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USC center Khaled Holmes was named to the 2012 Rimington Award watch list on Thursday, putting him in contention for a trophy given annually to the nation's top center.

The award is named after former Nebraska center Dave Rimington and is presented by the Boomer Esiason Foundation, fundraising for a cure for cystic fibrosis.

Holmes, a senior, has started for two seasons for the Trojans, in 2010 at right guard and in 2011 at center. He has already graduated from USC and is pursuing a master's degree in communication management from the school.

He is USC's second watch-list nominee so far this offseason, with senior safety T.J. McDonald being named to the Lott Impact Trophy list earlier this month. That award goes to the best defensive player in the country each year who best exemplifies six categories: integrity, maturity, performance, academics, community and tenacity.

The Trojans should have several more players named to watch lists when the others roll out in the next month.

Here are some of the more interesting stories that the 16 USC Trojans who trekked to Haiti last week to build houses have brought home to the U.S.:

Barkley speaks Spanish

Quarterback Matt Barkley recalled one of the more unusual experiences from the five-day trip with a big smile.

On one of the days, he spotted a local teenager with an old chalkboard in front of him and a textbook in his hand sitting down under a tree. At first, Barkley thought the kid was practicing Algebra, based on what he saw on the board. But as he walked closer he realized the 18-year-old Haitian was practicing Calculus -- "doing functions and all that kind of stuff."

Most of the Haitians didn't speak English, but there were interpreters translators available when the athletes wanted to talk to the kids. Barkley couldn't find an interpreter in sight, so he tried to strike up a conversation with him in English.

His English was spotty, so Barkley asked what else he knew. The teen said he knew Creole, as all Haitians do, as well as French, Spanish and a bit of English. Cue the conversation.

"We ended up talking for like two hours," Barkley said, "in Spanish."

"It was pretty tight."

How good is Barkley's Spanish?

"We both knew enough to understand each other," he said. "But the grammar was probably pretty messed up.

"If a Spanish speaker heard me talking, it probably wouldn't have pretty."

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We wrote in April about Matt Barkley and his family's plans to bring several USC Trojans with them to Haiti this summer for a house-building trip in the earthquake-torn Caribbean country.

Those plans are ongoing, and the trip is nearing. Here's the updated list of players going and a brief itinerary of what the group will do in Haiti this month with Hope Force International.

The full list of participants includes Barkley, T.J. McDonald, Devon Kennard, Dion Bailey, Robert Woods, Khaled Holmes, Nickell Robey, Hayes Pullard, Kyle Negrete, Scott Starr, Josh Shaw, Cyrus Hobbi, Kevin Greene, Max Wittek, Cody Kessler and Luke Freeman.

The 14 players who originally planned to go are all still going, and McDonald and Bailey joined the group later. Barkley's parents and siblings are also attending.

They will leave at midnight on May 12th, so late this Friday night, meaning a few of the players walking in Friday's commencement ceremony will essentially be going straight from school to the foreign country. They return a week from today, on the 16th.

They're staying in the beachside town of Leogane, 20 miles west of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. Leogane was at the epicenter of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and had 80 to 90 percent of its buildings damaged.

The plan is to build four houses for four family in the small village of Sous Savanne and to visit an orphanage and school there and help out too.

After USC's 2012 spring game had concluded, at the end of his post-scrimmage meeting with reporters, coach Lane Kiffin was asked about his star receiver Robert Woods, who sat out the entire spring while recovering from an ankle injury originally suffered a year ago.

Would Woods, Kiffin was asked, be ready to go by fall? After all, he was supposed to be fully healed in February after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on the ankle in December. Missing the entire spring wasn't even an option until midway through it.

"That's what we believe," Kiffin said.

USC is hoping -- or believing -- a lot of its other players will be ready for the 2012 season, too. Truthfully, the Trojans need most of them back for depth reasons.

"We couldn't have something like what has happened this offseason to us in the fall," Kiffin said after the spring game. "We wouldn't be very good. So we need to make sure we keep our guys healthy."

