FanHouse Josh Pinkard

The attrition beat goes on at Troy where USC has lost projected starting cornerback Shareece Wright to academic ineligibility. We'll outline USC's growing injury woes in a moment but Wright's is intriguing because he had starting experience on an otherwise young defense that lost tons of players to the NFL.

Wright was expected to be part of a loaded secondary which has been dominant all camp for USC. Instead, the Trojans will shift sixth year cornerback-safety Josh Pinkard to cornerback and move longtime backup safety Will Harris to a starting gig. Harris replaced an injured Kevin Ellison for five starts last year and the USC defense remained superb as Harris shined particularly against Penn State in the Rose Bowl with an interception and fumble recovery.

It had been a surprisingly quiet offseason for USC. No arrests. No allegations of improper benefits. No insanity. But we know that couldn't last. Take it away, AP:

USC safety Josh Pinkard was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of driving under the influence, coach Pete Carroll said Tuesday.

Authorities said Pinkard was arrested in the early morning of May 18 after a California Highway Patrol officer noticed a car swerving on a local freeway. The CHP report identified Pinkard as a USC student, but did not mention the football team.

Well, that's one way to settle a muddled safety battle. Pinkard is one of USC's better players but blew out his knee in last year's season-opener against Arkansas. Heralded freshman Taylor Mays filled in admirably, earning freshman All America and All America honors.

Mays' ascent promised a great battle in the fall to determine who among USC's three superb safeties would start (Mays, Pinkard and Kevin Ellison). With this arrest Pinkard may well have eliminated himself from that competition.

Contrary to earlier reports, it seems Coach Carroll is not planning to move Dallas Sartz (pictured) from linebacker to free safety to replace injured Josh Pinkard. Reports from practice this week say that the job is freshman Taylor Mays' to lose, and that freshmen Antwine Perez and Garrett Green, cornerback Mozique McCurtis, and kicker David Buehler have also seen time in the newly-vacated free safety position.

Pete acknowledged that Sartz is an option, albeit an unlikely one. "He plays back there in certain defenses anyway," Carroll said. "We're not trying to pull away from another starting position if we don't have to."

Mays Might Replace Injured Safety Pinkard [L.A. Times]