[College Sports News]

USC returns 18 starters (7 on offense and 10 on defense, plus the punter) from 2006. In all, 72 squadmen are back from last year, including 55 who saw playing time. All but 3 of those 55 were lettermen, while 34 were on USC's season-ending 2-deep. On the roster are 30 Trojans who have started at least once in their career. Joining them in 2007 will be 20 new scholarship players, including 2 who enrolled at USC this past spring and participated in spring practice. That class was named No. 1 in the nation by some publications.

Forty squadmen are gone from 2006, but only 19 were lettermen, just 6 were starters and only 5 were selected in the 2007 NFL draft. The offense, however, lost the best wide receiver combo in Trojan history: 2-time All-American first teamer Dwayne Jarrett, USC's career leader with 216 receptions and the Pac-10's all-time recordholder with 41 TD grabs who left after his junior season for the NFL, and 2006 All-American first team selection Steve Smith, fourth on Troy's career chart for receiving yards (3,019) and fifth for receptions (190) and TDs (22). Both were NFL second round picks. Also gone from the offensive lineup are 2006 All-American first team center Ryan Kalil, who was the heart and soul of USC's line (he was another NFL second rounder), and tackle Kyle Williams. Dependable wide receiver Chris McFoy (57 career catches, 17 starts) also is gone. USC's only loss from the 2006 defensive lineup is strongside linebacker Dallas Sartz, who was 32-2 in his 3 years as a starter. Also gone is middle linebacker Oscar Lua, who had 14 career starts and topped Troy in tackles in 2005, and tackle-end Chris Barrett, who started USC's first 6 games of 2006 at tackle. USC suffered an unexpected loss with the tragic death of placekicker Mario Danelo in early 2007. In his career, he was 26-of-28 on field goals and 127-of-134 on PATs. He set the NCAA season record for PATs (83) in 2005.

USC Football Pre-Season Notes