Tuesday Update

Published 9:00 pm Monday, September 11, 2006

There was a bit of news to come out of Tyrone Willingham’s daily press briefing today. The biggest piece of news is that Anthony Atkins has finally been cleared to join the team after being in academic limbo since the beginning of fall camp. Atkins is going through his five-day acclimation period but it seems a pretty good bet that Atkins will redshirt this season. There was no news about Ashlee Palmer or Aaron Mason.

Willingham said walk-on receiver Troy Perry has been moved to defensive back to help with the depth there.

Willingham doesn’t expect Robert Lewis or Michael Gottlieb back this week or next but they could return for the Arizona game. Receiver Cody Ellis could return next week.

There was hardly any real news to come out of the Pac-10 coaches teleconference. The most interesting one – though one already reported earlier – was that Taylor Mays would start at safety for USC against Nebraska this week. The former O’Dea star has clearly impressed coach Pete Carroll, who has raved about Mays for the last few weeks.