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USC will build a new aquatics center funded by an $8 million gift from a former swimmer at the school, it announced Tuesday.

Wilfred "Fred" Uytengsu has made the largest donation ever to the Trojans' athletic department by a former student-athlete. He graduated with a business degree in 1983 and was captain of the men's swim team after initially joining the team as a walk-on.

The Uytengsu Aquatics Center will serve as home to the men's and women's swimming, diving and water polo teams. At Uytengsu's request, the pool will be named for his former coach, Peter Daland, who won nine national championships and 17 conference titles in more than 30 years on the job spanning five decades.

It'll be a state-of-the-art aquatics facility, including a new diving dry-land training area, a new dive tower, new locker rooms and coaches' offices, a new scoreboard with video capabilities and a stadium that will seat up to 2,500.

"We are extremely grateful for this transformative gift from Fred Uytengsu and his family," USC athletic director Pat Haden said in a statement. "It signifies their tremendous commitment to take our aquatics facilities - in which 20 national championships have been won - to the next level. The gift will also greatly enhance the experience of our swimming, diving and water polo team members."

The new facility will include a dive tower, locker and team rooms, coaches' offices, a scoreboard with video capabilities and a stadium that will seat up to 2,500.

Uytengsu, worth an estimated $150 million as of last year per Forbes, is president and CEO of a consumer foods company in the Philippines and is credited with bringing the Ironman race to the country.

His family also owns the Alaska Aces pro basketball team.

The last time USC had as few as three players selected in an NFL draft, as did they did last weekend, the Trojans were coming off a 6-6 season in Pete Carroll's first year on the job.

That was April 2002.

Cornerbacks Kris Richard and Chris Cash went in the third and sixth rounds, respectively. Thus, the common reaction would be to dismiss that year as having nothing to do with this one, when Matt Kalil and Nick Perry each went in the first round and then only tight end/fullback Rhett Ellison was taken among the remaining 231 selections.

But that would be incorrect.

The two years actually share a lot of similarities -- starting with the fact that the talent on both the 2001 and 2011 squads was overwhelmingly backloaded with underclassmen. The lack of draftable talent in 2002 -- along with the success the 2002 team would go on to have -- foreshadowed the five players who would be taken in 2003, including two in the first round.

And the lack of draftable talent in 2012 should foreshadow the many players likely to be selected in 2013, including three potential first-rounders.

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Six 2011 USC Trojans have latched on to NFL teams via the undrafted free-agent wire as of Sunday morning.

Those include defensive tackle DaJohn Harris, who signed with the Tennessee Titans, and linebacker Chris Galippo, who agreed to terms with the Indianapolis Colts. Harris had been projected as a potential mid-round pick in the 2012 NFL draft but slipped because of health concerns, and Galippo had an outside shot of being selected entering the weekend.

The four others: receiver Brandon Carswell, who signed with the Oakland Raiders, long snapper Chris Pousson (Tampa Bay), defensive tackle Christian Tupou (San Diego) and running back Marc Tyler (Green Bay).

Nine players from the 2011 USC squad will have the opportunity to play in the NFL next season, with the six undrafted signees plus first-round draft selections Matt Kalil and Nick Perry and fourth-round pick Nick Perry.

The Trojans could have close to that many drafted next season, led by potential first-round selections Matt Barkley, T.J. McDonald and Robert Woods.

Former USC tight end/fullback Rhett Ellison is going to join his college teammate Matt Kalil at the next level.

Both ex-Trojans were picked by the Minnesota Vikings in this weekend's 2012 NFL draft, Kalil on Thursday as the fourth overall selection and Ellison on Saturday as the 128th overall selection, late in the fourth round.

It was right around where he was projected to go, but Ellison told Minnesota-area reporters in a conference call after his selection that it was a surprise to him.

"I wasn’t really expecting to get drafted," Ellison said. "I was pretty shocked and I’m still trying to calm everything down."

Ellison becomes USC's third selection of the 2012 draft after Kalil and defensive end Nick Perry, who went 28th overall to Green Bay. Defensive tackle DaJohn Harris is expected to be taken sometime Saturday.

USC football players Marqise Lee, Tony Burnett and Nickell Robey are all expected to compete in Sunday's dual track & field meet between USC and UCLA, an annual affair valued highly by both programs.

All three are competing in the long jump Burnett, a backup linebacker for the football Trojans, will take part in the triple jump; Robey and Lee are each expected to run segments of the 4x100m relay.

Earlier this year, the trio and fellow football/track participant D.J. Morgan ran the 4x100m as a foursome and challenged USC's normal combination. Morgan, a running back on the football team, is not expected to participate Sunday.

Among football players also competing in track & field events, Lee (long jump) and Burnett (triple jump) have each posted the top marks in their events among all divisions of the NCAA, according to stats compiled by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Sunday's meet will be held at UCLA.

