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Preseason Ranking: No. 4 in AP Top 25; No. 4 in USA Today Poll.

Key Returning Players: Aaron Corp (QB); Mitch Mustain (QB); Stafon Johnson (RB); Joe McKnight (RB); C.J. Gable (RB); Damian Williams (WR); Charles Brown; Anthony McCoy (TE); (OT); Butch Lewis (OT); Jeff Byers (G); Alex Parsons (G); Kristofer O’Dowd (C); Taylor Mays (S); Everson Griffen (DE); Drew McAllister (S); Kevin Thomas (CB).

Key Losses: Rey Maualuga (LB); Brian Cushing (LB); Fili Moala (DT); Mark Sanchez (QB); Kevin Ellison (S); Cary Harris (CB); Kaluka Maiava (LB); Clay Matthews (DE); Kyle Moore (DE); Patrick Turner (WR); David Buehler (K); Greg Woidneck (P).

Player to Watch: Matt Barkley, QB.
Barkley is the much-ballyhooed freshman who rather surprisingly beat out sophomore Aaron Corp and Mitch Mustain (a redshirt junior transfer from Arkansas) for the Trojans’ starting quarterback job this summer. Barkley will be the first freshman starting quarterback at USC during head coach Pete Carroll’s era, so the pressure is on. He’s a gunslinger in every sense of the word, which can be both good and bad. He has the arm strength to make every throw, but the knock on him is that he’ll try to force the ball into tight coverage and therefore has the penchant for throwing interceptions. The notion is that Corp (who is battling a leg injury) isn’t healthy enough to start the opener and therefore Carroll named Barkley the starter to instill confidence in the young signal caller. It’s unclear at this point if Carroll will stick with Barkley if he struggles early in the season, or if Corp will eventually take over.

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