O’Byrne Returns From Injury in a Defensive Posture

It was one of those moments that helps make up for any embarrassment one might have suffered earlier in the day. Defensive back Rob O’Byrne atoned for getting singed on a previous pass play by spot-welding his helmet into the chest of running back Jamal Farmer.

Farmer happened to be the unlucky recipient of a pitch-out during practice for the Daily News All-Star football game Friday night at Birmingham High. O’Byrne, who is occasionally called “O. B.” by friends, read the play from his cornerback position, ditched a block and deposited Farmer O. B., all right, out of bounds and into a puddle of water.

Farmer was plowed into the ground near the feet of ex-Raider Manfred Moore, who happened to be standing on the sideline watching his son, receiver Jason Moore of Birmingham, during the workout. The elder Moore was impressed enough with the play to shout congratulations to O’Byrne. And Moore, who played on the same team with such infamous hitters as Jack Tatum, knows a solid lick when he sees one.

So, unfortunately, does O’Byrne.

Last season, while playing quarterback for Crespi in a 38-14 win over Del Rey League rival Alemany in late October, O’Byrne shattered the radius and ulna of his right arm while executing a quarterback draw. He gained 20 yards on the play but lost the last half-season of his senior year.

O’Byrne had to suffer the added anguish of watching the Celts fail to win the league title as expected and lose in the semifinal round of the Big Five Conference playoffs. The previous season, as a junior, O’Byrne steered the team to the conference championship in a stunning 49-14 romp over St. John Bosco at Anaheim Stadium. As a junior, he threw for 1,072 yards and 11 touchdowns, completing 59.1% of his passes.

The 1987 season was expected to be a repeat performance, and it had started well enough. Despite Crespi’s commitment to a ground-oriented offense, O’Byrne already had passed for 822 yards and 4 touchdowns in 8 games and the Celts, 7-0-1 at the time, were rated No. 8 in the nation by USA Today after spending a week at No. 1.

But it became a season of repose, not reprise. Now O’Byrne is looking for a sort of resurrection.

Nine months later, with two metal plates in his arm, he is back--at defensive back--and drawing favorable reviews from the West coaching staff.

“I think he finally got tired of taking the hits,” cracked West co-Coach Steve Landress of Cleveland. “He decided he’s going to hit back from now on.”

There will be no more calling of shots for the 6-2, 190-pound O’Byrne, even though he is listed on the West roster as a quarterback. In the fall, as a walk-on player at UCLA, he hopes to instead be delivering shots--as a strong safety.

“I came out here the first couple of days of practice and was throwing and it felt great,” said O’Byrne, a right-hander who plays with a specially designed orthopedic brace that covers a pair of five-inch scars on his right forearm. “It’s 100%, but I want to concentrate on playing defense since that’s what I’ll be doing at UCLA.”

If that sounds a tad overconfident, it probably isn’t. By all accounts, O’Byrne does not play like a converted quarterback.

West defensive secondary coach George Moriada used O’Byrne at strong safety, free safety and cornerback during practice this week.

“He can play any of those positions competently,” said Moriada, an assistant at Chaminade. “He has all the tools to do it.”

And the fact is, he already has done it. Before the injury, O’Byrne split time in the secondary with backup quarterback Ron Redell.

Crespi Coach Bill Redell said at the time that losing O’Byrne was as much a blow to the defense as to the offense, which proved true in such slugfests as Crespi’s 38-32 win over Riverside Poly and a 45-38 victory over Anaheim Servite in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

O’Byrne soon will find plenty of other talented players vying for the position he seeks at UCLA. Judging by the impact he has made while working with the West coaching staff, however, he might make a mark with the Bruins.

His aggressiveness and willingness to learn have been most impressive.

“We had a couple of one-on-one drills and I yelled something at him about being out of position,” said Frank Jamerson, an assistant at Cleveland who is coaching the West receivers. “Well, the receiver came out and Rob flat laid him out. I had to sort of leave him alone after that. It was a very good hit.”

O’Byrne still has his rough edges. Receiver Mario Hull beat him on a bomb for a big gain at Tuesday’s practice. O’Byrne regards the mistakes as part of learning the position.

“Some guys you have to tell them some things two or three times,” Moriada said. “Some of these kids are better athletes than the others and some are smarter--he’s both.”

O’Byrne’s experience as a quarterback will be helpful in making the snap judgments needed at safety, where he will be expected to help cover receivers going deep and shut down the run at the line of scrimmage.

“I think having the ability to read a play is just as important as raw ability,” Jamerson said. “And as a quarterback, he can see more things out there, read the play correctly and do what he has to do--react accordingly.”

Jamerson said he does not expect O’Byrne’s anonymity to last long.

“There have been a lot of people coming out of high school who weren’t especially highly acclaimed but that had the intangibles,” said Jamerson, a former assistant at Cal State Northridge. “He has the size, he has the drive, he has the competitiveness.”

Few have ever accused O’Byrne of lacking determination. His family lives in Westlake Village and for three years he battled commuter traffic on the Ventura Freeway to get to the Crespi campus in Encino.

“Now that’s commitment,” Jamerson quipped. “You know what the 101 is like in the morning. . . He seems like the kind of guy who can overcome the odds to make it as a walk-on and then slowly climb up the ladder. He won’t be easily discouraged.”

O’Byrne was not discouraged when Hull smoked him for the long gain in practice. In fact, he later dumped the 6-4, 190-pound Cleveland receiver on his keester with a jarring open-field tackle after a short completion from West quarterback Jeremy Leach.

It could well be that O. B. was cut out to play D. B. all along.