USC defensive end Nick Perry was selected by the Green Bay Packers with the No. 28 overall pick in the first round of the 2012 NFL draft on Thursday.

A two-year starter for the Trojans, Perry was recruited to USC out of Detroit in 2008 as one of the nation's top-rated prospects. He never became a full-fledged star at the college level but lived up to his potential and led the Pac-12 with 9.5 sacks in 2011.

In the Packers' 3-4 defensive scheme, Perry will likely play outside linebacker across from former USC end/linebacker Clay Matthews.

Perry becomes USC's 77th first-round draft pick, the most of any school in history. He was the second ex-Trojan drafted on the draft's first day Thursday after left tackle Matt Kalil, who went fourth overall to the Minnesota Vikings.

Both players departed for the draft after their redshirt junior seasons at USC.

USC has at least two more players expected to be selected at some point during the draft's next two days in tight end Rhett Ellison and defensive tackle DaJohn Harris and three or four others have hopes of being picked.

It's likely the Trojans won't have a player taken Friday, with only rounds two and three taking place then.

As had been expected for the last few months, former USC left tackle Matt Kalil was selected by the Minnesota Vikings high in the first round of the 2012 NFL draft.

But there was a small surprise: Kalil went fourth overall, not third. The Vikings traded down one selection with the Cleveland Browns, getting the man they wanted all along and accumulating some more picks in the process.

Kalil was a two-year starter for the Trojans who declared for the draft after his redshirt junior season. At 6 feet 7 and 300-plus pounds, he has prototypical left tackle size for the next level and will be counted on to be Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder's blind-side blocker for the foreseeable future in Minnesota.

With his selection, Kalil becomes USC's 76th first-round draft pick, the most of any school in the country. He also became USC’s highest selection since Reggie Bush went second in 2006 and the highest offensive lineman since Tony Boselli went second in 1995.

The Trojans now have had 474 NFL draftees, more than any school. Kalil is also the 22nd USC offensive lineman selected in the first round since 1968.

Kalil joins tackles Ron Yary and Steve Riley as ex-USC offensive linemen selected in the first round by the Vikings. The Vikings last took a USC prospect in the first round in 2004, with defensive end Kenechi Udeze.

Kalil is the third member of his family chosen in the NFL draft. His brother, Ryan, an All-American lineman at USC, was a second-round selection in 2007 by the Carolina Panthers and is now an All-Pro center in the NFL. His father, Frank, was a 1982 draftee by the Buffalo Bills out of Arizona.

The NFL draft continues Thursday, Friday and Saturday. USC is expecting anywhere from four to seven players to be selected, with defensive end Nick Perry the next possibility at some point in the latter half of the first round.

The 2012 NFL draft begins tomorrow, Thursday.

USC has two players expected to be taken in the first round, two more players who should definitely be picked at some point over the draft's three days and three other prospects who stand a chance of being selected.

We break down those seven players' draft stock here, in order of their projected selection:

LT Matt Kalil

The two-year USC starter was looked at as a virtual lock to go No. 3 overall to the Minnesota Vikings for quite some time, but there has been recent speculation that his stock is dropping. Still, an absolute worst-case scenario would have Kalil going sixth to St. Louis or seventh to Jacksonville. There's no way he falls out of the top eight, which would make him the highest USC selection since Mark Sanchez went fifth to the Jets in 2009.

DE Nick Perry

Scouts' and experts' opinions on Perry appear varied. Some have him scratching the top half of the first round and some have him falling near the end of the bottom half. The physical specimen still seems like a great bet to be picked at some point among the top 32 picks. One of the factors that will decide how he goes is whether teams will select him as a 4-3 end or 3-4 outside linebacker, which are both possibilities considering his skill set.

DT DaJohn Harris

Harris has some work-ethic issues and medical concerns with sleep apnea and a patent foramen ovale, but he also has the potential to be a starting defensive tackle at the next level, and that should get him picked somewhere in the fourth or fifth rounds, which means he'll probably have to wait until Saturday to be selected with the draft's format. Harris never had a truly consistent long stretch with the Trojans, but he showed flashes on a number of occasions.

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USC basketball's offseason won't compare to UCLA's, with the Bruins adding on big-time recruits Kyle Anderson, Shabazz Muhammad and Tony Parker, but the Trojans will also be a heck of a lot better in 2012-13 than they were in 2011-2012.

Of course, it doesn't take a lot to be a lot better than 6-26. But 15 wins is probably the baseline for next season's Trojans team, with 20 victories and NCAA tournament contention both legitimate possibilities. To that end, here is a projection of USC's 2012-2013 roster and lineup, taking into account the Trojans' remaining scholarship slot, which stands to be used on a transfer, probably a wing player of some sort.

