On October 9, Chris Galippo will undergo back surgery to be performed by Dr. Robert Watkins, and he’ll be eligible for a redshirt, which the freshmen considers “a blessing” because he’ll have 4 more years of eligibility to go with some solid experience gained in the first three games this season. Galippo will be barred from contact drills for three months, and returning for spring practice would be his best case scenario. Read on for more from Thursday.

• Pete Carroll announced that senior RB Chauncey Washington would start for his second consecutive game because, according to Rivals, “it’s just the right thing to do.” The coaches apparently didn’t, as they claimed, explain the decision to the entire team as C.J. Gable told Scott Wolf, “They didn’t say anthing to me.”
• The coaches seemed to have settled on Thomas Williams as the starter at strongside linebacker in the absence of a healthy Brian Cushing or Clay Matthews. If he goes down, Keith Rivers will take his spot and Kaluka Maiava will take over the weakside LB spot. Because of the thinning LB crew, freshman Mike Morgan was pulled from the scout team and practiced with the regular defense.
• Reserve OT Butch Lewis won’t travel to Washington because of a sprained ankle incurred walking down his dorm steps, but OL Matt Spanos will make the trip to serve as back-up center. LB Malcolm Smith (hip) practiced and should play Saturday, and DE Trey Henderson returned to practice this week for this first time since the opening week of fall camp.
• RB Joe McKnight sat out for part of practice to ice his knee after being bumped by an O-Lineman: “It just started hurting me. It’s fine now.”

USC’s Gable doesn’t know about diminished role (LA Daily News)
Rivers is living up to his billing (LA Times)
USC’s Williams gets back in the game (Orange County Register)
Thursday Insider: Galippo injury well-timed (Rivals, $)