Here's an overview of who's been out and when they are expected back, going position-by-position:

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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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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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Notes off Thursday's practice that won't make into our other coverage off the session:

• USC coach Lane Kiffin seems pleased with his offensive line, which has taken shape this spring with Aundrey Walker manning the left tackle spot and Marcus Martin, Khaled Holmes, John Martinez and Kevin Graf slotting next to him in order. We'll have more on Walker's status later Thursday.

• Injury report: Tight end Randall Telfer (hamstring) returned to practice before re-aggravating the hamstring. Safety Drew McAllister (hip), running back Buck Allen (hamstring) and tight end Junior Pomee (foot) missed practice with their respective injuries. Linebacker Marquis Simmons (undisclosed) exited practice early and receiver De'Von Flournoy (undisclosed) was limited. Quarterback Max Wittek (foot) didn't participate in the 11-on-11 drills but is expected to be ready to go for Saturday's scrimmage.

• In more positive news, tight end Xavier Grimble returned to practice for the first time in a month. He hurt his toe during the Trojans' first Tuesday practice of the spring and had been rehabbing it since. His presence gave the Trojans their first healthy tight end for a full practice in weeks.

• Receiver Marqise Lee got into a bit of a shoving match with some of his defensive teammates following a route. He minimized the incident after the practice, saying he did it to raise the energy level of the practice. "You know how teams are," Lee said. "We were going after it and got a little bit too hyped and started pushing each other."

• Quarterback Cody Kessler threw his first interception of the spring to linebacker Tony Burnett. We'll have more on this Friday, including Kessler's reaction to breaking up his no-hitter, as the Trojans' coaches were calling it.

• Final notes: Saturday's 11 a.m. scrimmage at the Coliseum is open to the public, as previously reported. ...Matt Barkley was picked off by cornerback Isiah Wiley for his eighth interception of the spring. ...Several Marines from the Wounded Warriors West Battalion at Camp Pendleton visited practice and spoke to Kiffin, Barkley and Holmes afterward.

USC quarterback Matt Barkley is going to Haiti this summer on a volunteer mission to help build houses, and he's bringing 14 other USC Trojans with him.

Barkley, an experienced foreign volunteer with trips to Nigeria and South Africa under his belt in the last few years, said his parents have been planning the six-day trip for some time. They recently thought to invite a number of the other players on the team who expressed interest in coming along too.

"We wanted to do something one more time while I was in college before life gets pretty crazy and all that stuff," Barkley said on Tuesday after the Trojans' practice. "I've grown up with these guys and played together with them for four years. I've known guys like Devon and T.J. for even longer than that. This came up, and we decided it'd be a great opportunity to go down there.

"It ended up being a little more guys than we originally planned, but I'm all for it. We're going to build houses. It's going to be awesome."

According to a USC news release, the team of Trojans will build a minimum of three houses and transport more than 2,000 pounds of supplies for orphanages and schools as part of the May deployment of Hope Force International, an organization that specializes in quick strike disaster relief.

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Here are notes from Tuesday's practice that won't make it into our other posts off the session:

• The MVP of the day, coach Lane Kiffin said, was junior safety Demetrius Wright, who took the place of Jawanza Starling at first-team strong safety after lighting up the special-teams portion of practice. Wright has backed up Starling for much of the last two seasons.

• Starling, in turn, produced the play of day when he knocked back Victor Blackwell after the receiver caught a pass thrown to the middle of the field. Blackwell got sandwiched between Starling and corner Anthony Brown, really, but Starling provided the big hit.

• Strongside linebacker Dion Bailey missed practice after undergoing dental work earlier Tuesday, but he watched from the sideline. Senior Tony Burnett has been switched to linebacker from safety and took Bailey's place with the first-team defense in scrimmage drills. We'll have more on Burnett's move later in the week.

• Injury report: A few once-injured players returned to practice, including center Khaled Holmes (calf), cornerback Ryan Henderson (concussion) and fullback Soma Vainuku (back). But receiver George Farmer (hamstring) and tight ends Xavier Grimble (toe), Randall Telfer (hamstring) and Junior Pomee (foot) all stayed out, with Farmer doing individual work at the start of practice, Grimble and Telfer doing rehab activities and Pomee sitting out altogether.

