USC Football: Cameron Smith MRI “Preventative,” To Play vs. Colorado

USC football had good news on the injury front regarding Cameron Smith Monday, as Clay Helton termed his MRI “preventative” and said the player should be available for the Trojans by Friday’s game against Colorado.

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The linebacker has played through a problem in his hamstring since USC’s victory over Cal and injured his shoulder late against Arizona.

The head coach indicated during his Sunday conference call that Smith would be held out of contact for the time being.

Smith leads the Trojans in tackling this season by some margin. He has averaged eight tackles per game and has started all but one contest this season at middle linebacker.

During practice on Monday, Lamar Dawson took Smith’s place with the first team defense, according to the OC Register’s Michael Lev.

Su’a Cravens, who suffered a laceration on his thumb and required stitches versus Arizona was limited in practice, but that seems precautionary as well.

Unsurprisingly, JuJu Smith-Schuster was also held out for much of the day as he recovers from a fractured hand.

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The injury did not stop him from running routes on his own while the Trojan receivers went through 7-on-7 drills, according to Shotgun Spratling of USCfootball.com.

In other injury news, safety Leon McQuay III remains out with a sprained knee while running back Tre Madden did not participate as well, according to Ryan Abraham of USCfootball.com. McQuay missed the weekend’s contest outright but Madden played limited snaps, fumbling on a botched hand off early in the action.

The secondary did receive a boost from the return of cornerback Jonathan Lockett, who has missed time with a groin injury. He returned to the practice field Monday, according to Lev.