Simmons Gets Workat Corner

With the USC secondary beset by injuries to key reserves, free safety Antuan Simmons worked at cornerback in the nickel defense at practice Tuesday. It was like coming home for a senior who spent much of his career at the corner. Afterward, Simmons talked about missing the intensity of man-on-man coverage.

“It’s the nature of the position,” he said. “That’s what I love the most.”

The usual nickel back, Kevin Arbet, might be available for Saturday’s game against Oregon State at the Coliseum. Arbet watched from the sideline Tuesday but hoped to practice today. Either way, Coach Pete Carroll expects to use DeShaun Hill at free safety and switch Simmons outside some of the time.

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Tailback Sultan McCullough was scheduled to see a doctor Tuesday night for yet another assessment of his strained abdomen.

McCullough has missed most of three games after playing with pain in the early season. His injury appears to be the type for which other athletes have required surgery, though Carroll was not ready to go that far.

Chris Prosser also had a medical exam, for the lingering effects of a concussion. The outside linebacker, who answered a battery of questions for nearly six hours, said he feels better but will not get the test results until today.

In McCullough’s absence, USC has used Sunny Byrd and Chad Pierson at tailback, with Chris Howard fighting to get into that mix. The redshirt freshman ran hard in practice Tuesday and, though safety Troy Polamalu leveled Howard twice, Carroll was impressed.

“Troy was checking him out,” Carroll said. “He hammered him a couple of times but [Howard] popped back up. That’s what I want to see.”

Lenny Vandermade, who has struggled to hold his starting position at center, made inroads with his play against Arizona. He practiced with the first team much of Tuesday but Carroll reserved judgment, saying he wants his linemen to compete for their spots until the end of the week.