Two college roommates at USC will be on the field facing each other on Sunday when the Chiefs travel to Oakland to play the Raiders. Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel was a back up to Carson Palmer for the Trojans, as well as a back up to Matt Leinart. After Palmer was traded by Cincinnati to Oakland, Palmer was re-united with the guy who recruited him to come play at USC. There are other Oakland-Kansas City connections.
Raiders head coach Hue Jackson was an assistant at Cincinnati while Palmer led the Bengals, but Jackson was also the quarterback’s coach at USC. Since Palmer and Cassel were teammates, I didn’t even think about the fact that Cassel would have had Jackson as a coach at USC. After reading on ArrowheadPride.com, I learned Cassel was recruited by Jackson as well.
Cassel talked earlier this week about his relationship with Palmer and said that he’s not surprised that Palmer will be playing less than a week since joining the team.