USC's Rivers escaped Zook

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- If USC All-American senior linebacker Keith Rivers enjoys a huge afternoon against Illinois in the Rose Bowl, blame his presence on Ron Zook's inability to recruit.

Rivers, a Lake Mary, Fla., native, somehow escaped his home state despite Zook's best efforts prior to his final season at Florida.

"I was on the phone with the coaches at Gainesville until about 2 (a.m.) the night before Signing Day," Rivers said Sunday. "I don't know if it was for six hours. Maybe for like an hour or two."

Imagine how hard Zook might have pushed if Rivers, the No. 5 recruit in the Class of 2004, hadn't committed to USC three weeks before.

"I told him I was committed," Rivers said. "I was going to be a Trojan. After we got off the phone, I called to repledge my allegiance to 'SC."

Write the script: Though the calendar said it was Sunday for everyone else, it was Thursday in the Illinois coaching staff's world.

That meant the offense's coaches met early in the morning, as they do every Thursday during the regular season, and mapped out the first 15 plays they intend to use in the Rose Bowl.

Offensive coordinator Mike Locksley doesn't follow his script religiously -- he won't throw a scheduled bomb if it's third-and-inches -- but he knows what he wants to use to attack USC's defense.

"We'll take in about 15 passes and 10 runs (in the playbook), but a lot of different formations," Locksley said. "I think that's pretty standard, pretty normal at the other places I've been."

Not just for the media: While Sunday served as the official team-wide Media Day, some Illini players acted like the media as much as the media did.

Senior walk-on quarterback Mark Venegoni, the 2004 Carmel graduate who will suit up for the final time Tuesday, walked around taking pictures of his teammates and coaches.

Other Illini whipped out their video cameras to record the scene, which isn't quite a Super Bowl spectacle but vast nonetheless.

One guy who kicked himself for forgetting his camera was freshman lineman Mike Garrity, though this might be the only event where he left his camera behind.

"I think I have 200 or so pictures already," Garrity said with a smile.

The Batavia product is redshirting and serving on the scout team this season, but he has used his time to bulk up.

Garrity showed up at 250 pounds for summer school in June, but he's up to 280 thanks to voluminous eating and extra weightlifting.

"It's 'Body By Lou,' " said Garrity, referring to strength coach Lou Hernandez. "It's been crazy. I've added 30 pounds, but I still have my speed."

If Garrity's football life goes perfectly, then he'll become Illinois' center after all-Big Ten second-teamer Ryan McDonald graduates after the 2008 season. But he knows he must get bigger still.

"Two-hundred-fifty pounds isn't enough in the Big Ten," Garrity said. "I don't think 290 pounds is enough in the Big Ten."

Conspiracy theory: Illinois' hotel had to be evacuated Saturday night after a nearby transformer blew out and left several blocks in darkness.

Since the Illini players supposedly were in position meetings at the time (it turned out they weren't), it made one wonder if coach Ron Zook went into a rage thinking the power outage was some sort of conspiracy to help the local favorites.

"That sounds familiar if it would have happened," said senior linebacker J Leman, a sly grin pursing his lips. "But it didn't happen."