• Kiffin said Pomee's right foot injury is not a re-break of the same foot he broke last August, but he said the doctors have not figured out anything else on it. Pomee, a redshirt freshman, underwent more tests Tuesday.

• Senior safety Drew McAllister was the only player to come out of practice with an injury, having complained of hip pain midway through practice. McAllister has been bothered by other nagging injuries this spring and has had serious hip problems in the past, including an injury that forced him to miss 2010 spring practice and most of the regular season.

• Final notes: Former USC receivers Patrick Turner and Damian Williams visited campus and participated in the individual portion of practice, which Kiffin said helped give the Trojans' quarterbacks more targets to throw to with so many pass-catchers sidelined. ... Sophomore J.R. Tavai worked at three-technique tackle for the first time this spring, with Kiffin saying that redshirt freshman Antwaun Woods has shown continued improvement at nose tackle. Tavai could back up both tackle spots. ... Sophomore Aundrey Walker continued to work as the left tackle with junior Kevin Graf staying on the right side.

Notes from Saturday's scrimmage at the Coliseum that won't make it into our other coverage off the session:

• Quarterback Matt Barkley did not participate in the scrimmage portion of practice, giving way to backups Cody Kessler and Max Wittek. Wittek started off as the No. 1 signal-caller before the two switched at the half. We'll have more on the race to back up Barkley on Sunday.

• Defensive line coach Ed Orgeron said there are four players battling to be the third and fourth ends behind Devon Kennard and Wes Horton this season, and none of them have stepped up considerably ahead thus far. He also said Greg Townsend Jr. will no longer practice inside at tackle after he spent the first couple weeks of practice learning the new position. We'll have more on this Monday, along with an update on the running back situation with Curtis McNeal and Tre Madden.

• Injury report: Safety Drew McAllister (leg) returned after missing the latter half of Thursday's practice. Aside from that, nothing changed from Thursday's injury situation, although Kiffin did say center Khaled Holmes (calf) and fullback Soma Vainuku (back) could return Tuesday. Receiver George Farmer (hamstring) did mostly special-teams work, marking the eighth straight practice he has now missed because of the hamstring pull. Running back Buck Allen (hamstring) ran on the sideline for most of practice.

• The lone new injury: Receiver Victor Blackwell hurt his hand and his knee during practice and sat out for some of the day. Kiffin said both were "nothing big." Blackwell's absence meant walk-ons had to take on an even bigger role with only one scholarship pass-catcher available in De'Von Flournoy.

• Cornerback Torin Harris (shoulder) continues to miss practice while rehabbing and working out on the sideline. He has been out since the middle of last season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum in the shoulder,"It was positive that he was getting better," Kiffin said. "He should be ready by camp."

• Freshman defensive end DeVante Wilson and redshirt freshman tight end Junior Pomee spent the scrimmage doing rollovers and sit-ups on the sidelines after arriving late to a 9 a.m. morning meeting, Kiffin said.

• Final notes: Receiver Marqise Lee missed the scrimmage to participate in the long jump at the Texas Relays in Austin. He finished 10th. ... An estimated 800 or 900 fans were in attendance at the Coliseum for the open scrimmage, with a couple hundred leaving once it started to rain two-thirds of the way through. ... A number of top recruits were also at the Coliseum, which we'll have more on later.

Here are notes from Thursday's practice that won't make it into our other coverage from the day's session,

• Receiver De'Von Flournoy had the day's prettiest plays on a big ball from Matt Barkley and other throws from Max Wittek and Cody Kessler. The redshirt junior continues to take advantage of the absence of Robert Woods and George Farmer in practice.

• Barkley was picked off on an ill-advised throw over the middle of the field by safety Demetrius Wright, which Lane Kiffin said was his seventh interception of the spring. We'll have more on this later.

• Sophomore Aundrey Walker practiced at left tackle for the fifth straight practice and kept Kevin Graf on the right side. Walker has looked better on the left than he did on the right in the first three practices of the spring.

• Injury report: Farmer (hamstring), cornerback Ryan Henderson (concussion), center Khaled Holmes (calf), running back Buck Allen (hamstring), fullback Soma Vainuku (back) and tight ends Xavier Grimble (toe) and Randall Telfer (hamstring) all missed practice. Tight end Junior Pomee missed the latter half of practice with a right foot injury, which we'll have more on later, and safety Drew McAllister also exited early with a leg issue.

