On Monday at the Galen Center, the Trojans’ held their first practice of the year to include their full roster (save for freshman PG Angelo Johnson, who still awaits word from the NCAA Clearinghouse), as the incoming freshmen participated for the first time. Naturally, all post-practice attention was on freshman OJ Mayo, and his new teammates had nothing but praise for the guard and how he is fitting in with the team.

Other notes from Monday’s drills:

• All freshmen other than Johnson–including forwards Marcus Simmons, Davon Jefferson, and Mamadou Diarra–participated.
• Simmons is rooming with Mayo, and gets the “benefit” of Mayo’s early-morning wake-up calls to go shoot baskets.
• G Daniel Hackett was supposed to hear on Monday whether he will be playing for the Italian national team in an upcoming tournament, but no word had come by the end of the day.
• Coach Tim Floyd indicated that returning players Kyle Austin, Dwight Lewis, and–most importantly–Taj Gibson returned to school noticeably stronger after their summer workouts.
• The team is concentrating on offense during these early workouts (in preparation for this weekend’s contests in Mexico) and may not begin working on defense until normal fall practice begins on October 12th.

Mayo calls his first college practice ‘all right’ (LA Times)
Trojans work Mayo into mix (Press-Telegram)