Taylor Mays

One down, one to go. Or stay. USC safety Taylor Mays' announcement Tuesday that he was returning to USC for a final season of eligibility left Heritage Hall anxiously hoping quarterback Mark Sanchez will do the same. Sanchez is expected to announce today or Thursday whether he will return to USC or turn pro. Thursday is the deadline for players to make themselves available for the NFL's April draft.

Start with a picture on the cover of the 2009 USC media guide. It shows Taylor Mays charging down the field, shoulders at a forward tilt, as if poised to lower the boom on an unsuspecting receiver. That fall, Mays was a two-time All-American safety who had passed up a choice spot in the NFL draft to return for his senior season. His future appeared limitless. Now fast-forward to this week, to a young man who arrived at the Cincinnati Bengals' training camp fighting for his NFL life.

Taylor Mays' surprising decision to put off the NFL and return to USC for his senior season came with a catch. Hundreds, actually. Every day after practice, the All-America safety positions himself anywhere from 20 yards to 20 inches away from a high-tech machine that whistles special gold-tipped footballs at his outstretched hands. "I need to catch the ball," Mays says. "That's what the great ones do." Mays is talking about the best NFL safeties. Guys like Ronnie Lott, a Pro Football Hall of Famer.

After watching from the stands as former teammates auditioned for NFL scouts the day before, USC quarterback Matt Barkley was asked Thursday whether he could envision himself going through a pro day workout on campus next year. "I might be out there in the same position I was [Wednesday]," the junior said. "But I could be out there on the field. " Much of Barkley's draft stock, be it in 2012 or 2013, will be determined by his efficiency. Last season, he passed for 26 touchdowns with 12 interceptions, an improvement over his freshman season, when he passed for 15 touchdowns with 14 interceptions.

USC quarterback Matt Barkley is not completely healed. Neither is safety Taylor Mays . But a day after announcing that Barkley would start Saturday night against Washington State despite a sore shoulder, Coach Pete Carroll on Thursday made a similar call regarding Mays, who is recovering from a knee sprain. "He's ready to go," Carroll said. Mays, though, said it was "50-50," and that it might be a game-time decision. "I think I'm going to play unless something goes wrong," he said.

Some of what makes Taylor Mays a precociously talented safety for USC can be traced back to when he was 13. There were months of intense study. Repetitive practice. And memorization of every nuance of his responsibilities. Mays was preparing for his bar mitzvah. The experience of reading from the Torah shaped him in ways he did not anticipate, ways that have helped him thrive as a person and an athlete.

USC safety Taylor Mays prides himself on making physical plays, but he was shocked that some recent ones resounded all the way to nation's capital. That's what happened Wednesday when Mays got blindsided by Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Gold River) during the House Judiciary Committee hearing on NFL head injuries. Lungren, a Notre Dame graduate, first talked about former Oakland Raiders player Jack Tatum setting the bar for hits designed to injure. He then complained about Florida quarterback Tim Tebow being rushed back from a concussion before finally getting to Mays.

USC players were on the field before the NFL draft concluded Saturday, but they were still talking about the fates of former teammates when an 81-play scrimmage was over. "Everyone fell lower than we all expected," senior cornerback Shareece Wright said. Safety Taylor Mays' slip to the second round, along with his critical comments aimed at former coach Pete Carroll , was only some of the fallout. Receiver Damian Williams was the only Trojan with eligibility remaining who was selected before the fourth round.

USC players are looking forward to Saturday's Pacific 10 Conference game at Washington, none more than safety Taylor Mays. Mays, a sophomore, grew up in Seattle and went to O'Dea High, where he starred in football and track. "I'm looking forward, actually, to just being in Seattle," Mays said Tuesday. "The game, obviously, but not as much playing the Huskies and that whole thing. It's more just taking the bus and seeing all the stuff I'm familiar with.

USC players and coaches are looking forward to playing at Notre Dame. But not today's plane ride to get there. Memories of a harrowing arrival two years ago remain fresh for the sixth-ranked Trojans, who play the No. 25 Fighting Irish on Saturday at South Bend, Ind. "I bet there are still guys that are scared of flying because of that," offensive lineman Jeff Byers said Wednesday. Fellow offensive lineman Butch Lewis counts himself among them. The 6-foot-5, 285-pound Lewis and others on the charter flight in 2007 were hurled from their seats and bumped their heads on the ceiling when the plane dropped while making an approach through a lightning storm.

USC players were on the field before the NFL draft concluded Saturday, but they were still talking about the fates of former teammates when an 81-play scrimmage was over. "Everyone fell lower than we all expected," senior cornerback Shareece Wright said. Safety Taylor Mays' slip to the second round, along with his critical comments aimed at former coach Pete Carroll , was only some of the fallout. Receiver Damian Williams was the only Trojan with eligibility remaining who was selected before the fourth round.

