Soward Unlikely to Practice This Week

R. Jay Soward has been spectacular against UCLA his entire career, but it’s going to be a waiting game to see if he will play against the Bruins this season.

Soward stopped by practice only briefly to see trainers Tuesday, his sprained right ankle immobilized in a therapeutic boot, and Coach Paul Hackett thinks it will be the middle of next week before the Trojans know if their standout receiver will play Nov. 21 at the Rose Bowl.

That could be a major factor--Soward scored on an 80-yard pass on the Trojans’ first play from scrimmage against UCLA last season and had 181 yards receiving. As a freshman, he caught passes for 260 yards, an NCAA freshman record at the time, and scored three touchdowns.

Soward’s two-game receiving totals against the Bruins: Fourteen catches for 441 yards and four touchdowns--with plays of 80, 78 and 60 yards.

Soward isn’t expected to practice at all this week, with USC idle on Saturday. The injury he suffered against Stanford has been diagnosed as a high ankle sprain--the sort that often lingers.

“He’s never been hurt before. I don’t know how to predict it,” Hackett said. “We’re going to be super, super cautious.”

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One other complication of Soward’s injury will arise as USC tries to figure out how to attack the Bruin defense.

“The problem is, if you don’t know his status, it affects the game plan,” Hackett said.

Even so, the USC coaches have plenty of time this week to map out offensive and defensive strategies for UCLA. A couple of Bruin game films will get plenty of viewing time.

“We’ll study, obviously, Stanford and Oregon. Oregon State, too, but they’re a little different style,” Hackett said.

Those were UCLA’s close calls: A 41-38 overtime victory over Oregon, a 28-24 victory over Stanford and a 41-34 victory over Oregon State.

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With no game this week, there were plenty of yellow jerseys--indicating injured players--in sight Tuesday, in USC’s first practice since Saturday’s game. The idea is to let minor injuries heal and get some players extra rest going into the UCLA and Notre Dame games that will determine where their season ends up--from 7-5 to 9-3.