USC safety Mays `leaning' toward turning pro

USC free safety Taylor Mays said after the Rose Bowl he was "leaning" toward turning pro, the first time he's offered an opinion on his future.

"At the beginning of the season, I wanted to leave," Mays said. "Halfway through, it was 50-50. Now, if I do leave, it feels like a perfect way to go if I leave. That would be the way to do it."

Mays previously said he was undecided and would wait until after the season to make his decision. He made four tackles and broke up a pass against Penn State.
Gable upset

Tailback C.J. Gable was unhappy after the game because he got pulled following a fumble and did not return. The same thing happened against UCLA when the coaches told him he hung his head down after a fumble on the first play of the game.

"It's kind of hard to enjoy (the victory)," Gable said. "This time I didn 't put my head down. I guess they didn't want me to go back in. What can I say?"

Last week, Gable said he would make his decision on whether to turn pro after consulting with USC coaches. But he changed his mind Thursday.

"Probably not anymore," he said. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

Asked about Gable, USC coach Pete Carroll said, "he didn't do very well and had some tough times with the fumble."

Gable scored a touchdown on a 20-yard pass from quarterback Mark Sanchez with 36 seconds left in the first half.
Team MVPs

Sanchez, who passed for 413 yards with four touchdowns, was the Rose Bowl offensive most valuable player. Linebacker Kaluka Maiava, who broke up two passes and made four tackles, was the defensive MVP.

That means all three linebackers that started for USC (Maiava, Rey Maualuga, Brian Cushing) won a Rose Bowl defensive MVP award in their career.

Sanchez has thrown at least one touchdown pass in all 16 career starts and two touchdowns in 13 of his starts.
Most yards

Penn State's 410 total yards was the most allowed by USC's defense this season. The previous high was 367 by Stanford.
Friendly exchange

Walk-on offensive lineman Steve Gatena of Westlake Village received a special gift after the Rose Bowl. He thanked some of the Air Force pilots who engineered the flyover with the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber before the game for their service.

Gatena was in the Air Force Academy for a year, so he said he talked in a special code.

One of the pilots then gave him his lapel pin and Gatena gave him the Rose Bowl champions T-shirt he just received.

"It was an awesome experience to meet him," Gatena said. "I felt there was a mutual respect. I look up to those guys, especially the pilots."


Source: dailynews.com