• Linebacker Dion Bailey participated fully in practice after making a partial return on Tuesday from the hamstring injury that bothered him last week. He did all of the team drills and the post-practice running but lagged a bit behind in the running. Cornerback Torin Harris (shoulder) participated in limited individual work but rehabbed during team drills, as he has typically done this spring.

• Final notes: USC's Saturday scrimmage is open to the public beginning at 11 a.m. and free. Parking is $10. ... Five-star Class of 2013 quarterback Max Browne, who holds a scholarship offer from USC, was in attendance at practice and will also be at the Trojans' scrimmage. ... Defensive back Tony Burnett missed practice because he is in Texas to compete in the triple jump with the track & field team.

Here are notes from Tuesday's practice that won't make it into our other posts off the session:

• It was USC's shortest session yet of the spring, with most players off the field before 6 p.m. after starting up a bit before 4. Coach Lane Kiffin complimented receiver De'Von Flournoy for the second straight day, saying the junior receiver has stepped up his play in the absence of receivers Robert Woods and George Farmer.

• Another receiver who has stepped up is Marqise Lee. Kiffin showered the sophomore with praise Tuesday after he had another good day, saying again that Lee has the chance to be the best receiver to ever play at USC. And both the head coach and his quarterback, Matt Barkley, pointed out that Lee had just won the long jump in USC's track meet on Tuesday and was still recovering from that.

• Injury report: cornerback Ryan Henderson (concussion), center Khaled Holmes (calf), running back Buck Allen (hamstring), fullback Soma Vainuku (back) and tight ends Xavier Grimble (toe) and Randall Telfer (hamstring) all sat out of practice. Holmes, Allen and Grimble have sat out since before the spring break; Henderson and Telfer got hurt Thursday and missed Saturday's scrimmage. Vainuku hurt himself early in the scrimmage. Linebacker Dion Bailey (hamstring) returned after missing most of last week.

• Farmer (hamstring) was cleared to come back to practice earlier Tuesday by team doctors and participated fully in the first half of the session before pulling up with what he described as tightness in the muscle. He walked off the field gingerly but said he could see himself participating in Thursday's practice. Farmer has now taken part in just two of the seven spring sessions, counting two halves as one whole.

• Final notes: Tight end Junior Pomee was back on the field after missing all of last week because of a death in his family. ... USC president Max Nikias visited practice for the first time this spring. ... Newly minted running back Tre Madden fumbled for the second consecutive session, with the drop coming on a standard run without a big hit. Kiffin called it "normal."

Here are some notes that didn't make it into our other coverage from Saturday's scrimmage, the Trojans' first visit to the Coliseum since last November's 50-0 win over UCLA:

• USC had only two scholarship receivers and tight ends available on the field Saturday because of injuries, so De'Von Flournoy and Victor Blackwell got plenty of chances to show off to the coaching staff. Coach Lane Kiffin indicated that Flournoy, now a redshirt junior, was more impressive than Blackwell. Walk-on fullback Hunter Simmons took most of the snaps at tight end with everyone else out.

• So the track Trojans got mixed up a little bit. Nickell Robey, Marqise Lee and Tony Burnett had all planned to participate in the Trojan Invitational track meet on campus, but only Lee and Burnett ended up doing it. Kiffin convinced Robey that he needed to practice special-teams skills, so the junior cornerback skipped his long-jumping event, which Lee actually won. Burnett did the long jump on campus and then tried to golf-cart over to the Coliseum so he could participate in the latter half of practice but was turned down because of NCAA regulations governing two-sport athletes.

• Defensive tackle George Uko was "dominant" on Saturday, according to Kiffin, wrapping up a big week for the redshirt sophomore. He found out two weeks ago Saturday that he had been demoted to the second team and since then he has been the best player in USC's front seven and arguably the best player on the Trojans' entire defense.

