Lefiti, USC, Bradley

Stephen Tsai writes that center Matagisila Lefiti will miss training camp as he recovers from foot surgery.

It is an untimely setback for Lefiti, who was center John Estes' primary understudy the past two seasons. Estes, now with the Jacksonville Jaguars, started all 54 games of his Warrior career.

Lefiti, a fourth-year junior in the fall, exited spring ball as the No. 1 center. But because of recurring problems with his left foot, he decided to have surgery.

His availability is in question for the scheduled Sept. 2 opener against Southern California.

That is, if there is a Sept. 2 opener against Southern California. Ferd Lewis has a column about the potential fiasco.

Suspicion is that the NCAA committee meted out the penalties determined to throw the book at USC without having glanced at the Trojans' upcoming schedule. At least you hope it was an oversight, since the committee was at work on this for four months.

Because common sense would suggest the Warriors have no part in whatever went down at USC and no cause to be punished for it.

Forcing USC out of the Sept. 2 game would be a considerable hardship for the Warriors, who have been counting on it as a $1 million-plus payday and, perhaps, their single most lucrative check outside of the Sugar Bowl.

The scary part is that if this was, indeed, an oversight on the NCAA's part, it apparently isn't in a big hurry to correct it with anybody. The NCAA hasn't used the intervening five days to say, "Oops, never mind, our mistake."

In better news, Rodney Bradley is almost there in his recovery from a broken leg.

Left wideout Rodney Bradley was impressive during 7 on 7 drills yesterday, declaring himself “pain-free” in his surgically repaired left leg.

In last season’s game against Idaho, Bradley suffered fracures to his left tibia and fibia. Part of the operation included the insertion of a rod to stabilize the leg. The rod remains, but the pain is gone, Bradley said.

He said he is at “90 to 95 percent,” and claimed he was running at half-speed yesterday, although he was able to make sharp cuts and create space from a cornerback. He said he should be ready for the start of training camp in August