USC Football: Matt Barkley, Silas Redd Have Big Plays In Intrasquad Scrimmage

With their season opener a mere three weeks away, the USC Trojans held their first full scrimmage on Friday afternoon at the Coliseum, one day before beginning two-a-day practices. The highlight on Friday was quarterback Matt Barkley throwing a 40-yard touchdown pass to tight end Randall Telfer.

Barkley, a leading Heisman Trophy candidate, completed seven of 16 passes in Friday's scrimmage for 109 yards, including the touchdown to Telfer. But Barkley conceded that playing against his own defense made things hard on what many consider to be the top offense in the Pac-12 Conference, if not the nation.

"I thought it was a fun first day in the Coliseum for these guys to get out here and be explosive," Barkley said. "Overall defense got after it today. I'm not going to lie, I think they had our number."

The defense had eight tackles for loss in the scrimmage, including four sacks. Defensive ends Kevin Greene, Morgan Breslin, and Leonard WIlliams, and defensive tackle J.R. Tavai all picked up sacks.

Redshirt sophomore D.J. Morgan led USC in rushing during the scrimmage with 69 yards on 10 carries, including a 35-yard scamper. Silas Redd, the tailback who transferred from Penn State, had just two carries but one of them was a 43-yard run. Curtis McNeal rushed twice for 11 yards.

Robert Woods caught four passes for 55 yards, while fellow wideout Marqise Lee caught one ball for eight yards.

USC opens its 2012 college football schedule on September 1, hosting Hawaii at the Coliseum in a 4:30 p.m. PDT game that will be televised by Fox.

For more news and notes on USC football, be sure to read Conquest Chronicles.