• Injury report: Tight ends Xavier Grimble (toe) and Randall Telfer (hamstring), quarterback Jesse Scroggins (hip), running back Buck Allen (hamstring), center Khaled Holmes (calf) and receiver George Farmer (hamstring) all missed practice, and linebacker Dion Bailey (hamstring) missed almost all of it. Fullback Soma Vainuku hurt his back in individual drills and missed all of the scrimmage portion of the day.

• Final notes: USC resumes practice on Tuesday at Howard Jones Field. ... As Kiffin said he would, Matt Barkley did limited work and backups Cody Kessler and Max Wittek took the majority of snaps. ... Robey, D.J. Morgan and Curtis McNeal all practiced punt returning during individual drills.

A few notes that won't make it into our other coverage from Thursday's session:

• USC coach Lane Kiffin spotlighted safety T.J. McDonald for his improved play in the second week of the spring and also said defensive tackle George Uko has practiced well aside from an effort slip-up during the Trojans' first scrimmage. We'll have more on Uko's situation on Friday.

• Cornerback Nickell Robey, receiver Marqise Lee and defensive back Tony Burnett will participate in Saturday's Trojan Invitational track meet instead of scrimmaging with the USC team at the Coliseum. Running back D.J. Morgan, the other football-track participant this spring, will scrimmage instead of sprint. We'll have more on the foursome and their decisions on Friday.

• Defensive back Josh Shaw, a Florida transfer, said he will not practice for the rest of spring with a rib injury he suffered with the Gators. He participated in winter workouts for the Trojans earlier this year but had the situation flare up over the last few weeks, he said. Shaw also still awaits ruling from the NCAA on whether or not he'll be able to play this season with a hardship waiver.

• Injury report: Outside of the four Trojans sidelined with hamstring injuries, tight end Xavier Grimble (toe) and center Khaled Holmes (calf) also sat out of practice. Linebacker Marquis Simmons (shoulder) was very limited and quarterback Jesse Scroggins was limited with a hip injury. Safety Drew McAllister, who left Tuesday's practice early with a hand injury, practiced with a cast on his hand.

• Final notes: USC will scrimmage at 11 a.m. on Saturday in the Coliseum, the first time the Trojans will go back to the stadium as a team since November's 50-0 season-ending win over UCLA...Kiffin said quarterback Matt Barkley "won't play a lot" in the scrimmage, giving way primarily to backup candidates Cody Kessler and Max Wittek...Tight end Junior Pomee missed his second consecutive practice with a death in the family but could be back for Saturday's scrimmage.

A few notes from Tuesday's practice that won't make it into our other posts from the session:

• Offensive tackles Kevin Graf and Aundrey Walker switched sides, with Walker working on the left and Graf working on the right for the first time this spring. For the first week, Graf stayed on the left and Walker stayed on the right, but Trojans coach Lane Kiffin said he felt it was time to try out the other way. We'll have more on this move Wednesday.

• Injury updates: Center Khaled Holmes (calf), tight end Xavier Grimble (toe), running back Buck Allen (hamstring) and receiver George Farmer again missed practice after all missing the Saturday session before the break. We'll have more on Farmer later Tuesday.

• Defensive back Josh Shaw (rib), a transfer from Florida, has not yet practiced this spring as he awaits word from the NCAA on his request for a hardship waiver to play this season, but Kiffin said the reason he's staying off the field is the rib injury, not his status with the NCAA.

• Two players also went down with injuries during practice and were due to undergo tests afterward: safety Drew McAllister and linebacker Marquis Simmons. Simmons, who has had neck issues in the past, stood on the sideline with ice on shoulder for the second half of practice; McAllister hurt his hand and did not return.

• Players who impressed Kiffin over the first week of practice after he re-watched the film over the break: defensive tackle George Uko, receivers Marqise Lee and Farmer, linebacker Hayes Pullard and cornerbacks Isiah Wiley and Brian Baucham.

• Final notes: Kiffin said the Trojans had no off-field issues over the spring break, as far as he knew. The team took a week off before returning to meetings and conditioning on Monday...Tight end Junior Pomee missed practice because of a death in the family, Kiffin said...Lee and cornerbacks Nickell Robey and Tony Burnett are expected to participate in USC's Trojan Invitational track meet on Saturday morning before going to the Coliseum for the Trojans' 11 a.m. scrimmage.