Trojans Will Come After McNown, but Know They Must Be Careful

USC isn’t about to give UCLA quarterback Cade McNown all day to pass, but the Trojans also know that when they blitz, they’d better get it right.

Otherwise, they might see McNown on the run like last year, when he picked up 48 yards scrambling and converted some key third downs.

“That was fright-night last year. He had three runs over 20 yards or something,” said defensive end Sultan Abdul-Malik, who leads USC with eight sacks. Linebacker Chris Claiborne has five.

Containment is the word, Coach Paul Hackett said.

“If you don’t contain him, he’ll take off and get 15 or 20 yards,” Hackett said. “He doesn’t slide. He goes after it.”

UCLA’s offensive line has given up only 10 sacks, but the Trojans admit they have McNown in their sights. More than one has brought up Arizona State’s Ryan Kealy, who was knocked out of the game this season with a concussion after a hit by Claiborne.

“We don’t like any quarterback, whoever it is,” Abdul-Malik said. “What happened with Ryan Kealy happens. We’re going to come after him.”

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The R. Jay daily update: Receiver R. Jay Soward ran on the side and participated in light drills and was pronounced “much better” by Hackett, but he still hasn’t run any plays in the two weeks since he suffered a sprained right ankle against Stanford.

Larry Parker will start in Soward’s place and some teammates are skeptical Soward can contribute much, but Hackett said he’ll try to find out early if Soward can have an impact despite the injury.

“How long he’ll go, how effective he’ll be, I don’t know,” Hackett said. “I don’t think he’ll be 100%, but R. Jay at 80-85% is still pretty good.

“I’ll be shocked if he ends up in street clothes.”

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Tailback Chad Morton and kicker Adam Abrams have been named to the Pacific 10 Conference first-team all-academic team. Fullback Brennan Ochs and quarterback Mike Van Raaphorst were given honorable mention.