Roundup: 4 Pac-12 teams ranked in USA Today preseason top 25
Utah is ranked No. 25 in the preseason USA Today poll (The Salt Lake Tribune with this writeup). Also in the top 25 from the Pac-12 are USC at No. 4, Washington at No. 7 and Stanford at No. 14. Receiving votes from the Pac are Washington State (the de facto No. 26), Colorado (the defacto No. 27), Oregon, Arizona and UCLA. Nine teams either ranked (four of those) or receiving votes (five more).
Rusty Simmons reports that Cal might not name a starting quarterback for some time. Doesn’t sound like head coach Justin Wilcox will be giving progress reports until he names a starter either.
Oregon State quarterback Jake Luton is happy and excited to be named the starter for the Beavers, writes Gina Mizell.
Vytas Mazeika of the Bay Area News Group writes about Stanford quarterback Keller Chryst’s return to the field to start training camp after injuring his knee in the Sun Bowl Dec. 30. He was held out of team activities in the first practice, but Chryst said he felt like he could have participated in everything.
As of now, Oregon football has the best 2018 recruiting class according to Scout, notes Andrew Nemec of The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Andy Staples answers a question from a reader about the hype surrounding USC football heading into the 2017 season in his Sports Illustrated mailbag.
Michael Lev spends this article discussing what Arizona football can do to improve its defense this season. It was, uh, not good in 2016, as the Wildcats finished 11th in the Pac-12 in takeaways and 126th out of 128 FBS teams in rate of forcing three-and-outs.
Washington linebacker Azeem Victor is “back to normal” after breaking his leg in the last month of the 2016 season, writes Adam Jude.
Here’s the latest Arizona State football practice report courtesy of Doug Haller. This one centers around discipline.
Thuc Nhi Nguyen of the Los Angeles Daily News features former UCLA safety Kenny Easley, who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday.
Theo Lawson of The Spokesman-Review writes about the FIFA games played by Washington State football players and other off-the-field competitions in which they engage. Sounds like Luke Falk has Jamal Morrow’s number on the sticks.
Pat Rooney reports that former Colorado lacrosse goalie Paige Soensken will join the Cal lacrosse coaching staff.