Alabama’s Cam Robinson Charges Dropped and More USC Football News

It was good news for Alabama and bad news for USC as a district attorney declined to prosecute left tackle Cam Robinson, who might have been suspended for the season opener if charges had been pursued.

Can’t get enough USC football and basketball news? We’ve got your morning dose of all the best content from around the web concerning the men of Troy.

1st & 10:

First Take… For a moment there it seemed like USC might be getting a break in their match up against Alabama.

A month ago the All-SEC left tackle and presumptive All-American was arrested and charged with felony possession of a stolen firearm and misdemeanor possession of marijuana along with fellow Alabama player Lawrence “Hootie” Jones.

As the legal process set its course, the possibility that Robinson might be suspended for the season opener against the Trojans.

Monday, the Tide got some good news. District Attorney Jerry Jones declined to prosecute Robinson and Jones, citing insufficient evidence and a more laughable reasoning:

“I want to emphasize once again that the main reason I’m doing this is that I refuse to ruin the lives of two young men who have spent their adolescence and teenage years, working and sweating, while we were all in the air conditioning,” the DA said.

Whatever the reasons for going easy on Robinson and Jones — there have been other reports that an improper search was conducted — it now seems that the two players will more than likely be available for the Tide on September 3 against USC.

Nick Saban indicated that he will handle discipline internally, and he could still opt to suspend the two, though that would be a surprise.

With Alabama’s offensive line now expected to be at full strength, landing Utah transfer Stevie Tu’ikolovatu on the defensive line looks more pivotal than ever.

And Ten USC Football and Basketball News Links…

1. “D.J. Fluker Says Tide Will Steamroll Trojans” (Reign Of Troy)Former Alabama offensive lineman D.J. Fluker told media at Chargers training camp that his Tide will “steamroll USC,” prompting a (respectful) response from Trojan offensive lineman Zach Banner.
2. “C.J. Miller, 3-Star Safety, Commits to USC” (Reign Of Troy)USC’s ninth commit for the 2017 class comes in the form of three-star safety C.J. Miller, who hails from Georgia and thrives in pass coverage.
3. “Summer Predictions for Every Major College Football Award” (Bleacher Report)David Kenyon predicts the winners of major CFB awards including the Hornung and Biletnikoff Awards, which Adoree’ Jackson and JuJu Smith-Schuster should contend for (but aren’t the projected winners).
4. “5 Most Physical Players for USC in 2016” (Reign Of Troy)Cameron Smith, Adoree’ Jackson, Iman Marshall, Marvell Tell and Porter Gustin feature in our list of the most physically punishing players on USC’s squad.
5. “Top 10 defensive players ever” (NFL.com)Ronnie Lott checks in at No. 4 on Elliot Harrison’s list of the Top 10 defensive players the NFL has ever seen. Only Bob Lilly, Reggie White and Lawrence Taylor outrank him.
6. “AFC’s best defenders ever: Picking one player from each franchise” (NFL.com)In a similar vein, Harrison declared the best defender for each AFC franchise, with Clay Matthews and Junior Seau taking the top spot for the Browns and Chargers respectively.
7. “Ranking USC’s toughest games of 2016” (247 Sports)Chance Linton ranks USC’s toughest games, with Colorado the easiest and UCLA, Washington and Alabama the hardest.
8. “USC Mailbag: Transfer Eligibility and Offensive Line Improvement” (Reign Of Troy)Our weekly mailbag tackles questions on when Stevie Tu’ikolovatu’s eligibility will begin and whether or not Neil Callaway will make a difference for USC in 2016.
9. “American Samoa’s Top Recruit Juliano Falaniko Planning Visits” (Scout)USC commit Juliano Falaniko is planning visits to Michigan and Oregon among others. He also talked about growing up looking up to the Trojans.
10. “4-Star DE Malik Herring Names Top 7” (Reign Of Troy)Malik Herring, a four-star defensive end out of Georgia, named USC among his Top 7 along with Clemson, Alabama, Middle Tennessee State, Georgia, Tennessee and LSU.

Stat of the Day:

USC ranks 84th in the country in both percentage of offensive yards returning and percentage of tackles returning in 2016, per Phil Steele.

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