USC Coach Lane Kiffin and his staff show no signs of slowing down on the recruiting front as national signing day looms next week.

On Friday, Cyrus Hobbi, a 6-foot-4, 285-pound offensive lineman from Scottsdale (Ariz.) Saguaro, announced that he would attend USC.

Hobbi, who chose the Trojans over UCLA and Arizona State, is expected to play guard or center for the Trojans.

WeAreSC, uscfootball.com and SCPlaybook.com, which track recruiting minute by minute, trumpeted the news.

--Gary Klein

With all of the excitement surrounding next week's signing day, it's easy to forget that college football doesn't always work out the way highly regarded recruits plan.

USC receiver Brice Butler is a case in point.

Butler's playing time diminished last season with the arrival of freshman Robert Woods, who started and went on to become a freshman All-American.

Butler announced this week via twitter that he is transferring.

Butler's father Bobby, a former NFL player, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it was the "right move" and that USC Coach Lane Kiffin did not give his son a fair chance. You can read the whole post here.

This is one passage:

"Lane Kiffin did not give Brice a fair chance … no, he did not give him a fair chance at all,” [Bobby] Butler said.

“You take a kid who is a starter, then the next thing you know you put a kid who has only been [in college practice] for 10 days and start him in front of [Butler]. They didn’t even play the same [wide receiver positions].

“But it’s all good. It wasn’t meant to be at USC under Lane Kiffin, so he needs to go to a place that is right for him. We’re just going to keep moving forward, and everything is going to work out for Brice.”

--Gary Klein

Photo: Brice Butler. Credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times.

Former USC football coach John Robinson will assist the school's athletic development staff in outreach efforts throughout Orange County and San Diego, USC announced Thursday.

"We're excited to have John back among the Trojan family," Athletic Director Pat Haden said.  "He has always been a popular figure with our fans and we know he will be well received as he works with our donors in the Orange County and San Diego areas."

Robinson had two stints as the Trojans' head coach, from 1976 to 1982 and from 1993 to 1997. He guided USC to the 1978 national title and compiled a record of 104-35-4.

Robinson coached the NFL's Los Angeles Rams from 1983 to 1991 and was head coach at Nevada Las Vegas from 1999 to 2004.

-- Gary Klein

With national signing day for recruits less than a week away, USC's roster remained fluid with news that receiver Brice Butler will transfer.

Butler, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound junior from Georgia, redshirted in 2008. He caught 20 passes, including two touchdowns, in 2009.

But Butler's playing time diminished last season with the arrival of a new coaching staff and freshman Robert Woods. Butler caught only nine passes, one for a touchdown.

Butler could not be reached for comment. But on his Twitter feed late Wednesday night, he said:

"Always will be a part of trojan nation! No regrets, I just gotta go play fball, which isn't happening here... I love all yall! Always will"

He also added: Was not an easy decision but evaluatin my future and what I want to do, it woulda been difficult here at this point so I made my dec"

Butler would have to transfer to a Football Championship Subdivision school to avoid having to sit out a season.

--Gary Klein

Photo: Brice Butler. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

With Jim Harbaugh having left Stanford for the San Francisco 49ers, football fans are looking forward to the times Harbaugh goes up against the Seattle Seahawks and former USC coach Pete Carroll.

Their famous "What's your deal?" postgame exchange after Stanford routed USC, 55-21, at the Coliseum in 2009 is the stuff of legend.

Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee caught up with Carroll at the Senior Bowl and asked him about Harbaugh. You can read the complete post here.

Some highlights:

Carroll told Barrows he has no beef with Harbaugh and cannot understand why anyone would think otherwise. "If you write that, it's because you think that," Carroll said. "Because it's not true."

Carroll told Barrows he had no recollection of the incident: "You'll have to talk to Jim about that. I don't know anything about it. I don't care about it. It means nothing to me. That meant nothing to me. The other coaches get to do whatever they want, and I don't hold anything against them. I'm not one of those guys who is looking for issues with guys. They can do whatever they want to. I don't even remember the circumstances other than we were getting our butts kicked. Other than that I don't know."

Carroll told Barrows he expects a competitive rivalry to continue in the NFL: "He's a really good coach, and he's going to bring them a spirit and an enthusiasm the 49ers fans are going to like. I don't know him one way or the other. I think he's a really good coach, and I really respect him."

 --Gary Klein

The saga of USC Coach Lane Kiffin and his time in Tennessee continues.

A story on the Tennessean newspaper's website said the lawsuit filed by the Tennessee Titans against USC and Kiffin last July is in front of its third federal judge after two stepped down from the case fearing their impartiality could be questioned.

A trial date is preliminarily set for Aug. 2, the story said.

The lawsuit was filed after Kiffin, who angered many in the Voulnteer state when he left the University of Tennessee for USC after 14 months, hired Titans assistant Kennedy Pola as offensive coordinator and running backs coach. The move came right before the NFL team was scheduled to open training camp.

