Johnson and the APR

Angelo Johnson would have been academically eligible to play had he chosen to return to USC this fall, said associate athletic director Magdi El Shahawy, and the departure of the sophomore point guard will probably have a negligible effect on the team's academic progress rate.

Shahawy said if every player stays eligible this year, the Trojans could attain a 980 APR, which would raise their four-year score to "well over 900." USC lost two scholarships during the 2007-08 season because its four-year APR score of 863 was below the minimum acceptable threshold of 925.

USC cannot attain a perfect APR score this season because Johnson's grade-point average was less than 2.6 at the time of his transfer, said one high-ranking academic official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss student grades. Johnson passed all of his summer school classes but did not fare particularly well, the official said.

--Ben Bolch