LOS ANGELES -- USC held its final practice before the season opener and Lane Kiffin was pleased with the effort from his team. The Trojans will hold a walkthrough on Friday before heading to the team hotel for their regular pregame routine.
The big news to come out of practice was the fact that linebacker Simi Vehikite had been reinstated to the team. Vehikite is a junior linebacker who left the team last spring after getting into legal trouble, and there weren't any signs of him coming back.
"Simi is back with our team," Kiffin said. "He has been through a lot. While he was not with us, he had a great semester last spring, passed 20 units and is very close to graduating."
Vehikite, who is originally from Hawaii, has six tackles in his career while alternating between linebacker and fullback. He will be a redshirt junior for the 2012 season.
The fact that Vehikite is back on scholarship means that USC appears to be at the 75-scholarship limit that is mandated with the NCAA sanctions. There has still been no word on the qualifying status of incoming wide receiver Darreus Rogers (Carson, Calif./Carson) but the news of today would seem to indicate that something would have to change with the current allocation of scholarships if Rogers is able to enroll this fall.
