The coach says the suspended tailback has to ?get himself right? before being reinstated.
By MICHAEL LEV / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
LOS ANGELES ? USC coach Lane Kiffin was sitting by a pool in Key West, Fla., when he first got word about tailback Marc Tyler's now-infamous TMZ video.
"I was having a good day," Kiffin said Tuesday at Pac-12 media day.
His mood changed quickly after watching the video, in which Tyler appears to be intoxicated, makes lewd comments about reality-TV star Kim Kardashian and jokes about USC players being paid.
Upon returning to Los Angeles, Kiffin suspended Tyler for at least the first game of the season, as well as from all team activities. In lieu of "getting himself right," as Kiffin put it, Tyler won't be reinstated.
"It was so not what we're about at USC," Kiffin said of Tyler's antics. "To see it just really made myself and a lot of people ... it just gave us a really bad feeling. There's a real arrogance to it. And I know Marc feels the same way."
Kiffin said Tyler's behavior would determine when ? or if ? he'll be back. Tyler, who led USC in rushing as a fourth-year junior in 2010, also faces possible discipline from the university for two alcohol-related incidents.
"He may never be back," Kiffin said. "We would hope that he's back. That would mean he's got everything in order."
MEDIA DARLINGS
The media picked USC to win the Pac-12's South Division in the annual preseason poll. Kiffin doesn't see it that way.
"Did Arizona State move to the North or something? That surprises me," he said. "I look at Arizona State's roster, what they have coming back on both sides of the ball, I don't know how they wouldn't be favored above us."
The media picked ASU to finish second in the South. If it plays out that way, the Sun Devils would represent the division in the Pac-12 Championship Game because the Trojans are ineligible for postseason play.
The media poll tabbed two-time defending league champion Oregon as the North winner and title-game victor.
O-HI-NO
Kiffin said he doesn't pay attention to NCAA news involving other schools, including Ohio State, which might avoid the severest penalties in the case involving former coach Jim Tressel and several players who traded memorabilia for tattoos and other benefits.
"I told our players, I told our staff, after our appeal was over, don't worry about what's going on with other people," Kiffin said. "You can't control it. Our scholarships aren't coming back. Our bowl games aren't coming back.
"Any time wasted on those subjects, figuring them out or comparing them, is time we could be getting better. So we don't even talk about it."
Kiffin said he feels "very confident" about his own ongoing case from his one season at Tennessee.
"I think the hearing went very well," he said. "It seemed to be very fair at the time. That's all I know."
He declined further comment on the subject.
NOTES
Kiffin said incoming freshman defensive end DeVante Wilson has a torn ACL in his knee and will miss the season. ... Kiffin estimated that four other freshmen still have work to do to qualify academically, including tight end Junior Pomee and tailback Buck Allen. ... Kiffin is optimistic tailback Curtis McNeal, a potential starter, will be eligible after missing the spring. "I think he's going to make it," Kiffin said, "but you never know for sure." ... Kiffin is cautiously optimistic about defensive lineman Armond Armstead, who missed spring because of an undisclosed illness. Armstead has been neither cleared nor ruled out for 2011.
Contact the writer: mlev@ocregister.com
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