Orange County Register

USC will have just six scholarship players available when it opens the 2009-10 season Tuesday against UC Riverside.

And you thought the football team had problems

The six are opening-night starters Dwight Lewis, Donte Smith, Marcus Simmons, Kasey Cunningham and Nikola Vucevic, plus reserve big man Davis Rozitis.

Here’s a rundown of who’s out and why:

• Projected starting PF Alex Stepheson is out because of a sore knee that has prevented him from practicing the past two weeks.
• Freshman SF Evan Smith also has been out for about two weeks because of a shoulder injury. Coach Kevin O’Neill said both are day to day.
• Senior SF Marcus Johnson is ineligible for the first two games.
• Senior PG Mike Gerrity and sophomore F Leonard Washington won’t be eligible until sometime in December.
• Sophomore PG Percy Miller is ineligible because what O’Neill called “an NCAA issue.” He isn’t sure when Miller will be reinstated.

Related link:

• Trojans will go as far as Dwight Lewis takes them

More from the USC blog:

• USC football: Carroll doesn’t foresee splintering
• Report card: Grading the Trojans (vs. Stanford)
• USC football: Trojans stumbling at finish line
• USC football: How low can the Trojans go?
• USC football: No plans to bench Barkley
• Five observations from Stanford 55, USC 21
• Complete wrapup of USC-Stanford
• USC football: A program running for cover
• Can the Trojans still win with Barkley in 2009?

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