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Justin Davis, Claude Pelon Back In Action and More USC Football News

By Alicia de Artola

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Can’t get enough USC football 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… Good news for USC on the injury front: Justin Davis and Claude Pelon participated fully in practice Tuesday for the first time since each suffered a rib and knee injury respectively.

Even more good news: Adoree’ Jackson and Steve Mitchell were both involved in practice despite the knocks they picked up vs. Arkansas State.

Though Lamar Dawson remains out, the Trojans enter Week 2 of the college football season in surprisingly good shape as far as health is concerned.

Tre Madden was electric on Saturday, but Cody Kessler called Davis one of the best running backs he’s ever seen at Pac-12 media days this offseason. The Trojan offense can only be stronger with yet another talented running back to work with.

The key will be easing Davis into the rotation before USC’s first test of the season when Stanford comes to town.

The same goes for Pelon on the defensive line. The line impressed against Arkansas State with Delvon Simmons, Antwaun Woods and Greg Townsend holding down the starting jobs.

Heavy rotation throughout the defense means that Pelon will be valuable as another body to shift in and out, even before considering the potential impact he could have with a step up in production as a senior.

That is the exciting thing about USC’s excellent use of platooning in the season opener. Both the defense and offense were without potentially major contributors, and looked no worse for wear without them.

And Ten USC Football News Links…

  1. Reign of Troy: USC did not move in either of the major polls released on Tuesday. The AP still has the Trojans at No. 8 while the Coaches Poll held USC at No. 10.
  2. Reign of Troy: Cody Kessler’s Heisman odds certainly weren’t hurt by his four touchdown performance against Arkansas State. The Trojan QB now has odds of 9/1 and 10/1 from two different oddsmakers. He is among the favorites for both.
  3. OC Register: USC added four new walk-ons; none of them are blind long snapper and USC fan Jake Olsen. Not yet at least.
  4. LA Times: Tuesday practice was all about making corrections from the season opener. Cody Kessler’s footwork is one of those things that will be worked on this week, in response to the Trojans giving up five sacks to the Red Wolves.
  5. USCFootball.com: The offensive line is also looking to improve after Saturday. One change that seems to have been made is settling on a more consistent starting five of Chad Wheeler, Damien Mama, Max Tuerk, Toa Lobendahn and Zach Banner. Though Viane Talamaivao and Chuma Edoga will see game time there may not be as much shuffling going forward on the line.
  6. Reign Of Troy: We asked the question if is Idaho the worst team USC has or will ever face on a football field? The answer, at least according to analytics, is no.
  7. ESPN: Kevin Gemmell’s Pac-12 Power Rankings have Oregon and UCLA ahead of USC, who occupy a No. 2B ranking to the Bruins.
  8. ESPN: Already looking forward to bowl season? USC is projected to the Rose Bowl in Kyle Bonagura’s Week 1 bowl projections.
  9. RipsIt Blog: USC great Ryan Kalil and current Trojan center Max Tuerk did some film study and had a chat about what it takes to be part of a great team. Well worth the watch.
  10. LA Times: The 2nd District Court of Appeal gave a tentative ruling before hearing arguments in the Todd McNair lawsuit Tuesday.
    • Though the ruling was not made public. Dan Weber of USCFootball.com indicated on Twitter that the court was “inclined to accept the lower court’s ruling,” which would give McNair the win.

Stat of the Day:

Idaho kicker Austin Rehkow is the NCAA leader in career punting average and once hit a 67-yard field goal to send a game to overtime in high school.

Tweets of the Day:

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