USC Football: 5 Ways to Interpret Spring Ball Headlines

So it's March, and once again, you are trolling the Internet for every morsel of information on your favorite team. It's only natural. You bleed cardinal and gold and went into a mild depression around December.

Now, you are hanging on every word written about USC's possible national championship-contending football team for the next month. After that, you'll suffer withdrawal symptoms until August.

It's understandable that you would want to excessively drool over the little information you have. But for your sanity, and possibly your family's as well, it is best that you interpret the headlines correctly.

Here are some tips and their application to some of this week's headlines. You'll sleep better afterward.

Don't Panic

Are you worried because Robert Woods is not participating in spring practice?

Don’t be.

It’s fairly common for veterans to use the spring time to heal up from offseason surgeries. Of course, it would be wonderful if they could test their newly-reconstructed joints and ligaments during the spring, but with your best athletes, it is often better to be better safe than sorry. An athlete of Woods' caliber can catch up during the fall without missing a beat. But he can’t do that if he aggravates the injury in the spring.

A good rule of thumb for any player to keep in mind: If you have to sit out for a month, make sure it's March and not September.

Don't Ask Too Many Questions

So LT Kevin Graf and RT Aundrey Walker are switching places this week? What is that all about, eh?

Coach Kiffin finally has some time to explore all his options so he is going to.

"It's spring. It's early. Let's see what it looks like. It wasn't out of poor performance by Kevin,” Kiffin said on Tuesday.

Graf started at right tackle all last season, and sometimes, it’s best to not try to fix things that aren’t broken. If both players do equally well at the left tackle spot, it might be best to put the younger Walker in there for the long haul and let Graf continue to do what he does best on the other side. This isn’t some huge strategic move, nor is it a telling commentary about the skill level of the players.

This is just part of the process that is really not that complicated at all.

Be Patient

The latest experiment this spring is Tre Madden. The back-up strong-side linebacker is now practicing with the running backs. At 6’0” and 200 pounds, he still runs a 40 in 4.5, making him the possible solution to the Trojans’ running back problem.

At USC, having two healthy running backs (Curtis McNeal and D.J. Morgan) isn't enough, especially when your third option is an injured red-shirt freshman who hasn't taken a snap of college ball (Buck Allen).

The staff wants a specific kind of back. They want the thunder to McNeal’s and Morgan’s lightning. Converting a linebacker into a ball-carrier worked when the player's name was Allen Bradford, so it might work again.

But it won’t happen overnight. Don’t expect him to be a national sensation by the time the spring game rolls around. Let’s see what happens after he learns the playbook. If he’s not perfect by his second practice, don’t jump to call him a failure.

Remember What Spring Ball Is for

You don’t win championships in March.You don't win anything in March.

You heal. You learn. You try to get a few things figured out.

If veterans sit out, it will be alright. They know how the drill goes. It’s the youngsters that need the extra practice.

Extra practice. That is really what spring ball is at the end of the day. You can get ahead, but you rarely fall behind so far that it is impossible to catch up. This season, the Trojans have enough of the pieces put together that they might make a little headway.

So no matter what breaking news story comes across your computer screen, good or bad, just remember that it is still a long way until August.

In reality, anything reported is done by a bunch of bored, football-starved reporters trying to entertain themselves until the season starts (author included).

Soak It in

Just like those bored reporters, you miss college football. Instead of fretting about every word written, relish in the fact that you are least getting news about football that doesn’t involve Tim Tebow or Sean Payton.

You have pictures of the boys of fall in the beginning of spring now, but it will be gone in a flash. Take a moment to enjoy the smell of sweat in the air and sound of helmets clashing on the field. You won’t get that again for a few more months.

Relish it.