Draft Sports

USC linebacker Rey Maualuga is a hitter not a hittee, so it's somewhat appropriate that the weight of this reality has not fully struck him: Life as he knows it is about to change. "I guess it really hasn't sunk in yet that tomorrow will be my last day as a college athlete," Maualuga said in a phone interview Thursday from his home in Eureka, Calif. "It's strange to think it's over." Over, and just beginning.

After a while, USC linebacker Rey Maualuga stopped watching the NFL draft. "Friends would text me and I'd feel the phone vibrate," Maualuga said in a phone interview Saturday from his home in Eureka, Calif. "I thought, 'It's cool, I'm getting picked.' Then I'd say, 'Dang.' " Brian Cushing, Clay Matthews and Maualuga were expected to become the first trio of players from the same unit to be picked in the first round.

With tears in his eyes, a USC student announced that after attending classes for four years and receiving his bachelor's degree, he was leaving campus to pursue his life's work. At which point, his beloved professor publicly scorned him for it. What's wrong with this picture? Nothing, apparently, if you are Pete Carroll. Everything, perhaps, if you are Mark Sanchez.

USC has not won a national title since 2004, but the Trojans finished No. 1 for the second consecutive year in terms of the NFL draft. With six players selected Sunday, USC upped its total to 11, more than any other program. "It was a great two days for the guys," Coach Pete Carroll said. "It's an awesome representation of how hard they work." In 2008, the Trojans had a national-best 10 players selected, four in the first round.

Texas Tech receiver Michael Crabtree is determined to put his best foot forward. The problem: He definitely has a best foot. Crabtree, widely projected to be a top-10 selection in this spring's NFL draft, is dealing with a stress fracture in his foot that was just discovered by medical personnel at the NFL scouting combine. The injury, which he said he's had for about a year, will require surgery that will sideline him for as long as 10 weeks.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Chilo Rachal was a big man poised to become an even bigger man on the USC campus. He was penciled in next season as a third-year starter at right guard, a possible candidate for All-American honors, and figured to be one of the more coveted offensive linemen in the 2009 NFL draft. Instead, Rachal decided to forgo his senior season to enter the draft a year early, and now is the only underclassman among 12 Trojans at the scouting combine.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The teams at the top of the NFL draft typically have a long list of needs, and this year is no exception. Even though there isn't an obvious No. 1 pick, there are enough elite players to address some of those glaring deficiencies among the league's have-nots. It's early, and a lot can change between the combine and the draft, but here's a look at where the elite prospects could land: 1. MIAMI Pressing needs: DE, DT, QB, T, WR.

INDIANAPOLIS -- For Chris Long, the potential No. 1 pick in this spring's NFL draft, the keys to success dangled from the janitor's belt loop. They unlocked the door to his high school weight room. Long, you see, took nothing for granted. Yes, he's the son of an NFL legend. Yes, his body was evolving from gangly to gargantuan. Yes, he had enough raw athleticism to throw down a 360-degree dunk in a game, never mind that basketball was merely his other sport. He still needed those keys.

The injury this week to Tennessee women's basketball star Candace Parker should have no effect on her status heading into next week's WNBA draft, according to some of the league's coaches, including Michael Cooper of the Sparks, who hold the No. 1 pick. Parker, a redshirt junior for the Lady Vols and the NCAA player of the year last season, dislocated her left shoulder twice Tuesday night in a 53-45 victory over Texas A&M in the Oklahoma City Regional final of the NCAA tournament.

Breaking news out of Westwood on Thursday had one basketball expert already penciling UCLA into next year's postseason tournament bracket. NCAA? NIT? Try the new College Basketball Invitational (won this year by Tulsa). OK, it's not that bad. As an exodus this isn't fleeing Egypt, although no one should make plans for a fourth consecutive Final Four. Anyway, who wanted to go to Detroit? Call it over the wall, Part II.