USC football roundup: Matt Fink has surgery and more Trojan rankings

Quarterback Matt Fink underwent apparently minor surgery while USC football’s schedule and wide receivers picked up rankings this week.

It’s not common for USC football to have injury news in June, but it happens apparently.

Quarterback Matt Fink hasn’t been participating in the Trojans recent player-run practices and now it’s clear why: The redshirt junior underwent surgery earlier this week.

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Fink posted a photo to his Instagram story on Tuesday, showing him in a hospital bed with his right leg wrapped up from ankle to thigh.

“Appreciate everyone for their love and support. Surgery was a success and I will be back before fall camp!” Fink wrote as a caption.

After Spring Camp, Fink revealed his plan to seek a transfer elsewhere and was even reportedly committed to Illinois at one point. However, he ultimately decided to return to the Trojans.

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Getting back onto the field will apparently take some time though. He won’t be available for summer workouts while he recovers from surgery.

The procedure was obviously minor enough if he believes he will be healthy by the time Fall Camp rolls around. With the planned start date for practice around the first week of August, Fink has a solid six weeks to get his body right before making another push for USC’s starting quarterback job.

Tough non-conference slate

ESPN’s Chris Low ranked the non-conference schedules in the Power 5 for 2019 and, as you’d expect, the Trojans rate rather highly.

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USC’s schedule was No. 2 last year and once again the Trojans sit near the top, at No. 3 this time around. That’s thanks to road trip to Notre Dame and BYU and a home tilt with Mountain West champion Fresno State.

The fact of the matter is, USC’s non-conference schedule will always rank among the top in college football simply by the strength of having Notre Dame there every year.

It’s the same reason Stanford’s schedule against Notre Dame, UCF and Northwestern put them atop the ranking at No. 1.

As much as it’s fashionable to flog the Pac-12 for their lack of competitiveness, you can’t accuse of the conference of scheduling poorly. Three of the four toughest schedules come from the conference of champions, with UCLA also featuring at No. 4.

Top 10 Wide Receiver

Going into the 2019 season, you could have a lively debate over who the Trojans best wide receiver is and whether you picked Michael Pittman, Tyler Vaughns or Amon-Ra St. Brown, you couldn’t really go wrong.

Paul Myerberg certainly made his pick this week when he ranked the Top 10 pass catchers in college football for USA Today. He has St. Brown at No. 10.

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USC will have to contend with No. 2 Laviska Shenault of Colorado, but no other Pac-12 receivers made the cut.

That’s high praise for the sophomore who certainly showed off his talent with 60 catches for 750 yards and three touchdowns last season. In Graham Harrell’s Air Raid offense his numbers should only rise. In that sense, including him among the nation’s top receivers makes perfect sense.