COLLEGE FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : USC : Trojans’ Loss Becomes Lancers’ Gain

Saladin McCullough, the star prep tailback from Pasadena Muir who never made it into USC last season, is suited up at Pasadena City College, ready to play tailback for coach Dennis Gossard.

One of the nation’s most intensely recruited running backs after his 1992 Muir season, McCullough signed with USC but became involved in a controversy over his Scholastic Aptitude Test score. McCullough passed the exam, but his score was challenged by the Educational Testing Service, which oversees the test.

McCullough lost his arbitration case. He then took the American College Testing exam, but did not meet the NCAA qualifying score. He must now earn a junior college AA degree to play NCAA football.

McCullough, 5-feet-11 and 190 pounds, scored 36 touchdowns his senior season at Muir.

*

Keith Burns, who coaches the Trojan safeties, on freshman Grant Pearsall from Villa Park High: “Right now, he’s covering deep as well as anyone we have. He’s a natural center fielder. Right now, we’re very happy with where he is, but we’ll want to see how he tackles later this week.”

*

The mid-90s temperatures at USC’s practice field have triggered fond memories of the Trojans’ training camps of recent summers at UC Irvine, where temperatures were 10 to 12 degrees cooler.

After 10 summers in Irvine, USC has moved its preseason camp back to campus.

“I personally didn’t like being down there,” said Don Lindsey, USC’s defensive coordinator, of Irvine.

“To me, football camps are supposed to be hot. It’s just part of the discipline of football. When I see our defensive backs bent over in the heat, tired and hot . . . and have to cover Ken Grace and then Keyshawn Johnson 30 and 40 yards downfield on back-to-back plays, I learn something about them.”