Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Homeless man participated in USC football practice, ate with players

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Larry Brown | Last updated 4/10/21

One man recently had a heck of a time as an unintentional honorary member of the USC Trojans football team.

The L.A. Daily News’ Scott Wolf reported the story during the week and has some alternating details about it. One version of the story says the man expressed that he wanted to be a walk-on for the football team and was able to participate in practice until someone asked who he was. Then security was called and the guy was kicked out.

Wolf’s follow-up story says that the impostor, alternately described as a homeless man, was acting like a full member of the team. The man reportedly shared a Jacuzzi with players, ate at the football dining facility without issue and slept at a suite in the Coliseum.

There was only an issue when the man got suited up and tried to catch punts at football practice.

Former USC football player Petros Papadakis says the story is true.

This story is unreal! It’s True https://t.co/CM2WvhO71D

— Petros Papadakis (@Theoldp) April 8, 2021

Papadakis further says that USC may have made it easier on the man to gain access to facilities because it no longer has a director of security like it used to.

The #USC football team used to have a director of security. Lynn Swann eliminated the position. https://t.co/rfeMkWNbQO

— PetrosAndMoneyShow (@PetrosAndMoney) April 9, 2021

The man may have been able to gain access to areas that typically would have had more security measures because some procedures were reduced during the pandemic.

See, the con works until you try to get greedy. It was all gravy until he tried to field the punts! Of course, it’s not the first time we’ve heard of impostors trying to crash a sports event.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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