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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.

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'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.

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's USC senior safety T.J. McDonald talking about what he's working on in his last spring with the Trojans, including how he's getting along with new defensive backs coach Marvin Sanders.

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.

Here's USC coach Lane Kiffin talking to the media after the Trojans' Thursday session, with him addressing the team's injury situation, the progress of senior safety T.J. McDonald and a few other topics.

Kiffin also joked about former UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel's famous remarks about the gap between the two schools in L.A.

We’re doing position previews in the weeks leading up to spring practice, breaking down one group’s depth chart each day, paying special attention to things that can change in the spring.

We’ve looked at the quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, tight ends, offensive linemen, defensive linemen, linebackers and cornerbacks so far. Today, we analyze the safeties.

T.J. McDonald will start at one safety spot for the USC Trojans in 2012. Will Jawanza Starling?

Most likely. The two players, seniors-to-be both, have essentially held down their respective starting positions for the last two years. Starling had a rough final stretch of the 2010 season but rebounded to be a steady presence throughout 2011.

But, based strictly on personnel, Starling is due to get some intense competition for his spot. Drew McAllister is going to be a senior; Demetrius Wright will be a junior.

Josh Shaw, a Florida transfer, is clearly starter-caliber as a defensive back. It's just a matter of (1) whether he'll be eligible in 2012 and (2) whether he'll play corner or safety. And Gerald Bowman was probably good enough to start in the Pac-12 last season while he was a ju-co player.

New defensive backs coach Marvin Sanders is going to have to give all these guys at least a shot at unseating Starling, but it's going to be interesting to see how it's approached.

The safety position is also a perfect example of a bigger question surrounding the Trojans. In general, what time of approach are they going to take to this year's spring practice? Is it going to be treated strictly as a venue for young players to get better, or is a big focus going to be placed on the position with new coaches getting acclimated to a new style?

Will players like McDonald and Starling get a lot of rest so that Sanders can see as much of Wright and Shaw as possible?

USC did do some of that last spring when linebacker Chris Galippo sat out the entire month to keep his back healthy, but that arguably ended up hurting him when he lost his starting spot in November. There's definitely a benefit to sitting out some of the spring as a returning starter (or at least taking it easy), but it's also a cost that has to be weighed in contrast.

McDonald's a perfect example of a rest candidate.

Check back Monday for the special-teamers and our final spring-practice preview before it officially starts Tuesday.

New USC defensive backs coach Marvin Sanders was just getting used to his new job at Florida Atlantic when the Trojans came calling earlier this month, but he found he couldn't resist Lane Kiffin's recruiting efforts. Kiffin had initially looked at the former Nebraska assistant for the DBs vacancy when Willie Mack Garza resigned last September, since Sanders had left the Huskers in February.

After taking the full 2011 season off, Sanders then signed on to be the defensive coordinator at FAU under Carl Pelini in December, but he quickly scrapped those plans and will now coach Nickell Robey, T.J. McDonald and the USC secondary.

Here's an ESPNLosAngeles.com interview with the 44-year-old coach following a Trojan throwing session last week.

Question: So you're probably an expert in getting acclimated to new jobs by now, right?

Answer: I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. It's a little bit of both, I think. You have to understand that's part of the profession. Any time you have an opportunity like USC, whatever it takes to get here is easy.

Q: New receivers coach Tee Martin told me he turned down Lane's offer at first and then eventually changed his mind. What was your thought process like?

A: You get a chance to talk to Lane and you realize why he's the head coach at 'SC at such a young age. He just has so much -- I don't know if talent's the right word -- but there's something about him that you know he's going to be successful. He can really sell USC football.

Q: Had you ever talked to him before?

A: Briefly. And I had a good relationship with his dad, who's a Nebraska guy as well. It was just kind of a good fit for us.

Q: When you take a new job, how much of the decision whether or not to take it depends on the coaches and infrastructure in place and how much depends on the players currently there? Which one's more important?

A: It's a combination of a whole lot of things. It's a combination of being the right fit for your family, No. 1, and the right fit for coaching staffs both ways -- me to them and them to me. And talent plays a factor in it, too. You want to be in a situation where you can win a lot of games and compete at the highest level. At USC, you have that every time you step on the field.

