USC's Wednesday football practice was scheduled for 4 p.m. per usual, and some players filtered out to the field around that time with some returning back to the locker room before the full-ish group eventually all got going on the field about 40 minutes late.
It had already been announced earlier in the week that there would be no interviews after the Wednesday practice, but interim head coach Donte Williams is scheduled to talk with reporters over Zoom at 8 a.m. Thursday, per usual.
A team spokesman told the L.A. Times' Ryan Kartje that the late start to practice was related to a team meeting.
The Trojans visit Cal this weekend for the teams' regular-season finale, which was rescheduled from Nov. 13 due to COVID issues in the Cal program. Both teams are 4-7 and ineligible for postseason play.
The notable player absences from practice, beyond the guys who have been out for a while otherwise, were CB Chris Steele, CB Isaac Taylor-Stuart, OLB Drake Jackson, TE Jude Wolfe and DB Jaylin Smith.
That's not to imply that any of those absences were for any out-of-the-ordinary reason. Steele and Jackson, in particular, have been banged up physically and Wolfe was sick. The rest of the expected starters were out there.
Jayden Williams and Calen Bullock, normally a safety, were the first-team cornerbacks with Steele and Taylor-Stuart unavailable.
Media are only able to watch the first 40-ish minutes of practice on Wednesdays, so it's unclear how long the session went, though it was expected to be a shorter practice to all along.
While Donte Williams won't be available to comment until Thursday morning, he put out an interesting tweet Wednesday night.
