LOS ANGELES — Steve Sarkisian was on the move. ADVERTISING LOS ANGELES — Steve Sarkisian was on the move. He showed a USC tailback how to shed a defender. He lined up opposite receivers, forcing them to make decisions on
LOS ANGELES — Steve Sarkisian was on the move.
He showed a USC tailback how to shed a defender. He lined up opposite receivers, forcing them to make decisions on pass routes.
And he kept up a running dialogue with quarterbacks, while running from one end of the field to the other.
“These guys like to work,” he shouted as he and the Trojans hustled from drill to drill. “I love it.”
That was the scene Tuesday as the 40-year-old Sarkisian ushered in a new era at USC by overseeing his first practice as the Trojans’ head coach.
Sarkisian put his players through the first of 15 spring workouts, wasting no time installing a no-huddle, fast-paced offense that left many players panting .
“It was awesome,” Sarkisian said. “It was a real blast.”
Sarkisian, wearing a cardinal-and-gray pullover, gray shorts, gray athletic shoes and a gray USC baseball cap, clearly enjoyed his return to a practice facility where he last coached as an assistant in 2008.
He and his staff — which includes only two holdovers from former coach Lane Kiffin’s staff — will spend the next five weeks evaluating players before the Trojans reassemble with 14 incoming freshmen for training camp in August.
They also are implementing new offensive and defensive schemes for a program coming off a tumultuous 10-4 season in 2013.
Sarkisian is looking forward to the next 14 workouts, when mistakes can be corrected and players can continue to acclimate to the new system.
As he prepared to leave the practice facility, Sarkisian spoke of coaching with the familiar smell of caramel corn wafting from a baseball game at nearby Dedeaux Field, a memory from previous stints with the Trojans.
“That felt like home again,” he said.
Musburger, Palmer to call SEC Network games
ESPN says Brent Musburger will be the lead play-by-play announcer for its new SEC Network, with former Florida quarterback Jesse Palmer as analyst.
Musburger’s move to the SEC Network opens the play-by-play spot on ESPN’s Saturday prime-time game. ESPN has not announced who will take that job though there has been speculation Chris Fowler, the host of GameDay whose contract with ESPN is expiring, will move into that play-by-play role alongside analyst Kirk Herbstreit.
The SEC Network launches next season. The first football game on the network will be Texas A&M at South Carolina on Aug. 28. Musburger and Palmer will call that game and a game every Saturday on the SEC Network.
Musburger and Fowler will continue to be part of ESPN’s college football coverage.
By wire sources
