A Brisk Practice Followed by Rest

The arduous part of USC’s training camp--the two-a-day practices and heavy running--ended with a brisk morning session Saturday.

Now the Trojans will rest for a while before reconvening at UC Irvine on Monday morning to begin a series of closed practices in preparation for the Penn State game next Sunday.

“They’ll take 48 hours to get their legs back,” Coach Paul Hackett said. “They need to get away from me for a while.”

Hackett was pleased with his team’s progress the past two weeks, saying the Trojans were ahead of schedule in terms of conditioning and the improvement of younger players such as safety Troy Polamalu, a sophomore, and offensive lineman Lenny Vandermade, a redshirt freshman.

Hackett was also relieved to make it this far with few injuries.

The biggest concerns are offensive lineman Trevor Roberts, who has sat out several days of practice because of a strained foot, and tight end Antoine Harris, who is battling a sore hamstring.

Trainers will treat Roberts through the weekend and Harris said he will be ready to practice early this week.

In another injury development, starting defensive end Matt Childers suffered a broken knuckle on his left hand, the result of a collision Friday with a teammate.

Doctors initially told Childers he could not play, but the fifth-year senior was at practice Saturday with the hand heavily taped.

After all the sweat and pain of camp, he said, “I’ve been through too much to let this get in the way.”

A special cast will be made to allow Childers to continue practicing Monday.

“I think he’ll be fine,” Hackett said. “He would strangle me if I said anything else.”

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Fullback isn’t exactly a glory position but Charlie Landrigan isn’t complaining. The junior is a solid bet to keep his starting position from last season.

“I’ve played fullback since I was in Pop Warner,” he said. “I’m just happy to be in the game.”

Though Landrigan was primarily a blocker and did not carry the ball in any of his nine starts in 1999, coaches told the 225-pound back that he needed to improve his speed and footwork during the off-season. So he spent the summer trying to keep up with tailback Malaefou MacKenzie, his longtime friend and workout partner.

“Whatever he did, I did,” Landrigan said. “I figured if I did that, I’d be OK.”

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Freshman Malcolm Wooldridge from Boca Raton, Fla., was a late addition to camp last week.

The Trojans originally recruited the 6-foot-2, 300-pound defensive tackle in 1999, but he needed to attend prep school to improve his grades and scholastic test scores. It took a while for those scores to be cleared by the NCAA, so Wooldridge was delayed in coming to California.

After spending his first three days in shorts, he put on a helmet and pads Saturday.

“It was a big relief,” he said. “I was getting antsy.”