how the young talent handles new pressures. The players can begin leaving their mark on a top-ranked team expected to vie for another national title.
“I can’t wait to show what I can do when I get out there,” Johnson said.
Galippo served as the den leader of a recruiting class that was considered among the top two or three in the nation last spring. He made sure the USC guys stuck together at the Army’s high-school all-star game. Later, he called Joe McKnight at least once a week to make sure he was coming.
The group arrived on campus for summer school and workouts and quickly banded together. They knew what they would face from the veterans when fall camp began.
“We kick it all the time,” Johnson said. “Before camp, we were always in the same room playing around, joking with each other. We got a good bond going on.”
The redshirt freshmen spent all of last season battling other USC players on the practice field, just as all the freshmen did this fall. They’re unlikely to see that kind of speed and talent from Idaho tonight.
“I don’t think I’ll ever see a defense like that,” Ausberry said.
A year ago, freshmen C.J. Gable, Emmanuel Moody and Taylor Mays had a major impact on a USC team that finished 11-2 and dominated Michigan in the Rose Bowl. With even higher expectations, the Trojans figure to lean more heavily on newcomers.
The void is greatest on offense, where Joe McKnight, Ausberry and Johnson are being counted on as play makers to help replace Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith. Quarterback John David Booty has done his best to help the young players keep their nerves in check.
He started his first game just a year ago, so he knows what they’ll be going through tonight. John David Booty said he approached the freshmen one by one over the past week. He said he told them to watch the older players.
“Really, I just tell them not to make it more than it is. It’s a football game,” John David Booty said. “You’ve played many of these in your life. Don’t get caught up in the crowd and there being 92,000 people. Just enjoy it. Have fun with all that. We are at home.”
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