Observations in the wake of the 2010 NFL draft, which ended Saturday: Pete Carroll has long contended the Patriots and Jets teams he coached would have been better had he been given personnel control. Now, he has it in Seattle, and the Seahawks had what looks to be the NFL's best draft weekend. Not only did they get the two players they'd targeted in Oklahoma State tackle Russell Okung and Texas safety Earl Thomas — having the No. 6 and No. 14 picks sure helped — but also Notre Dame's Golden Tate was a value pick in the second, and Oregon cornerback Walter Thurmond is a fourth-rounder who'll probably start.

Pete Carroll was among the most popular coaches in Los Angeles history. But as far as USC's Taylor Mays is concerned, his old coach has some serious explaining to do. Mays, drafted 49th by the San Francisco 49ers on Friday in the second round of the NFL draft, is upset Seattle Seahawks Coach Carroll took a different safety in the first round -- Earl Thomas of Texas -- and says the coach gave him bad advice about how to prepare himself for...

Taylor Mays has just about everything an NFL team could want. The USC safety has a granite physique, scorching speed, an undeniable work ethic and comes from an exceptional family. He appears to be, well, a tailor-made top-five pick. Then why all the speculation that he could slip into the teens or deeper in next month's draft? Depends on whom you ask. A lot of NFL evaluators say Mays isn't a playmaker, impressive as his "measurables" are. After vowing to prove that he had soft hands to match his quick feet, Mays had one interception last season.

The unofficial NFL draft season, and the three months of speculation that comes with it, doesn't start in earnest until mid-January. But for Taylor Mays, the pre-draft roller-coaster ride started 11 months ago when the two-time All-American safety made the surprising announcement that he was returning to USC for a fourth and final season. "It's funny," Mays said this week. "I've been, what's the word? Scrutinized." Picked apart might be more accurate. The 6-foot-3, 235-pound Mays was projected as a possible top-five pick in 2009, a key player for a dominant defense who was too physically gifted for teams to pass up. As he prepares for today's game against Arizona, his last appearance at the Coliseum, Mays' stock has fallen, though not precipitously.

It's not as if USC safety Taylor Mays needed extra motivation going into the final games of his career, but the senior probably got some Monday. Mays, a two-time All-American, was not among the three announced finalists for the Thorpe Award, presented annually to college football's top defensive back. Mays, a 2008 Thorpe finalist, had hoped to finish his career by joining 1989 winner Mark Carrier as the only Trojans to receive an award that was established in 1986. But Mays suffered a knee injury against Ohio State that sidelined him for the Trojans' loss at Washington.

After watching from the stands as former teammates auditioned for NFL scouts the day before, USC quarterback Matt Barkley was asked Thursday whether he could envision himself going through a pro day workout on campus next year. "I might be out there in the same position I was [Wednesday]," the junior said. "But I could be out there on the field. " Much of Barkley's draft stock, be it in 2012 or 2013, will be determined by his efficiency. Last season, he passed for 26 touchdowns with 12 interceptions, an improvement over his freshman season, when he passed for 15 touchdowns with 14 interceptions.

While most Trojans players and coaches welcome a free Saturday this week, tailback Joe McKnight probably would like to just keep rolling. McKnight reached a milestone in the seventh-ranked Trojans' victory over California, carrying the ball a career-high 20 times for 119 yards and two touchdowns. No Trojans tailback had 20 or more carries in a game since 2007, when Chauncey Washington did it four times, including a 29-carry, 220-yard performance in the rain at Cal. "I wasn't getting tired," McKnight said Monday after a team meeting.

Welcome to their nightmare. USC's hopes for a berth in the Bowl Championship Series title game are over. So, almost certainly, are the Trojans' chances of winning an eighth consecutive Pacific 10 Conference title. Both ended Saturday night at Autzen Stadium when 10th-ranked Oregon handed fourth-ranked USC its worst loss of the Pete Carroll era, a 47-20 pounding before a delirious Halloween night crowd of 59,592. On a cold night in the Pacific Northwest, Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli and running back LaMichael James chilled the Trojans to the bone with outstanding performances for the Ducks, who are in complete control of the Pac-10 race with designs on a BCS bowl game bid. "That was a real mess," Carroll said outside the Trojans' locker room after the Ducks manhandled a Trojans team that was fifth in the BCS standings.

USC safety Taylor Mays prides himself on making physical plays, but he was shocked that some recent ones resounded all the way to nation's capital. That's what happened Wednesday when Mays got blindsided by Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Gold River) during the House Judiciary Committee hearing on NFL head injuries. Lungren, a Notre Dame graduate, first talked about former Oakland Raiders player Jack Tatum setting the bar for hits designed to injure. He then complained about Florida quarterback Tim Tebow being rushed back from a concussion before finally getting to Mays.