Ted Miller has a couple of interesting pieces today.

Here is his nice write-up on Jeff Byers...

Jeff Byers has been around a long time at USC and he's seen a lot. He started games for the 2004 team that won a second consecutive national championship. And he's seen his promising career almost end due to injuries, which killed two of his seasons.

Old Man Byers, as some of his teammates hail the sixth-year offensive guard, will anchor perhaps the nation's best offensive line this fall as a sixth-year senior. Yet his chief reason for hanging around for so long might surprise you.

"I came back because I wanted to finish my masters' degree, first off," said Byers, who will turn 24 in September.

Let's just say that Byers has used his time at USC wisely. While many yakety yak endlessly about college athletes not getting paid, Byers has parlayed his football scholarship into a bachelor's degree in business administration and tossed in an MBA for good measure.

That would cost most folks around $350,000.

That is some nice scratch...and that is before football. If he never plays in the NFL he will do pretty well with what he has accomplished in school. Byers really has been the anchor of late. His experience last year was really key in bringing the O line along and we culd not have done it without him.

Byers is a great Trojan!

Miller is also fretting about our depth at running back...again.

It's another bushel of stories about USC's embarrassment of riches at tailback and the counterintuitive but entirely defensible idea that too much of a good thing might become a bad thing.

Or at least a less good thing than it could be if there were, say, merely three future NFL draft choices in the backfield instead of six.

Look. Here's one already! (A good one, in fact).

To let you in on a little secret: Sportswriters don't like doing the same story over and over again. And I've hit this one a few times over the years.

I've got a hunch, too, my boss is going to call me up at some point soon and say ... USC running backs ... think ... we ... need to... hit that one ... again.

Look, its what Pete Carroll does...stockpile talent. No one is twisting these guys arms to come here to compete. I like our rotation, Pete Carroll will find the right mix like he always does. I am hoping that John Morton finds a few tricks up his sleeve that he can throw into the mix.

It will be fun to watch (again)!

I am not sure why this was such a big deal...

But Mitch Mustain has been cleared to play next season.

USC quarterback Mitch Mustain has resolved an academic issue and is eligible for the coming season, Coach Pete Carroll said.

"It's been resolved," said Carroll, whose team reports for training camp Aug. 7.

Carroll had confirmed last week that Mustain, a fourth-year junior, was dealing with unspecified academic matters that could have jeopardized his eligibility. The Trojans open the season against San Jose State on Sept. 5.

Meh...We have seen it before and it gets cleared up so I am not sure it was big as SOME made it out to be. Hopefully he has righted the ship and things will go smoothly in the fall.

BTW...anyone think we will have some fun with this?

I will!!