In light of recent news surrounding the NCAA reducing major scholarship sanctions on Penn State University, numerous members of the USC Football Program spoke out on Tuesday sharing their unique perspective on the matter.
"We also are hopeful that the NCAA's recently enacted enforcement and penalty reforms will result in a consistent and fair enforcement and penalty process for all its institutions," USC AD Pat Haden told usctrojans.com.
Haden even proposed large-scale changes in the entire process, preaching the necessity for a team-wide effort to fix rampant problems of NCAA investigations. "As you know, the NCAA is currently engaged in the process of evaluating and potentially reforming its governance structure. We look forward to having a positive impact on that process.
Under Coach Bill O'Brien, Penn State will be allowed to increase its scholarship number to 75 in 2014-15, 80 in 2015-16 and begin competing with the maximum 85 in the 2016-17 academic year. These changes come in the midst of continual reductions for other programs like USC as coach Lane Kiffin was rather congratulatory for the resurgent news.
"I think that's awesome," Kiffin said during his Pac-12 media conference. "Knowing what it's like to go through and trying to manage those numbers and plan down the road as we have, now for Bill not to have to do that as much is great for him.
These comments come after nearly three rigorous years under NCAA sanctions which have placed its fair share on Southern California, limiting ten scholarships per year on the program. "That has been a jigsaw puzzle which is difficult to crack, sooner or later it catches up with you," Haden said just last week in a USC Sports Business Class.
That being said, the challenge shifts towards facing Arizona State this upcoming week in a battle royal as the Trojans fight low health numbers on its current roster. The USC Trojans (3-1,0-1) take the field focused on regaining stature in the Pac-12 South with a stout defense and an offense looking to gain momentum in the play-action passing game.