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Former Florida defensive back Josh Shaw was a hotly-recruited prospect out of Palmdale High in the Class of 2010 and chose the Gators over the Trojans. After sitting out his first season because of a knee injury but playing considerable snaps this past year, the 6-2, 195-pounder decided to transfer closer to his home in nearby Palmdale because of health issues within his family.

He considered UCLA but chose the Trojans earlier this month and quickly enrolled in school and began participating in team strength-training workouts. Shaw has been an active participant in the unofficial players-only throwing sessions that took place Tuesday and Thursday of this week, lining up at corner and defending receivers like Marqise Lee and Victor Blackwell in one-on-one situations.

ESPNLosAngeles.com caught up with him after Thursday’s throwing session.

Question: You’ve been here for two weeks. How do you feel? Can you see yourself being comfortable here?

Answer: I’m just out here trying to get my feet wet. I really haven’t lined up at corner in about a year, so I’m just out here trying to get my feet wet. I feel pretty comfortable though, especially with an All-American back there in T.J. (McDonald), my roommate, who can navigate me through everything. It’s a start.

Did you come here to play corner? You’d be one of the bigger corners in college football.

The coaches know I can play both. They know I can play safety and they know I can play corner also. But I would rather play corner, definitely.

Why?

I just like what I can bring to the team. I’d bring another physical corner over there with Nickell (Robey) on the other side. He’s a physical guy himself, short and all but with so much heart. I can bring another physical presence to the perimeter over there.

Have you seen another college corner like Nickell? He seems pretty unique.

I’ve never seen anything like him. He’s the real deal. I’ve heard about him back in Florida, but seeing him out here on Thursday -- man, he’s the real deal. Also I got with him and told him, ‘Show me the ropes. You’ve started here for two years. Show me the ropes and I’ll follow them.’

Do you think you’d have an easier chance to play early at corner or safety?

Really both. Whatever the team needs, to be honest. Because I know I can do both. And my confidence level is pretty high right now. You know, at Florida we didn’t do 7-on-7 like this. So with me doing this right now, it’s giving me a lot of good prep for spring ball, I feel like.

On that note, how important is it for you to be able to participate in spring practice? You can practice regardless of whether or not your hardship waiver is granted, but it would obviously change the focus a lot.

Once the NCAA rules, if it’s granted or it’s not, then the coaches will have a better idea what to do with me. Right now, of course, I’m ineligible because there hasn’t been a ruling yet. And if I am declared eligible then they can mess with me out there in the spring.

Do you feel sort of weird about the whole waiver process? You know, putting your fate in someone else’s hands and all.

I have no control over it at all, and this is the first time in my life I’ve been in this type of situation, coming from playing last year to maybe sitting out right now. I’m not taking anything for granted, man. I’m out here getting older and I realize that. I’m training myself as if I am going to be able to play. I have a good case. I came home for a reason.

Reports on this have varied from definitely-going to not-close-at-all. What’s the truth -- how close were you to going to UCLA after you decided to transfer from Florida?

I was pretty close to going to UCLA. But after weighing all my options, me and my family, we decided it was best for me to come home. I always felt like USC was home. If there was one place that was home, it was this place. I grew up watching 'SC football. That being said though, I think I’ll be the first player from my high school to come here to USC, which is pretty cool.

So, you’ll now have spent time at two of the biggest athletic schools in the country. Compare them a bit. What’s Florida like?

Man, basketball’s pretty big at UF. I’ve heard the team is not too good here. But I’ll check it out one time when they play a big team. And, honestly, down there, they live and die with football. I got to see some of the best atmospheres all around in college football in LSU, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina. You see it all. I haven’t played in the Pac-12 yet, so I don’t know. But, rooming with T.J., he tells me that when they played at Oregon it was crazy and everything, so I’m looking forward it.

So there’s now four kids with Florida ties on the team: You, Nickell, running back Javorious Allen and safety Jawanza Starling. It’s kind of funny that three of you are defensive backs, no?

