Before getting into the story, let me preface this piece by saying it is going to be content gold for USC haters and message board and will be prime fodder for College GameDay signs when the crew is in town to cover the Trojans for a big game.
According to a report from Inside USC with Scott Wolf, who heard the story from campus security in-the-know, USC had a homeless person gain access to the football facility.
That's not where the story ends though.
The individual, who was known to security after being caught on the soccer fields previously, had made the stadium home and had been sleeping in a suite in the Coliseum for "some time."
He had also reportedly been in the hot tub with players, and was somehow able to grab a bite to eat at the football dining facility with them as well.
He was able to do all that under the radar, but the thing that outed him? Trying to catch punts at practice.
Yeah. For real. He must have been able to grab a helmet and jersey for spring practices and hit the field as well before someone caught on.
“What gets me is the guts the guy had to just walk in like he belonged," The security source shared with Wolf. “He must have been a cool customer in the McKay Center. If he hadn’t tried to return punts at practice, he might still be out there because they might not have noticed him.”
Under normal circumstances, this whole series of events would be incredible, as football facilities in many places are treated with the much of the same security as buildings that house government secrets. Before COVID, USC required fingerprints to access the football facility. But we're talking about the era of COVID, where strict testing measures are being instituted on everyone inside the building.
For now, we have no details about how this guy got away with this, but if there's truth to it, I'd expect someone to step forward and offer a big platform for him to share his story.
When he does, Clay Helton and some of the folks at USC are going to have some explaining to do.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest in coaching news and information.