Freshman running back Dillon Baxter has been suspended by USC head coach Lane Kiffin for violating team rules, per Gary Klein of the LA Times:
Kiffin declined to say what team rules Baxter had broken. Baxter was unavailable for comment Wednesday, one day after he spent two practices on the sideline going through a series of punitive conditioning drills.
Kiffin said he decided to suspend Baxter after "examining his seven months here."
"I looked at it as a total package and felt that this was an extremely strong message to him, to our team, and the freshman class of our expectations," the coach added.
Baxter will miss the season opener at Hawaii. Klein reported on what may have been the source of the suspension:
"A student was cited to Judicial Affairs for violating a team curfew and being under the influence of a controlled substance," the report said. Neither Baxter nor any other player is named in the report.
But a source with knowledge of the situation said Baxter was the unnamed individual in the report and that officers smelled marijuana in the dormitory. The source, unauthorized to speak publicly about the matter, requested anonymity.
Baxter, a prized recruit from Mission Bay High School in San Diego, had impressed in spring camp, including this electrifying run in practice: