According to Inside USC’s Scott Wolf, a homeless man infiltrated the Trojan’s practice last Thursday, going so far as to catch punts with special teams, eat at the McKay Center’s dining hall, sleep in a suite and share a jacuzzi with players. There’s reportedly a picture floating around of him doing the latter.
Former USC football player Petros Papadakis has also tweeted the story is true.
How could a man share a field and much more with one of the biggest college football programs in the country? Per Wolf, he simply walked in. The McKay Center reportedly requires fingerprint identification for entry, but the COVID-19 pandemic has caused that procedure to decline in use, with players reportedly leaving some doors ajar. Once inside, the man simply made his way into the locker room, grabbed a helmet jersey and cleats, then ran past security to the field.
All it took was some confidence for him to blend in, if this description of him is accurate:
“He’s pretty young looking and could pass as a college student,” said a member of USC campus security, who did not wish to be identified. “He is about 5-10 but I heard he wore No. 87 at practice. The guy who really wears 87 is 6-4, so that was a giveaway.”
Reports on the man are somewhat inconsistent, as Wolf reported last week that the man was finally identified by a football staffer then detained once was security was called. However, he apparently did much more than take the field.
This reportedly isn’t the first time the man has done this with a USC team. He was also reportedly caught by USC security at the Trojan’s soccer field on a previous occasion.