COLLEGE FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : USC : Injury Forces Ramsey to Quit

Kian Ramsey’s first start for USC, in Saturday’s 24-21 loss to Stanford, was also his last. The offensive lineman from Independence, Ore., has been advised by doctors to quit football because of a chronic pinched nerve in his neck.

A 6-foot-6, 265-pound junior, Ramsey missed all of last season and most of spring and fall practice because of the condition. He played in three games this season, starting at tackle Saturday in place of Tony Boselli, who was bothered by a sprained ankle.

“I came really close to calling it quits in fall camp,” Ramsey told the Salem (Ore.) Statesman-Journal last month. “The doctors told me it might be better if I didn’t play football, but I couldn’t give it up.”

Ramsey told the newspaper that the problem is recurring because the nerves in his neck don’t exit the spine from the proper openings.

“If I turn my neck a certain way, even when I’m not playing football, it triggers a pinched nerve, which is very painful,” said Ramsey, whose brother, Kyle, is a freshman center at USC. “Also, it causes me to lose strength in my arm and shoulder on my left side.”