Tunnel Vision host Ryan Abraham is joined by special guest Darnell Bing, the former USC All-American safety and two-time national champion who has been doing amazing work in the community since hanging up his cleats.
In the video above Bing talks about his time at Long Beach Poly on a star-studded squad that sent plenty of players the Trojans way, his career at USC including how he secured the retired No. 20 from Heisman Trophy winner Mike Garrett and what he is doing now after furthering his indication and working in the community with the charitable organization Olive Crest
We start off the show talking about Bing's involvement with Olive Crest, a charitable organization that "transforms the lives of children and families in crisis through the healing power of God, family, and community." So far he has helped run two golf tournaments out in the Palm Desert area that featured dozens of former USC football players. I have been fortunate enough to play in both of them (along side former USC running backs Brandon Hancock and Sunny Byrd and our friend Michael Heid) and both events were wonderful.
Bing also talked about the promise he made to Garrett when he brought the No. 20 out of retirement, pledging to not only play well on the field but to get his degree as well. Bing left USC early for the NFL, but fulfilled that promise and then some. Not only did he return for his undergraduate degree but he got a Master's and Doctorate as well!
We received a lot of interest in talking about Bing's career at Long Beach Poly and coming out of school with the "Poly Five" that included four future Trojans, Bing, running back Hershel Dennis, defensive tackle Manny Wright and offensive tackle Winston Justice. Tight end Marcedes Lewis ended up at UCLA, and we asked Bing about why he didn't join the rest of the crew at SC.
Bing also talks about his time at running back and how Pete Carroll tried to lure him back to USC for his senior year with some game reps at that position, what he looks for in a safety, his thoughts on Lincoln Riley being hired and lots more.
For the podcast version (audio only) of our interview with Darnell Bing use the player below:
This is a special one-on-one recorded episode of our Tunnel Vision series.
Normally Tunnel Vision is a LIVE video show that discusses the USC football team, recruiting and Trojans athletics . The show started in 2018, is produced by USCFootball.com and hosted by Ryan Abraham and Shotgun Spratling with regular guests Gerard Martinez and Chris Trevino discussing all things Trojan football. In the off-season we typically run one Tunnel Vision show per week and during the season we typically run two, one on Thursday night to preview the upcoming game and one on Sunday night to recap the previous game