San Jose State v USC

The race for starting tight end is heating up in Trojanland and, if you believe the coaches, the picture is no clearer than it was at the beginning of the summer.

Despite the best efforts of dynamic freshman Randall Telfer and redshirt sophomore Eric Childs, who have battled tooth and nail to be considered for the starting job, the most high profile position battle on the offensive side of the ball is between three seasoned veterans: redshirt junior Rhett Ellison, senior Jordan Cameron and junior Blake Ayles.

Of the three, Ellison appears to be the man to beat (at least for the moment) judging by coach Lane Kiffin's comments Wednesday.

“We’re trying to get those guys to be consistent,” Kiffin said in one of his most definitive statements about the tight end battle to date. “We feel very good about Rhett Ellison right now, about him being able to do everything that we need a tight end to do."

Ellison is the tight end with the most extensive resume on the Division I level. He redshirted in 2007, his first year at USC, and missed four games due to a broken foot in 2008. However, he proved his toughness in ‘08, bouncing back midseason to log extensive playing time at both tight end and fullback and start in the biggest games of the year: versus UCLA and in the Rose Bowl against Penn State.

His stats were meager in 2009, but Ellison again played a big role for the Trojans, playing in all 13 games at tight end and on special teams. Given USC's lack of depth at fullback, Ellison has also been backing up Stanley Havili in practice.

Ellison has been playing well but the position is by no means his yet.

Wide receiver convert Jordan Cameron was singled out Wednesday by tight ends coach Keary Colbert as a player who "had a big summer," echoing Kiffin's comments from the first fall scrimmage. 

"[Cameron] had a great offseason," Kiffin said. "He put on 11-12 pounds and was up to 250 at one point. He really bought into playing tight end."

Cameron is a fascinating story, having paid dues for nearly three years before even getting onto a Division I football field. He transferred to USC in the fall of 2008 from Ventura College after redshirting at BYU during the 2006-07 season. He played sparingly for USC in 2008, seeing action in just six games and failing to record a catch. He had similar stats in 2009, playing in just five games with a total of zero catches.

Cameron is a big target at 6-foot-3, and he uses his body well to position himself for catches. His combination of work ethic and dedication may finally pay dividends for “J.C.” in 2010.

“Jordan has some special, unique gifts,” Colbert said. “We’ll see how it shakes out."

Rounding out the position battle is fan favorite Blake Ayles.

Ayles had a procedure to correct a heart arrhythmia in the fall of 2009; he was also plagued by injuries his prior two seasons at USC. Despite his injury woes, Ayles has made the most high profile catches of any of the tight ends in the race, catching a huge touchdown pass from Mark Sanchez against Ohio State in 2008 and a nice 29-yard reception on the road against Cal in 2009.

Despite Kiffin’s comments and hints to the contrary, Colbert insists that the tight end battle has not been decided and is not merely a two-horse race between Ayles and Ellison.

“We got young bucks," Colbert said. “We’ve got Jordan Cameron…so they’re all going to play and they’re all going to have a role this year."

Sports editor Patrick Crawley contributed to this report.

To reach reporter Ryan Nunez, click here.