Key veterans return to lead USC

This is the first in a series of eight stories this week about Pac-10 football teams.

LOS ANGELES — In case you've had an extended stay on a mountainside in Nepal, you know USC football has it going under Pete Carroll.

The Trojans are 82-9 in his past seven seasons, in which he has famously merged three driving forces: The tradition of USC football; its location in a teeming talent pool; and the prospect of being able to play early.

"He's always going to give a young guy a chance," says guard Jeff Byers. "That's why a lot of guys are here."

The buzz in the 2009 USC camp is over Matt Barkley, a freshman quarterback positioned to start ahead of Aaron Corp, who has missed time with a cracked bone in his left leg.

But there's a different twist in 2009: Get ready for Revenge of the Old Folks.

Byers is a sixth-year senior, receiving the extra season from the NCAA because of back and hip injuries that cost him the 2005 and 2006 seasons. You'd be hard-pressed to say his time has been wasted; he's one fall class away from getting his MBA degree.

Then there's Taylor Mays, the safety from O'Dea High School. Mays is simply coming back for a senior season, even after getting an NFL evaluation that saw him as a first-round pick in April.

The Trojans, expected again to be a national-title contender, will have their usual array of freshman studs, but the homebody decisions by Byers and Mays ensure that USC won't lack for leadership as it seeks replacements at quarterback and linebacker.

Inexperience at quarterback might mean USC's No. 4 preseason coaches ranking is a bit ambitious. On the other hand, in those media outlets that rank position units, the Trojans are getting mention as No. 1 for their offensive line, defensive backs and receivers.

If the Trojans perform to that level, and Barkley or Corp steps up, it could help Mays scratch one of the itches that brought him back.

"It sucks that we haven't won a national championship," he said, referring to his first three years.

Apparently, he's primed to do his part. Says Carroll, "There's never been a guy more physically fit, faster or stronger, than what Taylor is."

Mays says everything changed sometime after USC finished its 12-1 season in 2008.

"Everybody thought I wanted to leave," he says. "I did want to leave. It switched one day. Then it turned into a little more, and a little more."

Even as he likely would have been a top-15 pick, that wasn't good enough for the 6-foot-3, 235-pound Mays.

"I'm not content with going 11th, 12th, even 10th," he said. "I think No. 1 is still reserved for quarterbacks. But just to be up higher and not have any regrets about it ...

"Why not take one more year and try to put an exclamation point on what I came here to do? It's one year I'll never get back, one year I could help this team make history."

As for Byers, his 2005 hip surgery left him needing something to do.

"It's not fun to be out there watching," he said. "I decided to take an extra class and get a little ahead."

He took a heavier load the next summer, got hurt again and decided to plod toward a Master's degree. A big, gregarious guy, he'll have options besides the NFL.

It will be up to people like Byers and Mays to keep the Trojans at a fine pitch. Stunning losses the past two years to Stanford and Oregon State kept USC from national-title consideration.

As for Carroll, the oldest head in the program, he was supposed to have gone back to the NFL by now, simply out of boredom. But he's got autonomy, he's making $4 million a year and he seems to be having fun. Byers and Mays each say the chance to come back and play for him was important in their decisions.

"I think he stays around here because he has a blast," Byers says. "I think he loves Southern California. He's got a great house. You go down to the beach and see him boogie-boarding.

"I don't think he can get a better gig than this."

He's even got some of his players thinking the same way.

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com