At Tight End, No. 16. . . .

John Fox led USC to five of its six victories last season, passed for 355 yards against Nevada Las Vegas and helped USC beat Notre Dame.

Friday morning, his teammates saw him lined up at tight end, still wearing No. 16.

“It’s kind of weird,” receiver Billy Miller said. “I caught 56 balls from him last year. He helped me get out of a huge slump. I thank him for that. My best wishes to him at that position.”

His departure leaves the quarterback competition to sophomore Mike Van Raaphorst and freshman Carson Palmer, with Quincy Woods and Jason Thomas on the outside looking in.

Fox took himself out of the race.

“It was a gutsy thing to do,” Van Raaphorst said. “I know he’s been in the spotlight, and I think probably the toughest thing for him was not the change but coming out to talk about it.”

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One of the questions on the offensive line is who will replace Jonathan Himebauch, USC’s starting center the last two years. Though junior Matt McShane came out of the spring as the starter, he has missed some practices because of minor injuries, and Eric Denmon has made inroads.