Yep, Jawanza. It’s his last year out here and he knows the defense too. All I’m trying to do right now is receive. Keep my mouth shut, work hard and earn some respect from the guys. But this was a good decision for me, coming in, because I know a lot of the guys. As a transfer, you want to go somewhere where you’re comfortable. And I’m definitely comfortable here.

With the spring semester at USC beginning Monday, five of the Trojans' class of 2012 recruits are expected to begin taking classes this week or next: safety Gerald Bowman, defensive end Morgan Breslin, linebacker Scott Starr, offensive tackle Chad Wheeler and defensive end DeVante Wilson.

Going along with our end-of-year lists that looked at the top performers from the 2011 season and the top questions facing USC in 2012, we're now profiling each of the five players, beginning Monday and continuing through Friday. Here's No. 1, Bowman, a product of nearby Pierce College.

Bowman's the most college-ready of any of the five players USC's been bringing in, and will probably be the most college-ready of anybody in USC's entire 20-person recruiting class. He could start at a number of schools across the country next year, and he probably was going to start for the Trojans if T.J. McDonald declared early for the NFL draft.

But McDonald will be back in 2012, as will his counterpart at safety, senior Jawanza Starling. Those two will have those spots fairly locked down. Bowman, then, becomes one-half of the Trojans' safety combination of the future with junior Demetrius Wright, who once challenged Starling for his spot but fell behind because of injuries.

The only problem: He's not officially in school yet, still needing to finish winter inter-session classes up at a local school in the interim to meet all the qualification requirements at USC. The deadline to begin attending spring-semester classes at USC is Jan. 27, giving him about two and a half weeks to get everything arranged.

If he does, he'll be able to participate in team meetings and workouts immediately. If he doesn't, he'll still be a 2012 recruit but will be set back quite a bit as a juco player. A redshirt would be a real possibility if he didn't get to USC until the summer, as he does have three years to play two.

Bowman took a roundabout route to end up in Southern California after going to high school in Philadelphia. Now some recruiting services' No. 1-ranked junior college player, he clearly has the speed and size to succeed at the position. He's 6-1 and 210 pounds and reportedly runs a 4.45 40-yard dash. His ball-hawking instincts could use work, but he consistently plays aggressively on film, showing a McDonald-like tendency to step up to ballcarriers and knock them back.

Check back Tuesday for our profile of Breslin, the other junior-college player of the five.

We’ve been doing a series on the Trojans’ top 10 performers in 2011 since last week, ranking the team’s best players based on their overall value to the team last season.

The first nine players, listed here in descending order and revealed day-by-day over the last two weeks on the USC Report, were T.J. McDonald, Christian Tupou, Curtis McNeal, Nick Perry, Dion Bailey, Marqise Lee, Nickell Robey, Robert Woods and Matt Kalil.

Our No. 1 performer, then, is quarterback Matt Barkley.

It's fitting that this post was scheduled all along for this day and it ended up being just 24 hours after Barkley announced he'd be returning for his senior season in 2012.

It was a special day at Heritage Hall on Thursday, one many will point to as the official kick-starter of the next 12-plus months if USC goes on to seriously chase a national championship next season.

But the Trojans' quarterback has had a truly remarkable last two months regardless, considering how he closed out USC's 2011 season with wins over Oregon and UCLA in exactly the "big-bang" style he wanted. You can make a convincing argument Barkley performed better last season than any other USC quarterback has ever performed.

And that's probably the biggest reason why he was so firmly entrenched atop this list in our minds. Kalil, Woods and the coaching staff helped make him who he was, but the truth is that a ton of the credit has to go to Barkley himself.

So, yes, he'll be back next season. And he'll be the odds-on favorite to win this honor and probably some others as well, like the Heisman Trophy.

Next season's USC team seems to have every element to be a huge part of the sports world. The charismatic Barkley will be dealing with as much buzz -- on and off campus -- as any college student-athlete in many, many years.

If anyone can handle it, he can.

And with that, we conclude our top-10 performer series and take a look at five players who just missed being ranked in the top 10.

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