The Tennessean's story said Todd J. Campbell, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, stepped down because he was worried that observers could accuse him of favoring USC.

"One of my children is applying to the University of Southern California, and I was literally standing on the campus when I received notification on my BlackBerry that the case had been assigned to me," Campbell told the Tennessean. "I thought that my impartiality could be reasonably questioned."

Judge Aleta A. Trauger told the newspaper that she recused herself because her husband was involved in negotiations to bring the Titans to Nashville. The case was reassigned to Senior Judge John T. Nixon.

--Gary Klein

Photo: USC Coach Lane Kiffin with assistants Clay Helton and Kennedy Pola on the sideline during a game last season. Credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

USC's spring practice will begin March 22 and end on April 23 with a scrimmage at the Coliseum, the school announced Monday.

Coach Lane Kiffin will put his team through 15 workouts during the spring.

Among those scheduled to participate are nine new players who enrolled at USC this month, including quarterbacks Max Wittek and Cody Kessler.

USC will hold its annual pro day workouts for NFL scouts on March 30.

--Gary Klein

Former USC running back Stafon Johnson has filed a lawsuit against USC and a former assistant strength coach Jamie Yanchar for unspecified damages related to a weightlifting accident in September 2009.

During a news conference Monday, attorney Carl Douglas said a weightlifting bar carrying 275 pounds did not slip, but was "knocked out" of Johnson's hands before it fell on his neck and throat. Johnson underwent multiple surgeries and therapy for injuries that doctors have said would have been fatal if not for Johnson's strength and conditioning.

"This lawsuit has not reduced in any way my love for the cardinal and gold," Johnson said.

Douglas said he had engaged in conversations with USC in an attempt to avoid filing a lawsuit.

"It is disappointing that we have been left with no option but to file a formal lawsuit," he said.

[Updated at 2:06 p.m.: "USC firmly believes it was not at fault in Stafon Johnson's unfortunate weightlifting accident," the university said in a statement. "We are sorry that Stafon was injured. USC and the entire Trojan Family have been exceptionally supportive of Stafon from the minute the accident occurred. We are disappointed to learn that Stafon has decided to file a lawsuit against USC."]

There will be more later at latimes.com/sports.

--Gary Klein

Photo: Stafon Johnson. Credit: Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press

USC's appearance before the NCAA's Infractions Appeals Committee is over.

Unlike the three-day marathon before the NCAA's Committee on Infractions last February, Saturday's hearing took just over four hours.

USC President Max Nikias thanked the NCAA for the opportunity to present the school's case and described the proceedings as "a good and fair hearing. We just have to wait for the ruling."

USC's contingent, which included Nikias, Athletic Director Pat Haden and other school and legal representatives, made its case to reduce the two most severe penalties handed down against the university last summer.

USC is seeking to have a two-year bowl ban cut to one year, which has already been served. The school also wants the sanction that calls for a loss of 30 scholarships over three years to be reduced to 15.

The Infractions Appeals Committee is expected to release its ruling in four to six weeks.

There will be more later at latimes.com/sports.

-- Gary Klein in Indianapolis

Photo: USC President Max Nikias, right, watches a football practice with Athletic Director Pat Haden, left, and Vice President Todd Dickey. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

USC's hearing before the NCAA's Infractions Appeals Committee officially began Saturday morning.

USC President Max Nikias, Athletic Director Pat Haden and the rest of the university's contingent entered a conference room at a downtown Indianapolis hotel to begin making their case for reducing NCAA penalties.

USC is seeking to get a two-year bowl ban reduced to one year, which has already been served. More important, in regard to the future of the football program, is a request to cut in half a sanction that calls for USC to lose 30 scholarships over the next three seasons. USC wants the penalty reduced to 15 scholarships.

We'll have more later at latimes.com/sports

 -- Gary Klein in Indianapolis

An attorney representing former USC running back Stafon Johnson has called a news conference for Monday to announce the filing of a personal injury lawsuit against USC.

Carl Douglas said the lawsuit will seek unspecified damages from USC and Jamie Yanchar, a former assistant strength and conditioning coach at USC.

Johnson was sidelined for nearly all of the 2009 season after suffering what doctors described as near-fatal injuries when a weightlifting bar carrying 275 pounds fell on his neck during a workout on campus on Sept. 28, 2009.

Johnson underwent mutiple surgeries and therapy and was signed as a free agent by the Tennessee Titans after the 2010 NFL draft. But he suffered a season-ending ankle injury during a preseason game last August.

Johnson declined to comment about the lawsuit. A USC athletic department spokesman also declined to comment.

--Gary Klein

USC and radio station KSPN (710 AM) announced a five-year extension for their football and men's basketball broadcasting agreement.

The agreement will run through the 2015-16 basketball season.

Since the 2006 football season, KSPN has been the flagship station of the USC Football Radio Network, which can be heard from Fresno to San Diego.

Pete Arbogast and Paul McDonald will continue to broadcast football, Chris Fisher and Jim Hefner basketball.

--Gary Klein