Carroll concerned about crowds at USC practices

USC Coach Pete Carroll was his usual frenetic self on Thursday during the Trojans’ most lively spring workout to date, but he uncharacteristically expended much of his energy politely imploring fans to stay out of harm’s way.

With USC’s open-door policy once again drawing hundreds of onlookers, Carroll took his eye off drills five times to run over and address fans crowding the sideline and behind the end zone.

“It’s the little kids I’m worried about,” Carroll said. “People think their little kid is safe sitting there and they’re not taking care of them.”

Trojans receiver Damian Williams injured his foot two weeks ago when he slipped and then crashed into the fence avoiding an unattended child on the sideline.

Last week, another player nearly plowed into a bike that was parked against a fence on the sideline. And during last Saturday’s scrimmage, running back Joe McKnight ran over a woman who was seated on the ground.

“I was surprised to see her sitting there that close,” McKnight said. “I was really trying to avoid hitting her, but I was going too fast.”

McKnight’s collision, and the large crowd that is expected for Saturday’s scrimmage that coincides with USC’s annual “Swim With Mike” fundraising event, prompted Carroll to take action.

“We want to make sure we’re doing the right thing, moving people where we can and making sure we can make it as safe as we can make it,” Carroll said.

Asked if he would ever consider closing practices to the public, Carroll said, “Never say never. If it’s the right thing to do we would, but we still enjoy sharing practices with our fans.”

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Quarterback Mitch Mustain, attempting to narrow the gap with Mark Sanchez, completed all of his passes during team scrimmage drills and said he had his best practice after overcoming the hesitation that has hindered him at times.

Mustain hopes to play the same way during Saturday’s scrimmage.

“It will be a breakthrough for me mentally to be able to do that and I think for [coaches] to know that I can do that,” he said.

Carroll and offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian said Mustain and Aaron Corp would take more first-team snaps than they did in last week’s scrimmage. But both trail Sanchez, who once again ran the offense efficiently and had no passes intercepted.

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Fullback Stanley Havili made the play of the day when he caught a pass from Sanchez and then nearly hurdled safety Marshall Jones, who was standing upright, on his way across the goal line.

“This whole spring I haven’t done anything to stand out really,” Havili said. “So I was telling myself the other night, ‘If you want to be noticed you have to make a play. You have to do something that no one does.’ ”

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Safety Taylor Mays and tight end Anthony McCoy returned after being held out because of concussive symptoms that resulted from a collision in last Saturday’s scrimmage… . McKnight said he was absent Tuesday to make up a tutoring session that he had missed… . Offensive lineman Thomas Herring, who was making a push for the starting right guard spot, was absent Thursday because of illness, Carroll said… . Nose tackle Averell Spicer is scheduled to have arthroscopic knee surgery on Monday, according to defensive line assistant Dave Watson… . Carroll on the intensity that resulted in several near skirmishes: “You have to hit the threshold sometimes to find out where you can go and where you can’t.”

gary.klein@latimes.com