With Palmer Back at Controls, Trojans Are Picked for Second

Carson Palmer’s return might be the reason the media has picked USC to finish second in the Pacific 10 Conference. Palmer, already 15th at USC in career completions, also might be on his way to becoming the most prolific passer in Trojan history.

But USC Coach Paul Hackett wasn’t quite ready to hand the former Santa Margarita High star the Heisman Trophy Thursday at Pac-10 media day.

“He’s a year away from being talked about that way,” Hackett said. “He needs a year of playing under his belt. I don’t think he’s arrived yet. I think he has potential. I think he’s going to have a hell of a year. But he’s got to get better. It’s about production, performance.”

And it’s not about getting hurt in the third game of your sophomore season.

“Last year was taken away from him because of a foolish move on the sideline against Oregon,” Hackett said.

Palmer, who passed for 1,755 yards and seven touchdowns in only eight games as a freshman, went down for the season after breaking his collarbone while scrambling for a three-yard gain at Oregon. Palmer was given a redshirt year because he missed almost the entire season.

“Now we got the year back, great,” Hackett said. “Three more years. Now I’m going to have to do some real coaching.”

Hackett also hinted that he would like to take some pressure off Palmer.

“We’re going to be handing the ball off a lot more,” he said. “We’re continuing to build back to a dominant running football team.”

One of those building blocks figures to be former Servite tackle Joe McGuire (6 feet 5, 280 pounds), who Hackett said will probably be one of the few freshmen to contribute. One of Palmer’s former teammates at Santa Margarita High, Matt Nickels, a fifth-year senior and a former walk-on, is vying for playing time as the third wide receiver.

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One freshman who will definitely play and might start is strong safety Matt Grootegoed, The Times player of the year in 1999 from Mater Dei. Hackett said he juggled his secondary to give Grootegoed an opportunity.

“We orchestrated that situation for him because he probably is the most developed, advanced young freshman we have recruited,” Hackett said.

Grootegoed also starred at Mater Dei as a tailback, but Hackett said he would limit him to defense and special teams this season.

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Whoever said summer all-star games don’t matter apparently never played for UCLA Coach Bob Toledo. Chris Kluwe, a freshman from Los Alamitos, might have played himself out of a starting punting job with an inconsistent all-star season.

“I was looking forward to him coming in and being the punter, to be honest,” Toledo said. “But I was disappointed in him over the summer. Kluwe is like another Ray Guy, but he can’t be as inconsistent as he’s been in some of these all-star games. He can’t shank the ball, drive it low and let them return punts.”

Toledo said Kluwe might redshirt if he doesn’t beat out Nate Fikse, who was recruited out of Esperanza to be a kicker. Or he might do some kicking. Kluwe kicked a 60-yard field in high school and a game-winning 53-yarder to beat Texas in the Shrine all-star game.

“He’s showed me in these all-star games that he can really kick the ball too,” Toledo said. “But he needs to improve. He missed some field goals and extra points. He needs to be more consistent before he kicks for us.”