Lowlight Reel Is Made to Motivate Secondary

USC faces a Washington offense that can throw deep Saturday, so assistant coach DeWayne Walker assembled a videotape of the Trojan secondary’s most memorable plays from the first four games. They weren’t the kind of plays defensive backs want to remember.

Walker showed them a compilation of mental errors. There were only seven or eight, but each resulted in a big gain or touchdown. Several came against Stanford last week.

“The mistakes we make are crucial,” cornerback Chris Cash said. “But, hey, we learn from them.”

One of USC’s biggest concerns against the Huskies will be covering 6-foot-4 freshman Reggie Williams. “He’s what coaches call a freak,” Walker said. “He’s playing with grown men and holding his own.”

Washington wants to bring Williams along slowly, but Coach Rick Neuheisel said his big-play ability is tempting: “At times, he looks like a guy who has been in college football for a long time.”

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Doctors finally cleared Matt Grootegoed to play on Thursday, but he did not expect to be thrown into practice right away. Not wearing shoulder pads like his teammates, the linebacker joined the second-team defense for a series, his first action since early September.

Coach Pete Carroll said Grootegoed could play some special teams and perhaps a few downs on defense against Washington.

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Receiver D. Hale returned to practice after being ineligible for, essentially, being indecisive. The redshirt sophomore is listed as an architecture major, but his interests changed and he was taking business classes, which ran him afoul of an NCAA rule mandating athletes focus on their major.

Hale cleared the matter with NCAA officials. So he’s switching to business, right? No, he said, political science.