Roundup: USC's Willie Brown, CU's Frank Clarke pass away

Former USC tailback Willie Brown died at the age of 76 on Thursday (Associated Press). Brown, who was a two-time all-league selection at USC and won a national championship in 1962, had cancer.

Colorado athletics Hall of Famer Frank Clarke died Wednesday night in Dallas at the age of 84, Pat Rooney reports. Clarke was the first African-American varsity football player at Colorado before playing 11 years in the NFL.

The University of Oregon announced game-day experience changes for Autzen Stadium this year, including the expansion of alcohol sales, earlier entry to parking lots and the termination of stadium re-entry (The Oregonian/OregonLive).

Arizona State wide receiver N’Keal Harry has been named to the 2018 Paul Hornung Award Preseason Watch List (most versatile player in major college football), it was announced Thursday morning.

Cal swimming has been well-represented at the Phillips 66 National Championships in Irvine, with Andrew Seliskar (200 free), Josh Prenot (200 breast) and Ryan Murphy (200 back) all winning national titles.

Let’s get to some leftovers from 2018 Pac-12 Football Media Day – in this Michael Lev-written story, Arizona AD Dave Heeke discusses Khalil Tate’s influence on the coaching search that led to the Kevin Sumlin hiring. There was a story that came out earlier this week highlighting Tate’s tweet during the coaching search about not wanting to run the triple option, a reference to prospective coaching candidate Ken Niumatalolo.

Meanwhile, UCLA football coach Chip Kelly said the quarterback competition is “wide open,” and Thuc Nhi Nguyen has all the juicy details in the link.

Additionally, Tyler Hilinski’s passing in January was a big talking point at Pac-12 Football Media Day, writes Theo Lawson.

Two-time Olympian Amin Nikfar was named throws coach for Stanford track and field on Thursday. Nikfar comes to The Farm from Southeastern Louisiana. He competed for Iran in the 2008 Beijing an 2012 London Games.

Read this story from Dennis Dodd highlighting the importance of Washington’s season opener against Auburn and how big of a game this is for the Pac-12.

Kurt Kragthorpe’s article from Pac-12 Football Media Day goes into how other top Pac-12 football teams sincerely respect the Utes for what they have been able to do over the last few seasons. It’s not just platitudes anymore.

Adam Jude takes a look at the task ahead for first-year Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith. Of course, Jude has an interest in Smith because he was formerly the offensive coordinator at Washington, the school Jude covers for The Seattle Times. #connectingthedots