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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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As soon as the rain started pouring and the winds started spiraling a few hours after he and 16 members of the USC football team arrived in Haiti last Saturday, Les Barkley knew his guests were in for the experience of their lives.

Barkley, the father of USC quarterback Matt Barkley, had spent many months planning the house-building trip with Hope Force International and even pushing it forward and condensing it when the NCAA ruled it couldn't conflict with summer school at the university. He got so many requests from football players to come along, he had to turn many of them down for logistical reasons.

The group -- roughly two dozen strong, family members and staffers included -- ended up leaving Los Angeles late last Friday with 2,600 pounds of food and supplies in tow and getting to the two-terminal airport in Port-au-Prince on Saturday afternoon. Then they bussed the 20 miles to the beachside town of Leogane where they were staying, on the way seeing how much damage the January 2010 earthquake had inflicted on the capital.

They stopped and took pictures of the ruined presidential palace and took note of the makeshift homes many Haitians lived in, often just some sticks covering sheets or other type of bedding. Then, within a few minutes after arriving in Leogane, a standard summer thunderstorm hit Haiti. It rained a few inches in a matter of minutes and winds gusted by at 40, 50 miles an hour.

Les Barkley noticed the players looking around, looking at each other and putting two and two together. They had available shelter away from the rain -- but most of the hundreds of thousands of people they had just driven by didn't.

"In that moment, they realized that this is what these people put up with every day," Barkley said in a phone interview Thursday. "I think that was a striking moment for them."

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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.

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.

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.

LOS ANGELES -- Cody Kessler and Max Wittek are ending spring practice exactly the way they started it -- deadlocked in a battle to back up Matt Barkley in 2012 and potentially start for the Trojans next season.

USC coach Lane Kiffin had concise but entirely unrevealing answers when asked about the two redshirt freshmen after Saturday's spring game.

Did he feel any closer to naming a backup QB than he did a month or so ago? "No," he said. Was there any separation created between the two over the five weeks of spring practice? "No," he said.

But both Kessler and Wittek did have good springs, even if it didn't seem like it so much Saturday at the Coliseum, with Wittek twice overthrowing his receivers in the first half and Kessler being picked before that by safety Drew McAllister.

Kiffin said Wittek appeared more confident on Saturday than at any other point while wearing a USC uniform. And he has consistently praised Kessler's poise.

He did note, interestingly, that both players showed early adverse effects from the energy in the Coliseum with 15 thousand fans in attendance. He also attributed some of the mistakes to the wind in the stadium -- with swirls pushing consistently over 10 miles an hour and appearing to affect the trajectory of throws, especially longer ones.

Barkley, for his part, said he had never played in a game with as much wind as Saturday's scrimmage.

"You could see it on Matt's deep ball even over here," Kiffin said.

Kessler said he specifically noticed the wind affecting one of his three incompletions but added that he felt he got considerably better over the 15 spring practices.

"It went really good," Kessler said of the spring as a whole. "Especially with it being my second spring, it was nice coming in and knowing what to expect."

Kiffin will reveal an updated end-of-spring depth chart on Monday. Kessler and Wittek should be listed as 2a and 2b behind Barkley, and it'll probably be that way well into fall camp in August.

LOS ANGELES -- Matt Barkley didn't have a great day at the Coliseum for the USC Trojans' annual spring game on Saturday, but he did do a lot more than expected, based on the other scrimmages USC has played this spring.

Two weeks ago, he didn't even attempt a single pass. A week ago, he largely gave way to backups Cody Kessler and Max Wittek.

This time, the senior signal-caller completed 23-of-39 pass attempts for 212 yards, one touchdown and one interception in what was by far his most participated-in scrimmage of the spring. He threw three times as many passes as Kessler (3-of-6 for 68 yards) and Wittek (3-of-7 for 27) combined.

USC coach Lane Kiffin indicated the decision to use Barkley so much was based on two factors: 1. The Trojans weren't tackling, to keep injuries at a minimum; 2. They were getting some offensive weapons back healthy that hadn't been on the field for a scrimmage in weeks.

Tight end Xavier Grimble and receiver De'Von Flournoy were among the players who participated who hadn't suited up in recent weeks.

For the game, score was kept in an offense vs. defense fashion, with the Trojans' defensive players awarded three points for stops on drives and five points for turnovers. The defense won, 34-27, with the offense scoring three touchdowns and two field goals and the defense stopping eight drives and collecting two turnovers.

Barkley was asked after the scrimmage if he felt as if, at the end of the spring, the Trojans are a national-championship contending team.

"Not yet," Barkley said. "Not anywhere close to that yet. We still have a lot of work to do to get there. Based off talent, you might say that, but there's a lot more that goes into that than talent."

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As Cody Kessler exited the USC locker room to head to an afternoon practice earlier this spring, quarterbacks coach Clay Helton gave him a quick message meant to hype him up.

Hey, Helton told Kessler, you're still throwing a no-hitter this spring -- no interceptions. From then on, Helton was on Kessler about it every meeting: Nice job, your no-hitter's still going, he'd say.

Well, that's no longer. Kessler finally threw a pick during the Trojans' Thursday practice, looking over linebacker Tony Burnett and then throwing right at him.

Still, the redshirt freshmen has now gone 11 practices with only one glaring mistake -- a nice number, especially considering how many snaps he takes each day. Starter Matt Barkley, for comparison's sake, has thrown eight or nine.

Kessler said he was angry at himself for throwing the interception because he got away with a similar mistake earlier in the day when a defender dropped his throw. But Burnett didn't muff it and made the pick.

"They got me," Kessler said afterward. "They disguised the coverage."

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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.

Now this throws a little wrinkle into the USC Trojans' plan for their quarterback of the future.

One of the top-ranked signal-callers in the class of 2013, Sammamish (Wa.) Skyline's Max Browne, committed to USC on Wednesday night in a ceremony at his high school in the suburbs east of Seattle, according to multiple Internet reports.

Browne, a 6-foot-5 gunslinger, is expected to enroll early at USC next January, putting him into position to immediately challenge Cody Kessler and Max Wittek in the race to replace Matt Barkley.

He'll be in a similar situation as Barkley was in January 2009, when Barkley enrolled early out of Santa Ana Mater Dei High and then beat out Aaron Corp and Mitch Mustain to replace Mark Sanchez, who now plays for the New York Jets.

Browne chose the Trojans over the likes of Oklahoma, Alabama, and hometown Washington.

Browne is ranked No. 1 at his position in his class, according to Rivals.com and Scout.com. ESPN has not yet released rankings for players in the class of 2013, but Browne is an ESPNU 150 Watch List prospect.

Sammamish (Wa.) quarterback Max Browne will announce his college decision at a ceremony at Skyline High School at 8 p.m. PT Wednesday, according to multiple reports.

Browne, one of the top-ranked prospects in the Class of 2013 by all recruiting services, is believed to be seriously considering USC as his next destination. He visited the Trojans for three days last week and also attended the school's Junior Day in February. He has an older brother, Mitch, in the L.A. area.

Washington, his local school, is an option, but most expect the 6-foot-5 Browne to commit to either Oklahoma or USC.

An interesting wrinkle to the story: Browne has the potential to enroll early for his class and begin taking college courses in January 2013. The Trojans have three empty slots for such early-enrollees.

If he does enroll early, it's conceivable he could challenge then-redshirt sophomores Cody Kessler and Max Wittek for the starting job vacated by the graduation of Matt Barkley.

In fact, the situation could eerily mirror Barkley's, who arrived on campus January 2009 and beat out redshirt sophomore Aaron Corp and junior Mitch Mustain to earn the right to replace top NFL draft pick Mark Sanchez.

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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Quarterback Jesse Scroggins missed Tuesday's practice to focus on academic issues, coach Lane Kiffin said, and could miss more of the Trojans' five remaining sessions to try to secure his eligibility for the fall semester.

"It's important how well he finishes," Kiffin said Tuesday.

Scroggins, a redshirt sophomore, is academically ineligible this spring but has the ability to pull himself up past the GPA minimum with certain marks. If he doesn't get them, he'll be ineligible in the fall -- when it really matters -- and unable to compete in the 2012 season.

During winter workouts, Scroggins guaranteed he would be able to get himself eligible by the end of the spring semester, which concludes May 9. But Kiffin indicated that the Lakewood native still has a lot of work to do in the final month.

"I will be eligible in the fall, there is no question about that," Scroggins told ESPNLosAngeles.com in February. "I will be practicing in the spring and I will still be here in the fall, no doubt about it."

Of course, Scroggins has been sidelined for much of the spring because of an injured hip and has been unable to participate in most parts of practices even when he was out on the field. Kiffin said that played a role in the Trojans' decision to keep him off the field altogether.

"He's coming to our meetings but because he can't do all the stuff in practice we're leaving him in academics to do some extra work," Kiffin said.

Because of his absence this spring, Scroggins has fallen behind redshirt freshmen Max Wittek and Cody Kessler in the competition to back up starting quarterback Matt Barkley this fall.