Jimoke Bio: Jason Ellenberg

Name: Jason Ellenberg

Hometown: Manhattan Beach, CA

Why a Jimoke: I love sports and I wanted to be a part of one of the best teams of all time

Hobbies: Golf, painting, following the Lakers, Dodgers, Chargers, and everything USC

Potential Career: Sports Psychologist for the Lakers

The good thing about being a Jimoke is: Free food and gear, being shoulder to shoulder with the players on the field

Class/How many years Jimoking: Sophomore, 1st

Jimoke Bio: Danny Palkovic

Name: Danny Palkovic

Hometown: Mission Viejo, CA

Why a Jimoke: I enjoy the smell of freshly cut grass....and I love football

Hobbies: Tennis, basketball, poker, stand-up comedy

Potential career: Rocket scientist/ stand-up comedian

The good thing about being a Jimoke is: being up close with the best college football team in the country; free meals at Galen Center

Class/How many years Jimoking: Sophomore, 1st year

The Fifth Day

The Jimokes had another successful day on Howard Jones. It was an unbelievably hot day, that caused us to start sweating the minute we walked out to the field.

In other news, as I stated earlier, the new Jimokes are really catching on fast with how the practices go. It's great to see them pick it up so quickly!

The newcomers are even getting some "love" from the coaches.

Kory has now been nicknamed "Juice Man," thanks to LB coach Ken Norton, Jr. In yesterday's practice, Coach Norton was jumping around and pumping up his players, saying, "Who's got the juice?" In this morning's walk-thru, Kory walked up to Coach Norton and mysteriously said, "I got the juice, Coach." Later on in the walk-thru, he was servicing the coaches with Gatorade and handed one to Coach Norton. Norton replied with a casual, "Thanks, Juice Man." We all had a good laugh and enjoyed Kory's story.

We are planning on getting to bed early tonight--or at least at a decent time--due to tomorrow's big day.

Tomorrow is the first official Two-A-Day format of practice. While the first few days of Fall Camp have consisted of two practices, one of those two has been technically referred to as a Walk-thru, where balls are not permitted and coaching cannot last more than an hour.

Tomorrow will consist of a 9am practice and a 4pm practice! Let's get ready and hope to see you out there!

Jimoke Bio: Gavin Williams

Today begins a new feature for the Jimoke blog. The next twelve days, including tonight, we will begin to post the Jimoke bios of the 12 student managers that anchor the USC Football team.

With full pictures, background info, and personal hobbies, you now can feel more personal with the Jimokes!

Here's are first: Gavin Williams.

Name: Gavin Williams

Hometown: Union City, CA

Why a Jimoke? I want to be part of the best college football team in the US

Hobbies: Bird-watching, TV, YouTube

Potential Career: Software Engineer???

The good thing about being a Jimoke is: Getting to be on a field where USC greats practiced.

Class/How many years "Jimoking": Sophomore, 1st

An Uneventful Day

Another day of practices has been completed for the Jimokes. And nothing extraordinary happened.

The Jimokes were everywhere they needed to be at every time.

As the Fall Camp continues to roll on, the Jimokes are really improving and getting the hang of it. Including the new guys. We are really molding into one solid group!

Another day tomorrow!

Jimokes at their Finest

During these grueling Camp days, the Jimokes have some extra time to think of smarter ways to improve on the field.

And off the field.

In between the two practices, and having many minutes of downtime, the Jimokes have created yet another interesting way to pass their time. And in this way, they are capitalizing on rest time.

Check out this picture, which shows Eloy Ledesma and myself, of some of the Jimokes lounging on semi-circiel agility bags, usually reserved for Offensive Line reps:

(Photo courtesy of Brent Cochran)

Another Day!

The Jimokes have returned to the dorms after Day 3. Today consisted of another morning walk-thru, and the first padded practice of the new season!

It was another good day for the Jimokes, who are definitely starting to feel somewhat tired of the longing Fall Camp. But nearly two weeks still remain, so we got to keep on going!

It's going to be fun!

In other news...

1st year Jimoke Danny Palkovic had a near death experience on the practice field in the afternoon practice. During a Special Teams drill, Danny went to place a football at the line and in the middle of the play. However, as he hustled across the field, a fairly large man in Taylor Mays railed Danny to the ground. "It was devastating," says Danny.

It was clearly a moment to remember in Jimoke history, especially in Danny's eyes. Hang in there!

Day 2 in the Books!

The Jimokes just returned back in our residence hall after another day full of football duties.

The walk-thru in the morning to the nearly three hour practice in the afternoon proved to be another test for the preparation and readiness for us. And we came through!

The equipment was ready when it needed to be ready and all the Jimokes were flying across the fields. It's a rush!

We are ready for Day 3!

That's a Wrap!

Day 1 of Fall Camp 2009 is officially over.

After a near three hour first pracitce this afternoon and a nice dinner at Galen Cafeteria, the Jimokes just settled back into Flour Tower for the evening.

The practice was long and under a scorcher, but ran very successfully thanks to the leadership of head man Adam Kossoff.

The players were anxious to get on the field to play with footballs, as were the Jimokes!

With a couple hours to ourselves tonight, we are resting up and gearing up for another day tomorrow!

See you tomorrow! Fight On!

Mid-Day

It's just after 2:00 in the afternoon, and the Trojans/Jimokes are resting in between practices. This morning was the team's Walk-Thru No. 1, while 4pm will be Practice No. 1.

The morning walk-thru was pretty uneventful, which is what we like!

After the practice, some of the Jimokes got up in the film lifts and reattached some wind flags on top of the goalposts; something that caused some to suspend their fear of heights.

