Serra Defensive Back Lopez Is Still Waiting for a College Bid : Football: Shrine Game participant is one of three players on South team who remain uncommitted to a college.

Of the 32 football players chosen to participate for the South squad in Saturday’s 39th annual Shrine Game, Clayton Lopez is one of only three who remain unsigned and uncommitted to a college.

But Lopez, a defensive back from Serra High School, doesn’t appear worried.

“I’m just out here to have fun,” Lopez said after a recent South team workout at UC Irvine. “I’m a pretty strong person and I know what I need to do. My playing speaks for itself.”

Perhaps the calmness of Lopez’ demeanor and the strength of his attitude on life is the result of what he has already had to endure.

Lopez, 18, has learned a lot about life in the past 15 months, and football now has become just a means of getting an education.

“I’m not thinking about the pros,” he said. “I’m just thinking about getting my education--that’s it. You can take football away from me, but you can’t take away my education. I’ve got a good head on my shoulders.”

Lopez didn’t always have this feeling about football. It all changed for him in his junior year as he was gamboling through life, participating in high school sports year-round. After football season, he moved on to basketball, then track. Life was good. Life was easy.

Then it changed.

His teammate, Demar Harper, was killed in an auto accident less than a block from another friend’s house where Lopez was hanging out. Harper, a sophomore linebacker, died instantly when the car in which he was riding collided with another vehicle.

“We had a track meet that day and just before he left, I asked him what time he was coming back (for the meet). He told me the time, and I said, ‘All right, I’ll see you then,’ ” Lopez said.

The next time Lopez saw his teammate, Harper was dead.

Harper’s death was hard on Lopez, just as it was to the rest of the Serra football team, which dedicated its 1989 season to Harper.

“It made me appreciate life a lot more,” Lopez said. “You never know when you are gonna go.”

Serra made the most of the season despite the loss of its starting linebacker. The Cavaliers earned their third straight Camino Real League title, and went on to defeat Lompoc, 34-31, in the Southern Section Division VII championship game. Serra finished 14-0.

The initials on the right sleeve of his Serra jersey remind Lopez of the good friend whom he lost.

“The guys on the (Shrine) team thought the DH on my arm stands for ‘designated hitter,’ ” Lopez said as he tugged at his jersey sleeve. “They call me DH now.”

Hitting is something Lopez loves to do--the harder the better.

“In the third quarter, that’s when other people tend to ease up. I have to show them that I’m not going to ease up until the game is over,” Lopez said.

The 5-foot-11, 173-pound defender said that he hit his opponents so hard last year that he knocked himself unconscious twice.

“If you can’t (make an interception), the next best thing is to hit (the receiver) as hard as you can,” Lopez said. “From a cornerback position that’s kind of hard to do, but from free safety you can let him know who you are real quick.”

Lopez had eight interceptions from his free safety position in 1989 to set a school season record. In the Shrine Game, he will play cornerback.

Lopez’s off-the-field demeanor, quiet and somewhat subdued, belies his intensity once he dons his equipment.

“When I touch that grass, I’m a different person,” he said. “You have to change your attitude when you get out there--especially when you play defense. You’ve got to be mean and aggressive.”

Lopez’s successful senior season was followed by scholarship offers from several universities in the West, among them USC, Washington, New Mexico State and Nevada Las Vegas.

But Lopez failed to score 700 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, and the offers stopped. Lopez says he passed the SAT on his second attempt, but there were no scholarships available by then.

Now the defensive back is left to consider community college ball at El Camino or Long Beach City to showcase himself for a Division I offer.

El Camino Coach John Featherstone has been in contact with Lopez on several occasions and hopes he will choose to be a Warrior.

“We think the world of Clayton,” Featherstone said. “We’ve been watching him for two years now and we think he is the best cornerback available in the area.

“Clayton would fit perfectly into our defensive scheme here. This is a great chance for him to come in and compete for us right now.”

Lopez will decide his future in football after the Shrine Game, but for now he’s just enjoying his new friends, playing dominoes, shooting pool and “telling war stories” with some of the best college recruits in Southern California.