USC Football Roundup: Joseph Lewis to stand trial and more (5/9)

Suspended Trojan receiver Joseph Lewis will stand trial in about a week while Clay Helton is rising in rankings. Here’s the USC football roundup for May 9th.

A trial date has been set for suspended USC wide receiver Joseph Lewis, who is facing five counts of misdemeanor domestic violence, per the OC Register. Lewis will have his day in court beginning on May 17th.

The charges stem from two February incidents during which Lewis was alleged to have committed domestic abuse against a female victim.

When the allegations surfaced, Lewis was indefinitely suspended from all football activities, missing all of Spring Camp with his future hanging in the balance. He initially faced felony charges but the LA County District Attorney opted not to file those heftier charges.

On top of the trial, he will have to face USC’s university disciplinary process. For that reason, it seems unlikely the receiver will ever return to the Trojan football team, regardless of the outcome of his trial.

The Trojans have enough bodies at wide receiver to cover the loss of the former five-star, but the receiving corps is certainly thinner than it appeared to be coming out of the 2017 season. The graduation of Steven Mitchell, the NFL departure of Deontay Burnett and the transfer of Jalen Green have thinned out the unit somewhat, along with Lewis’ legal trouble.

However, USC will welcome two reinforcements this summer, adding five-star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and four-star athlete Devon Williams from the class of 2018.

Randal Grimes welcomes a baby

Chris Trevino details the wild story of Randal Grimes becoming a father—and suffering a panic attack in the process.

Before the start of Spring Camp, Grimes was summoned back home to Las Vegas when his pregnant girlfriend’s water broke. A fainting spell and a road trip later, the sophomore wide receiver made it to welcome his daughter to the world.

Clay Helton rising

USC head coach Clay Helton is rising up the coach rankings, at least according to CBS Sports. Tom Fornelli lifted Helton to No. 31 in this year’s listing of all 65 Power 5 conference coaches. That’s 14 spots higher than he was last year.

He’s now just a couple spots behind No. 28 Tom Herman of Texas and No. 27 Brian Kelly of Notre Dame, both coaches he will have to best on the field this year.

Helton’s toughest tests on the year made it into the Top 25 of coaches: No. 25 Kyle Whittingham of Utah, No. 24 Mike Leach of Washington State, No. 9 Chip Kelly of UCLA and No. 7 David Shaw of Stanford.

More from Reign of Troy

Helton will also face off with Arizona’s Kevin Sumlin at No. 36, Colorado’s Mike MacIntyre at No. 42, Cal’s Justin Wilcox at No. 53, Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith at No. 63, Arizona State’s Herm Edwards at No. 64

College Gameday Projections

Could ESPN’s College Gameday return to USC in 2018? Maybe not. But College Spun thinks the Trojans could still be involved at some point, as they project the locations for the iconic college football preview show.

Dan Lyons posits Gameday will come to Los Angeles in Week 12 to catch the annual Crosstown Rivalry at the Rose Bowl, with UCLA’s Chip Kelly taking center stage.

Trojan Trivia

Matt Barkley set the USC single-game record for most completions in a game (35) against UCLA in 2011 when the Trojans bested the Bruins 50-0 at the Coliseum.

Home/USC FOOTBALL NEWS