The USC football program took another blow after senior running back Anthony Brown said on Thursday that he quit the team last week because coach Steve Sarkisian is racist.

Brown, who reportedly left the team on Aug. 21, wrote on his Instagram and Facebook account, "Sark treated me like a slave in his Office...Can't play for a racist MAN!!!!! #Fighton," but the posts were later deleted.

Reacting to Brown's accusation, Sarkisian admitted that he was surprised because he did not expect that his former player would do such thing after giving no clue about his feelings when they talked to each other recently.

"I think it's ridiculous," Sarkisian said of the accusation on Thursday via ESPN. "Any of you guys that know me and if you ask anybody in our building, any of our players -- feel free to -- that's about the furthest thing from the truth. Quite honestly, I'm shocked."

Sarkisian reiterated that Brown decided not to play again despite accommodating his request to change position from being a running back to a cornerback.

The 40-year-old coach added that he even tried to convince Brown to continue playing after recovering from a hyperextended elbow, saying that the Rialto, California native was projected to play a vital role this year.

"Anthony decided not to play football anymore," Sarkisian said. "We obviously tried to encourage him not to quit. We thought he could be an asset to our team, especially when healthy. We really tried to make it a point to accommodate the position change he wanted. He wanted to move to running back, and we did so."

The allegation came several hours after Sarkisian announced that the team suspended Josh Shaw indefinitely after admitting that he fabricated a story about his ankle injury.

When asked about the recent incident involving the Trojans, Sarkisian that he remains focused on preparing the team for their season opener against Fresno State on Saturday.

"I've got over 100 guys in that locker room that are more important or just as important than these two isolated incidents," Sarkisian said. "I owe it to those guys to do the best job that I can do to prepare our staff and to prepare them to play a great football game on Saturday, and that's what my focus is on."

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