USC will not have a No. 55 this season. That is a good thing.
It shows the standard is high and really no longer solely in the hands of the coaches. It is determined by the past No. 55’s like Willie McGinest and Chris Claiborne.
Two years ago, Clay Helton gave No. 55 to Cameron Smith then withdrew after criticism from McGinest and Claiborne. McGinest also had to step in when Steve Sarkisian initially gave No. 55 to center Toa Lobendahn. That was as egregious as Lane Kiffin giving No. 55 to Lamar Dawson.
The standard is being kept by former players, not coaches.
For the past 18 months, I’ve heard within the program that incoming freshman Palaie Gaoteote was expected to wear No. 55. Instead he will wear No. 1.
Now maybe he wanted to wear his high school number. But it would not surprise me if McGinest and Claiborne had a say in the matter.
InsideUSC with Scott Wolf 
Seen this? https://yhoo.it/2KRiAdR
Wolfpack’s Courtney Caldwell Transferring to USC
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Surprised Wolfie isn’t all over this. She’s blonde and cute. Anyone remember back in the day when Wolfie turned his blog into an Oregon Cheerleader fanboy site. Then the DN told him to back off. Now he’s free, surprised he hasn’t gone back to his more lascivious ways.
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When is Wolf gonna answer the question on all our minds – what should quarterbacks transfer?
My guess is they should transfer funds from savings to checking, but that’s just a guess.
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This is the Trump era. Mistakes are fake news
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Ha! Funny, Globe. But shouldn’t our qb’s leave the funds in their savings accounts —-where they’re earning .000001% interest rather than putting them in checking accounts where they’ll only get .00000001%?
#LetYourMoneyWorkForYou
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I have no problem with players being vocal about preserving traditions.
Fight On!
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Reingoftroy has a good writeup on this very topic. I agree with the writeup, the #55 jersey has always been awarded on potential.
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Maybe there’s space to retire 55 after all it did belong to some impressive players. Maybe make on the 5s smaller to sneak an acknowledgement of the number 5 which was once retired.
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