If you thought there was a disconnect with USC on the field this season, it’s nothing compared to the apparent disconnect off the field.
Star receiver Marquise Lee told the L.A. Daily News that USC players had a players-only meeting on Sunday, the day after the Trojans’ shocking loss to Washington State.
"[Lane] Kiffin don't know," Lee told the L.A. Daily News. "Players [only]. Players. Kiffin don't know nothing about it. No coaches [were allowed]. We did have that meeting. … Now [Kiffin] knows."
However, coach Lane Kiffin denied knowing about a players-only meeting and some of the players supposedly involved in the meeting, including defensive end Devon Kennard, denied knowing anything about Lee’s so-called players-only meeting as well.
If there was a "players only" meeting I wasn't there... Every coach and player we have is focused on one goal and that's winning this week!
— Devon Kennard (@DevonKennard42) September 11, 2013
Um, OK.
In the hours since the L.A. Daily News story made the rounds, Lee has changed his story about a “players-only” meeting, calling it a get-together with a few guys instead.
There was not a "players only meeting". Just regular get together with a few players about staying positive and moving forward #FightOn! — Marqise Lee (@TeamLee1) September 11, 2013
And about 40 minutes after not knowing about the players-only meeting, Kennard went to Twitter to confirm that he did actually attend the "get together" with his teammates to discuss the rest of the season.
A couple of guys got together and talked about how we need to bounce back and move forward from last weeks loss, was not the whole team and
— Devon Kennard (@DevonKennard42) September 11, 2013
It was not a formal meeting.. Everyone is on the same page and focused on Saturday. — Devon Kennard (@DevonKennard42) September 11, 2013
The story here isn’t really about whether USC had a player’s-only meeting, it’s that USC can’t even get on the same page with something as simple as whether they all attended a meeting or not.
This was something very simple – players had the meeting or they didn’t have the meeting – and they couldn’t even get that answer right. Or, for you conspiracy theorists out there, they were scurrying to cover-up the meeting as to not start another conversation about Kiffin’s job status.
In any case, this whole ordeal was yet another distraction for a USC team that really needs to spend time worrying about its upcoming game against Boston College and not trying to get its stories straight.
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