LOS ANGELES � Receiver Damian Williams is the latest to leave the troubled Southern California football program, announcing Friday night he�s skipping his senior season to enter the NFL draft.

The Trojans� news release on Williams� departure didn�t include any comment from coach Pete Carroll, who�s apparently closing in on a lavish deal to take over the Seattle Seahawks.
Williams and Carroll could be joined in the NFL by several fellow Trojans � everyone from defensive lineman Everson Griffen and quarterbacks coach Jeremy Bates to tailbacks Joe McKnight and Stafon Johnson � if the various rumors swirling around USC�s downtown campus all turn out to be true.
It all seems to add up to an abrupt fall for a program that ranked among the nation�s best for most of the past decade, with Carroll going 97-19 and winning two national titles.
Williams was USC�s leading receiver for the past two seasons. He was the Trojans� MVP for the just-completed season after catching 70 passes for 1,010 yards and six touchdowns while also excelling as a punt returner, returning two for scores. The Arkansas transfer caught 58 passes for 869 yards in 2008, his first at USC.
�The NFL has been a dream of mine since I can remember, and I feel that it is my time to take this step to the next level,� Williams said. �I am proud to have earned my degree from USC, and that was an extremely important part of this decision for me and my family.�
Although Carroll often sends his juniors to the NFL on a wave of verbal praise, his silence on Williams seemed to be good news for the Seahawks, who appear eager to give him the control over personnel moves that the 58-year-old coach always cited as a prerequisite for his return to the pros.
And the timing could be right for Carroll, who didn�t return numerous phone calls and text messages, to flee the program he built into a national power over nine years. USC�s string of seven consecutive Pac-10 titles ended in the just-completed season, and the school still is under several years of NCAA scrutiny for alleged improprieties in both Carroll�s team and athletic director Mike Garrett�s beleaguered department.
The most recent allegations concern McKnight, who also is entering the NFL draft early, according to the Los Angeles Times. USC�s compliance department is looking into allegations McKnight drove a car owned by a Santa Monica businessman with interests in sports marketing. McKnight wasn�t allowed to play in the Trojans� bowl game last month.
Johnson, who survived a near-fatal weightlifting accident last year, will participate in the Senior Bowl and won�t petition for another year at USC. Griffen said after the Trojans� win in the Emerald Bowl that he plans to go pro.
Backup quarterback Aaron Corp also announced Thursday he�s transferring to Richmond after losing his competition last year with freshman Matt Barkley.
Bates, an experienced NFL assistant who joined the Trojans last year to run Carroll�s offense, has been the subject of rumors linking him to the Chicago Bears and now the Seahawks.