That could very well be former Tennessee forward Renaldo Woolridge, who's visiting USC for the second time this weekend. So we took the liberty of including him here. It also could not, as the Trojans continue to pursue other prospects.

But here is the projected 2012-2013 lineup and, in basic order of contribution to the team, the bench. We provide brief comments on each player:

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USC released its annual end-of-spring depth chart last week, which we posted mostly without comment at the time. Here, now, is our position-by-position analysis of what Lane Kiffin and Co. released, with an eye on what it means for the 2012 Trojans.

Quarterback

This was exactly as expected, with Matt Barkley entrenched and Cody Kessler and Max Wittek continuing to compete behind him. It is noteworthy that Jesse Scroggins is listed a spot behind the two redshirt freshmen and not tied with them, but it'd be a little unfair for him to be anywhere else. He missed most of the spring with hip issues and is still in academic jeopardy.

Running back

Where would Tre Madden have been if he wasn't out for the 2012 season? That's the question this portion of the chart begs. Curtis McNeal would still be starting, but Madden could very well be vying with D.J. Morgan for that No. 2 spot. Javorious Allen will be the third-string back unless he gets beat out by an incoming freshman.

Fullback

Soma Vainuku is locked in as the starter with no pressing competition, but he had himself a nice conclusion to the spring anyway, giving the coaching staff more confidence in him going into the summer. Jahleel Pinner will be somewhat of an unknown.

Receiver

De'Von Flournoy jumped in front of Victor Blackwell with an impressive spring, and has now put himself into position to challenge George Farmer for third-receiver status in the fall. And if Farmer can't stay healthy (again), then Flournoy's suddenly the favorite to line up with Robert Woods and Marqise Lee.

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USC’s spring practice is done and football is officially over until the first week of August, so we’re going over the five biggest things we learned this spring.

We went over De’Von Flournoy‘s surprise spring on Monday, defensive back depth on Tuesday, offensive tackle struggles on Wednesday and grand-scheme defensive changes Thursday. Here's the fifth and final thing: A statistical decrease might very well be imminent for Matt Barkley.

Lane Kiffin kept saying Matt Barkley was bored this spring after his monstrous 2011 season, with all the plays the Trojans were installing already firmly ensconced in his brain and a number of his top targets out for significant portions of the sessions.

But Matt Barkley kept denying he was bored. So we'll take him for his word.

Still, could you fault the senior signal-caller if he was just a tiny bit bored with his fourth spring practice in a USC uniform?

And could that carry over this summer and early this fall? No one is saying Barkley is an unmotivated guy -- for a 21-year-old, he's accomplished an awful lot, and stands to accomplish a ton more in the next few years.

But to continue to get better at this level this year is going to be a huge challenge. He's going to have to get a little lucky, first of all, and have all of his top targets stay healthy. And he's going to have to play most of USC's games all the way into the fourth quarter -- no guarantee considering some of the likely outcomes early in the season.

So, last year, Barkley threw for 3,528 yards, 39 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Those came in 12 games. This season, he'll have the opportunity to play in 14 games, which is by far his best chance to improve on those numbers.

But can he match that rate? It seems unlikely.

Of course, all that is secondary to the real barometer of Barkley's success in 2012: Wins. It really doesn't matter if his stats fall off some this year if the Trojans keep winning . . .

Regular coverage resumes Monday.

USC’s spring practice is done and football is officially over until the first week of August, so we’re going over the five biggest things we learned this spring.

We went over De’Von Flournoy‘s surprise spring Monday, defensive back depth on Tuesday and offensive tackle struggles on Wednesday. Our fourth thing is this: The USC Trojans defense is being built to better stop the spread.

They are subtle switches, but they're switches all the same.

Monte Kiffin is slowly but surely molding his USC defense into a more spread-friendly unit, we saw this spring. Essentially, the Trojans are adjusting to the rest of the Pac-12 in emphasizing speed more than ever, and it makes sense.

Evidence: All the experiments USC conducted this spring were tilted in one direction: Seeing if smaller players will fit at bigger positions, like trying safety Tony Burnett on the strong side of the linebacking corps and trying defensive end Greg Townsend Jr. on the inside of the defensive line.

We saw some of this last year, too. Based on the perspective the Trojans demonstrated in Lane Kiffin's first season at the helm of the program in 2010, they never would have tried out safety Dion Bailey at linebacker. But that spring experiment worked out well, and it worked even better in the fall when USC realized they could keep Bailey and fellow outside linebacker Hayes Pullard on the field in second- and third-down situations and not get completely exposed.

A lot of the struggles the Trojans had in 2010 were related to that. They used Devon Kennard as a middle linebacker, not his natural defensive-end slot, and they weren't quick enough to defend Oregon for four full quarters. Heck, they arguably weren't even quick enough to stop Arizona.

