In an interview with Petros Papadakis & Matt “Money” Smith tonight on 570 AM (full audio below), Pete Carroll used the word “lame” in responding to recent criticisms of the Pac-10 and early campaigning by people such as LSU coach Les Miles: “I don’t care what he thinks or what anyone thinks.” Carroll stressed that the Pac-10 is extremely difficult and that last year “our toughest games were in the conference.” He added,

I’d welcome them to play the loaded offenses we face every week.

Asked if there would be too much competition in the tailback department, Carroll responded, predictably, that the situation takes care of itself through the battles every day in practice, but he did, incidentally, mention Stafon Johnson, as someone who didn’t get a great look last season “being banged up and getting off to a slow start.” With respect to the receivers, he noted that Patrick Turner will be “a fantastic aspect of our offense,” Vidal Hazelton had a great spring, and David Ausberry is “gonna blow you away.” The coach also told Petros and Money to look out for Joe McKnight and Ronald Johnson.

Carroll noted that John David Booty is “doing things exactly right,” and he’s much healthier, stronger and quicker than last year. He added that if Booty slips up, Mark Sanchez is ready to go and will jump in. Aaron Corp out of Orange Lutheran has put on 15 lbs (likely 20 by camp) and he’ll be right there, too, Carroll mentioned.

Asked how good the SC defense can be with all of its depth and experience compared to the great defensive teams of the recent past, Carroll described the 2007 Trojan defense as an “exciting group” with all of the disguises and adjustments they’ll be able to make. He’ll play a lot of guys in big rotations, and they’ll work harder on taking the ball away, which Carroll didn’t think they did enough of last year.

7/9 PMS Hour 2 (mp3, AM 570)