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USC Football Flashback: Bill Withers pranked Trojans with “Lean On Me”

USC football is usually linked to the music scene via the Trojan Marching Band, but back in 2009 a Grammy-winning musician became invariably connected to the cardinal and gold.

Bill Withers, who passed away on Friday at 81 from heart complications, helped then-head coach Pete Carroll punk his team in August of 2009 during Fall Camp.

It all started when the players pranked Carroll by staging a fake fight during practice. The coach promised to take “a pound of flesh” in response, according to the Los Angeles Times.

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Earlier in August, Trojan freshman linebacker Marquis Simmons stood in front of the room during a team meeting and sang “Lean On Me,” Withers’ iconic 1972 soul record.