But they were last season. And they should be again in 2012, with basically every player across the entire defense on the smaller size, weight-wise. Wes Horton and George Uko might be the only USC defenders with prototypical frames for their positions.

Another potential get-small move for the future is putting incoming freshman Leonard Williams at defensive tackle. He's a nice-sized defensive end, but he could be a workable three-technique tackle, which is one of the Trojans' biggest needs behind Uko.

The Kiffins have demonstrated creativity with assembling their defense of late, and there's no reason to think they won't continue to this fall and beyond.

Check back Friday for our final thing we learned this spring.

USC’s spring practice is done and football is officially over until the first week of August, so we’re going over the five biggest things we learned this spring.

We went over De’Von Flournoy‘s surprise spring Monday and defensive back depth on Tuesday. Our third -- and first not-so-great -- thing we learned over this year's spring practice is this: Both USC tackles still have a lot of work to do to learn how to best defend speed ends.

Lane Kiffin mentioned it more than once over the course of the Trojans' 15 spring practices.

He was generally happy with the progress of the team's interior offensive line throughout the spring. Center Khaled Holmes wasn't always healthy, but, when he was, he was demonstrating improvement. Right guard John Martinez was quietly good. And sophomore left guard Marcus Martin proved nimbler on his feet after an offseason in the conditioning program.

But the offensive tackles, blind-sider Aundrey Walker and right tackle Kevin Graf, left a little something to be desired -- specifically, both players demonstrated a number of times they're not yet well-equipped to defend speed-rushing defensive ends. Devon Kennard and Wes Horton got by them on the outside with ease.

"That's been an issue for us," Kiffin said last week, after USC's spring-concluding Spring Game.

And that's slightly alarming, because the Pac-12 has a ton of ends who are even more pass-rush-oriented than Kennard and Horton. So is it a full-on structural thing, where Walker and Graf just aren't capable of turning their hips quick enough to prevent ends from getting the edge? Or is it just a time thing, where they both need time to develop better technique?

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USC's spring practice is done and football is officially over until the first week of August, so we're going over the five biggest things we learned this spring, avoiding basic topics like who surprised and who disappointed in favor of broader, longer-term issues.

We went over De'Von Flournoy's surprise spring yesterday. Today, our second thing is this: This team's defensive back depth might actually be one of its biggest strengths, contrary to what recent history would have you believe.

Here's a good example of how the USC secondary is so much deeper this year than it has been in any recent season.

The coaches used to have to switch trackster Tony Burnett back and forth from corner to safety during his first two seasons with the program to add temporary depth wherever it was lacking. This spring, there was so much depth there that they moved Burnett to an entirely new position: strongside linebacker, where he looked to be thriving in the final week.

That's the kind of luxury all this depth is going to give new defensive backs coach Marvin Sanders and the Kiffins in 2012.

All the starters return at corner and safety, and then four or five more potential starters also return or enter in behind them, depending on how you look at it. There is simply a ton of depth across the board, so much so that an incoming signee like Kevon Seymour might be forced to redshirt as a freshman because of a sheer lack of available snaps.

Last year, it wouldn't have been farfetched to expect Seymour to come in and start right away.

What will USC be able to do because of that extra depth? Well, it's going to make redshirts more likely for Seymour and fellow incoming freshman Devian Shelton. But it may also allow newcomers Josh Shaw and Gerald Bowman to learn the system without a rush to get on the field in camp.

For Bowman, in particular, that could be a key benefit. He has difference-making potential, but it would've been a lot easier for him to fulfill that potential if he enrolled in the spring. It also means Burnett's probably going to stay at linebacker for his final season. Even if he struggles some there, it just makes more sense from a get-on-the-field perspective.

Considering the other units across the board, the only other ones that come close to the overall depth of the defensive backs are the quarterbacks and the tight ends -- with experience still an issue under center and health a serious issue at tight end.

So, yes, things have changed in the USC secondary.

Check back Wednesday for the second thing we learned in the spring, involving USC's offensive tackles and something they still need to work on.

Former USC women's basketball player Jacki Gemelos was selected 31st overall by the Minnesota Lynx in today's WNBA draft, a remarkable step for the former national top prospect who has undergone five ACL reconstructions in the last six years.

Gemelos, a 6-0 guard, was named the 2006 National Player of the Year out of St. Mary's High in Stockton, Calif., but didn't make her collegiate debut until February 2010 because of various knee injuries. She eventually played in 57 total college games, including one full season in 2010-2011, and proved to be a lethal 3-point shooter and well-above-average rebounder despite the injuries.

She had been averaging 11.0 points and a team-high 7.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists this past season before she suffering another knee injury Dec. 18 against Texas A&M.

Former USC guard Briana Gilbreath was also selected in the WNBA draft, also in the third round, 35th overall by the Washington Mystics. The Women of Troy now have 10 total WNBA selections in the league's 16-year history.