Lendale White

LenDale White was supposed to be a short-yardage weapon for the Seattle Seahawks. Instead, the former USC standout was just a short-timer. White was cut Friday, a mere month after the Seahawks traded for him. It was an indication from new Coach Pete Carroll that he doesn't plan to extend any special treatment to his former college players. Team insiders say White was not as committed to the program as he should have been and seemed to approach his job as if he were "on scholarship."

LenDale White was supposed to be a short-yardage weapon for the Seattle Seahawks. Instead, the former USC standout was just a short-timer. White was cut Friday, a mere month after the Seahawks traded for him. It was an indication from new Coach Pete Carroll that he doesn't plan to extend any special treatment to his former college players. Team insiders say White was not as committed to the program as he should have been and seemed to approach his job as if he were "on scholarship."

It takes about five minutes -- not so long, really -- for LenDale White to come clean. After careful answers and platitudes, the other USC tailback walks off the practice field, ducks down a corridor to the locker room and begins to talk. "Actually," he says, leaning against a concrete wall, "I'm a selfish football player and I want the ball all the time." Same old story. Same predicament he has faced all season.

Tennessee Titans running back LenDale White famously stomped a Terrible Towel into the ground last season. This season, the Pittsburgh Steelers will get a chance to reply. The Steelers will play host to the Titans on Thursday Sept. 10 in the 2009 kickoff opener, the NFL announced Monday, pitting the defending Super Bowl champions and the team that finished the 2008 regular season with a league-best 13-3 record.

Tennessee Titans running back LenDale White famously stomped a Terrible Towel into the ground last season. This season, the Pittsburgh Steelers will get a chance to reply. The Steelers will play host to the Titans on Thursday Sept. 10 in the 2009 kickoff opener, the NFL announced Monday, pitting the defending Super Bowl champions and the team that finished the 2008 regular season with a league-best 13-3 record.

John Robinson saw it on a press box television in Alabama. Anthony Davis watched from a pizza parlor in Orange County. And Marcus Allen paced the sideline at Sun Devil Stadium as it unfolded only a few yards away. When USC put the ball in the hands of running backs Reggie Bush and LenDale White in the second half against Arizona State, it was that '70s show all over again. "My God," Robinson recalled thinking. "They've gone back to our era!"

USC running back LenDale White and cornerback Eric Wright had arthroscopic surgery this week, but both said Friday that they hoped to be ready for spring practice. White, the Trojans' leading rusher the last two seasons, had an arthroscopic procedure done on his left ankle Thursday. "They just cleaned it out," White said after the Trojans were honored before an estimated crowd of 7,000 during a campus celebration. "It should be fine."

USC running back LenDale White, tight end Dominique Byrd and defensive lineman Frostee Rucker, who missed spring practice to focus on academic issues, are expected to be eligible in the fall, Coach Pete Carroll said Friday. White, Rucker and Byrd passed their classes during the spring semester and are attending summer session classes, which began last Monday. "They all took care of business and did what they had to do," Carroll said.

If USC wins the Orange Bowl, it will be on an ankle and a prayer. That became official Sunday when LenDale White said that his sprained right ankle had been healed by treatment that was, well, heavenly. "A miracle," he said. It will be a miracle if any Oklahoma players believe it, but they will have to tackle it, so they might want to grab a pew and pay attention. The event occurred Thursday in the swimming pool at the team hotel.

NO. 1 USC (11-0, 7-0) at UCLA (6-4, 4-3) Today, 1:30 p.m., Rose Bowl TV: Channel 7. Radio: KMPC (1540),XTRA (690/1150), KSPA (1510), KVEN (1450). WHEN USC HAS THE BALL The Bruins have had trouble stopping the run all season, so don't be surprised to see the Trojans turn to running backs LenDale White and Reggie Bush early and often. If USC is able to move the ball on the ground, quarterback Matt Leinart will be dangerous with play-action passes.

They are both men of girth, RBs packing some extra lbs., so the comparison is a belt-line cinch: Is Tennessee Titans running back LenDale White the next Jerome Bettis? "I don't know," White said with a laugh. "Did 'The Bus' ever go 80 yards?" Close. The retired NFL great tore off a 71-yard run in 1993, his rookie season with the Los Angeles Rams.

Tennessee Titans running back LenDale White did not make it back in time for Tuesday's organized team workouts, leaving Coach Jeff Fisher unclear about White's whereabouts. "Everybody else managed to make it back," Fisher said in Nashville. "He didn't, so I don't know, I guess he had things that are more important to him than what we're doing. I would assume he would be back at some point today."

Tennessee Titans running back LenDale White sat out his third consecutive day of practice Friday, but did watch as his teammates went through their workout in preparation for their game Sunday against the Houston Texans. The rookie from USC has been bothered by flu as well as a hip injury that he originally suffered during practice last week, then aggravated Sunday during a 20-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts. He is listed as questionable on the team's injury report.

LenDale White had a decent showing Sunday in his debut as an NFL running back, but his most memorable and vigorous performance came on defense. Defending the reputation of former USC teammate Reggie Bush in the locker room, that is. "I don't follow it because I don't believe none of it," White said of a report that Bush and his family accepted benefits of more than $100,000 from agents while the tailback was playing college football.

Rookie running back LenDale White got into a fight Thursday morning with a teammate at the Tennessee Titans' training camp in Clarksville, Tenn. White, the second-round draft choice out of USC, started clashing with the defense on a running play. He was walking back toward the huddle when bumped. White walked back, and safety Donnie Nickey pushed back at him with his helmet. A recording by a television cameraman picked up linebacker Keith Bulluck yelling that White had spit in Nickey's face.

In a disappointing draft for USC's NFL prospects, LenDale White had it the worst on a day that started with a dubious drug test report, continued through six arduous hours of waiting and resulted in one angry grandma. White, once projected to go among the first 10 picks, wasn't selected until the Tennessee Titans chose him in the second round, 45th overall. He went the latest and fell the furthest, more than Reggie Bush slipping to No. 2, Matt Leinart falling to No.

USC tailback LenDale White said Thursday that he hoped to honor 1979 Heisman Trophy winner Charles White with a standout performance when the top-ranked Trojans play seventh-ranked California on Saturday at the sold-out Coliseum. USC has designated Saturday as "Charles White Day," and will salute the school's all-time rushing leader during the Pacific 10 Conference game. LenDale White, who wears No. 21, said he sought permission to don White's retired No.

The USC offensive linemen can tell when LenDale White carries the ball. They can tell by the sound of him running full-bore into the defense. "You can hear it," tackle Sam Baker says. "It sounds like an explosion." That's the sound of an antsy tailback. A tailback who, on any other college football team, might carry the ball 25 times a game for big yardage.

So who will be the first quarterback selected in this weekend's NFL draft? Will it be USC's Matt Leinart, Texas' Vince Young or Vanderbilt's Jay Cutler? The opinion of USC running back LenDale White might surprise you. "I would never trade away the three years with Matt as my quarterback," White told the Denver Post. "But if I was an NFL team, I don't know how you could not take Vince Young. "A quarterback's job is to control the game.

USC's thunder and lightning backfield is no more. LenDale White, who combined with fellow junior Reggie Bush to form one of the greatest running back duos in USC history, will take his talents to the NFL after winning two national championships and falling just short of a third. White, as expected, announced Wednesday in Denver that he would make himself available for the April draft rather than return for a final season of eligibility.