The upcoming practice will be over two and a half hours, so we will be back later tonight to update on the first day of practice!

Jimokes Settling In

With the rest of the day off, the Jimokes are free to do anything they want. So, of course, we spend our time playing around. Even video games.

In the midst of an intense NCAA Football 10 Tournament, the Jimokes are ready for football in all aspects of the game!

Check out a few of these pictures, courtesy of Brent Cochran and myself:

Jimokes Have Arrived at USC!

Today marks the beginning of the 2009 USC Football campaign!

The Trojans, including us Jimokes, have moved into the on-campus Flour Tower to prepare for the upcoming season!

The next ten days will revolve only around football, and the Jimokes are ready! Today is more of a lax day, as we spent yesterday and most of this morning preparing everything on the field for camp. For us, it's all about the preparation!

Tomorrow morning will be the first official walk-thru at 11am, and the first practice at 4pm.

We hope you can venture your way down to Howard Jones field and watch the Trojans gear up for yet another season!

Stay tuned for various posts per day about the Trojans! Fall Camp is here!

2009 Jimoke Bios

In the coming weeks, we are going to put together full bios of the 2009 Jimoke squad. At the very latest, Fall Camp will be a great chance for you to get acquainted with the new twelve that will be so crucial for the 2009 USC Football team.

Jimokes' New Motto -- 2009 Season

Because the summer camps these past few weeks, the Jimokes have been able to rekindle their friendships with each other. With that, a lot of blog talk has been going on.

In light of Nike's new football campaign, with the phrase, "Leave Nothing," we have our new motto...

We feel it works so well. So, today we move away last year's "We Gotta Go..." and bring in "Leave Nothing."

Trojan Football Summer Camps -- Jimokes Style!

The month of June is a busy one for the SC coaching staff, to say the least.

The string of Win Forever Summer camps for children, high school stars, and oldies all take place in June. This also means long days for the Jimokes.

Thursday will end the final day of the 2009 summer camps with the 2nd of two days of the Rising Stars camp.

The camps that have already taken place require sophisticated and strict time tables. Something us Jimokes need to be looking out for. The days consist of setting up a number of athletic fields on the USC campus, the Cromwell Track & Field and Baseball's Dedeaux Stadiums included. In addition to setting the fields up, a number of eqiupment changes are needed.

One cool thing the Jimokes get to do: Not only are we the student managers who deal with the equipment, but the summer camps allow us to test out our coaching styles and even referee games. It's a real joy to be even more involved in the USC Football program, and so rewarding to coach the youngsters.

While the days begin at 6:30am and don't end until 6:30pm, and the hot sun boils over you all day, the summer camps are another way for the Jimokes to be involved with USC Football. And it's great!

Welcome to Summer!

Well, it's summer in the USC world...and in the Jimoke Blog world.

Not much is going on around the USC program worth blogging about, but I thought I'd give you a check-up on us.

The USC Trojans, after a few weeks off after the semester ended, have been back on campus for the past few weeks. They are now well into their strict workout regiments, including 6am team-wide runs.

The summer workout program will go through July and right into August for the start of Fall Camp. Something we are all anxiously awaiting!

Congrats - Joe Gibson!

Although it is somewhat belated, it is still deserving.

Joe Gibson, Jimoke during the 2008 season, successfully walked-on to the USC Football team for next season!

Gibson, now a wide receiver (No. 84), was a high school defensive back and trained since the Rose Bowl to earn a spot.

My highest praises of congratulations go out to him!

Nice job, Joe! And Good Luck!

One Week Remains

On Saturday, the 2009 Spring Football session will culminate with the Trojan Huddle. There are 20,000 expected at the Coliseum. Ben Malcolmson from USCRipsIt has a good preview of what you need to be aware of if you are expected to come.

With only two more "regular" practices left, I hope there are some of you who have a chance to come check out your Trojans for the last time until August.

Each practice is open to the public and we expect lots to be there!

And in other news....

With only a few practices left, that also means time is running out for the try-out period for the new Jimokes.

We look to get a good, new crew! And, once the crew is set, we will be sure to let everyone know!

Fight On!

Spring Ball UPDATE

Spring Football.

It is flying by at USC. It's nearing to the end; I just wish it was the season already, with the five stragith practices and Game Days at the Coliseum. Oh, what a life!

Today is our 10th of 15 Spring practices, culminating in an intrasquad Spring Game at the Coliseum next Saturday, April 25.

The COMPETITION is heating up and every position is struggling with depth chart rankings.

To get your blood flowing, here a few practice pics, courtesy of USCRipsIt. (Some of our Jimokes, others of USC Football)

Everson Griffen, Aaron Corp

Eric Ziskin

Aaron Corp, Adam Kossoff, Brian Wagner

Coliseum

USC Football

5 Down, 10 To Go

We are already 1/3 done with Spring Ball for the 2009-10 season! I can't believe it! It has sure flown by.

The competition at every position is heating up, especially the defense. 

The QB Battle continues to wage on with Aaron Corp, Mitch Mustain, Matt Barkely, and Garrett Green battling for the job. It's fierce out there, and they are going at it every minute! 

Our new Jimokes (or Managers; they haven't been initiated to that name yet) are doing well and they are also competing every minute on the field. 

Looks like we will have a pretty good squad for next season!

And Adam Kossoff, our new head manager, is proving to provide effective leadership out there for everyone! Nice job!

AND, by the way. Be sure to come out to our practices! Of the remaining 10, 9 are open to the public! Today's is at 4. 

Fight On!