McCutcheon Is Carrying a Full Load

Whether Daylon McCutcheon and Chad Morton should have been playing offense all along is debatable. But they are definitely there now, after their showings against Stanford, and Coach John Robinson is designating McCutcheon for two-way duty the rest of his college career.

“He wanted to be recruited as a corner[back], and we honored that and he’s played there,” said Robinson, who went back and forth during the season on how to use McCutcheon. “The rest of the time he stays here, he’s going to play offense as a combination receiver-runner. He’ll play defense too.”

“It’s going to be interesting,” secondary coach Dennis Thurman said. “Daylon’s a well-conditioned athlete. He doesn’t seem to get tired. If he comes back next year, he’s got to spend a lot of time in the weight room to be ready.”

Morton returned to defensive back last season, despite a 143-yard game against Oregon State, because of concerns about his durability.

“We felt like the best overall decision for Chad was to move him to defense,” Robinson said. “Don’t know if that was the right decision or not. On offense, he couldn’t carry the ball 20 times a game and probably couldn’t get through two practices a week at tailback without taking too much of a beating.

“But we’re just going to have him make long runs where nobody tackles him.”

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Robinson doesn’t expect quarterback Mike Van Raaphorst to play again this season after Van Raaphorst sprained his ankle Saturday. “He might make a bowl game,” Robinson said.

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NEXT FOR USC

WHO: Oregon State

WHERE: Parker Stadium

WHEN: Saturday, 1: p.m.

TV: None

RADIO: KLSX-FM (97.1)