COLLEGE FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : USC : Coach Faces Trojan Reality

Tailback Shawn Walters, suspended Sept. 28 because of alleged improper contact with a sports agent, participated in practice, then left early to move into a new campus apartment, sources said.

Walters had moved into a USC area hotel shortly after he, Israel Ifeanyi and Errick Herrin were suspended. Ifeanyi and Herrin have practiced regularly during their suspensions but Tuesday was Walters’ first practice appearance.

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Washington State Coach Mike Price, whose Cougars, 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the Pacific 10, meet USC (3-0, 5-0) in the Coliseum Saturday:

“We tried scheduling either Occidental or Azusa-Pacific this week, but we couldn’t pull it off.

“Keyshawn Johnson is the best receiver we’ve seen in the seven years I’ve been here. He beat us almost single-handedly last season. We might put 13 or 14 guys on defense and assign three of them to Keyshawn and hope the refs don’t count.”

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USC Coach John Robinson said his defensive tackles, Darrell Russell and Matt Keneley, had outstanding games at California Saturday.

“That was Russell’s best game so far, he was really dominating,” Robinson said.

Russell and Keneley, he said, are the key figures in USC’s run defense. Cal had 55 net rushing yards Saturday. The average against USC is 89, easily the best in the conference and sixth best in the nation.