Minnesota, USC agree to two-game series

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- So much for all those soft nonconference schedules at Minnesota. The Gophers are going big, with a home-and-home series against USC.

The school confirmed Friday it will face the University of Southern California at TCF Bank Stadium on Sept. 18, 2010, and travel to Los Angeles to face the Trojans in the Coliseum on Sept. 3, 2011.

Over the past decade, the Gophers have rarely scheduled opponents from the major conferences comprising the Bowl Championship Series. But that will change once they move into their new facility this fall, at the behest of coach Tim Brewster. He wants to raise their national profile for recruitment purposes.

The plan is to play at least one BCS foe each season. In 2009, Minnesota will host Air Force and California and play at Syracuse.

Mitch Mustain energized about USC's new quarterbacks coach

By Gary Klein

January 21, 2009

It was still predawn dark Tuesday as quarterback Mitch Mustain jogged with teammates to USC's first off-season conditioning workout.

And though it was not yet 6 a.m., Mustain sounded energized by Monday's announcement that USC had hired Denver Broncos assistant Jeremy Bates as its quarterbacks coach and play-caller.

"I read up a little bit on him," Mustain said as he approached the gate to USC's practice facility. "I'm excited. I like his experience. It should be pretty good."

Mustain and about 40 teammates, including quarterbacks Aaron Corp and Matt Barkley, then went through a nearly two-hour workout on the field and in the weight room, the first of four daily workout groups that are preparing for the start of spring practice in March.

Mustain, Corp, Barkley and Garrett Green will compete to replace Mark Sanchez, who last week made himself available for the NFL draft.

They will do so under the watchful eye of Bates, 32, who tutored Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler and called plays for the NFL's second-best offense this season.

Cutler had hoped the NFL team would retain Bates after Broncos coach Mike Shanahan was fired. But Bates' status was uncertain because Denver's new coach, Josh McDaniels, will call plays and McDaniels recently hired an offensive coordinator.

Bates joins USC Coach Pete Carroll's reconfigured staff in place of Carl Smith, who was named quarterbacks coach and assistant head coach for offense earlier this month. Smith, however, interviewed last week with the Cleveland Browns and is expected to be hired by the NFL team.

Cutler on Tuesday praised Bates for helping him develop into a Pro Bowl player.

"He was extremely innovative with our offense and took our playbook to the next level with some of the things he did, keeping defenses off balance and changing our look but at the same time keeping it simple for us players," Cutler said in a statement. "Some of the things he did were amazing to watch. He was always watching other teams and coming up with new ideas for our offense. . . . He made me want to come to work every day and get better."

Mays enthused

All-American safety Taylor Mays, who surprised many by passing up the chance to turn pro, grinned widely as he got ready to go through the gate and onto the field for the Trojans' morning workout.

"I could be in Seattle right now doing prison workouts and getting ready for the [NFL] combine!" he said, laughing heartily. "Instead I've got to do this and then go to class."

Quick kicks

Cornerback Shareece Wright, a starter who redshirted because of a neck injury suffered before the Trojans' Sept. 25 loss at Oregon State, participated in the morning workout. . . . Offensive lineman Butch Lewis is sidelined because of recent surgery on his right ankle. "It's been messed up for years," said Lewis, who had surgery on his left ankle after the 2007 season.

USC just might be the true location of Linebacker U

Albert Breer

MOBILE, ALA. -- Some schools have traditions of producing NFL players at certain positions. USC has this:

Its linebacker pipeline has grown so rich that a player who couldn't start at USC is at the Senior Bowl, one of 104 players invited to the most prestigious of the college all-star games.

That's Clay Matthews, the former walk-on, a son and nephew of USC legends. The other two linebackers here -- Brian Cushing and Rey Maualuga -- are All-Americans and sure-fire first-round picks. The guy who started alongside those two, Kaluka Maiava, isn't here, but he was at the East-West Shrine game last week and led the West with six tackles.

Maybe Penn State really is Linebacker U, but it's hard to argue with USC's track record of producing at the position over the last 20 years, a history that includes Junior Seau, Willie McGinest, Chris Claiborne, Lofa Tatupu and Keith Rivers.

And that's why it's all the more impressive that, when all is said and done, the group that just graduated might be considered the single best crop.

"I played with Duane Bickett, we were both All-Americans. We had two," said Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio, another ex-Trojan linebacker who is coaching the South squad this week. "I don't know that I've ever seen three players come out that are as heralded as this group, and we've had some good linebackers come through there."

Both Bickett and Del Rio became Pro Bowl players, each drafted in 1985, so the Class of '09 has a ways to go in that regard.

But they're off to an awfully good start.

That has something to do with pedigree and more to do with the ethos of the USC program since Pete Carroll has been in charge.

"It's a competitive environment, and guys understand what's on the line and try to get after it every single play," said Cushing, who came from New Jersey to play at USC. "We understand how competitive it is, guys can lose their jobs immediately.

"Coach Carroll has such a competitive environment over there, and it makes everyone better because there's really no room to screw up."

Cushing would know. He had to learn to play the "Elephant" position, a hybrid defensive end/linebacker spot, to start as a sophomore. As a junior, a sprained ankle meant coming off the bench for a couple games.

It wasn't that he wasn't good enough. It's just that if not 100 percent, there was someone as good or better. Once healthy, he earned the spot back. Operative word: Earned.

Just like Maualuga had to earn his starting spot, only really entrenched in the role of middle linebacker a few games into his sophomore year.

And Matthews provides the strongest tale of perseverance. He went from walk-on to big-time contributor. Still, he started just two games from 2004-07.

This year, he won the job at the "Elephant," posted nine sacks, and pushed his stock into the top three rounds of the draft.

"It's obviously difficult, because there's such great talent over there and you do have to wait your turn," said Matthews. "You have to compete every day, you can't take anything for granted, you have to work hard, practice hard and get in the film room. If you're able to make it through four or five years at SC, you'll be ready for the NFL.

"It humbles you, and you learn from the best."

Matthews' father of the same name is also a part of the Trojans' proud tradition at the position, and the son will join him among USC's NFL alumni next fall.

And when he does, he'll have his eyes on what Maualuga, likely to go in the first half of the first round, is doing. Cushing, too.

For four years, these three, and so many others, fought their butts off against one another for playing time. So ingrained is that approach, that none of them will stop pushing the next man now.

"That's what made us who we are," Maualuga said. "There's almost a jealousy being on that field. Brian wants to be better than me, I want to be better than Brian. Kaluka wants to be better than Clay, and that's what made us a good linebacker group. You always wanted to compete and get better."

That probably explains why, as group, they're so much better than everyone else.

Staff writer Albert Breer covers the NFL for Sporting News. E-mail him at abreer@sportingnews.com.