In the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time : USC: Don Gibson suffered two major injuries in eight months, but Trojans still expect a lot from him.

It has been a year of walking gingerly for USC’s Don Gibson, who lasted until he was in the best shape of his life and seemingly on the verge of stardom before suffering the first major injury of his football career . . . and then suffering another less than eight months later.

One year ago this week, during the Trojans’ first practice of the season in full gear, the nose guard caught his left leg in a pile of bodies. As he struggled to work it free, Gibson’s teammate and practice opponent, Brad Leggett, drove him back over the pile.

The result: Torn ligaments and, not counting a starting role last January in USC’s 17-10 victory over Michigan in the Rose Bowl, the end of Gibson’s 1989 season.

“It was really frustrating because you put in all this hard work and it’s taken away just like that,” said Gibson, who recovered in time to make three tackles against Michigan and again was in superb condition last March, when he was moved to defensive guard in spring practice.

Gibson’s new position involves him more in the pass rush, and during a scrimmage at the Coliseum midway through spring drills, he broke through the line toward quarterback Shane Foley.

But as Gibson planted his left foot to cut, his cleats caught in the turf and his ankle snapped.

Gibson started running again only six weeks ago, but his injuries have lowered neither his expectations nor those of his coaches as he enters his senior year.

USC, which has only two defensive starters back from last season, is rebuilding its line around Gibson, who this week pronounced himself ready for the challenge.

“It’s like they say, once they take something away from you, you want it more,” Gibson said. “I’m ready to come in and have a really good season.”

USC is counting on it.

“I haven’t noticed any hesitation (in his play),” said Kevin Wolthausen, who coaches the Trojans’ defensive linemen. “In fact, he’s bigger, stronger and quicker now than he ever has been.”

The 6-foot-3 Gibson has increased his weight to almost 270 pounds, about 10 more than he weighed at this time last year, in an attempt to regain the form that made him a starter in all 24 games of his freshman and sophomore seasons.

No longer playing between All-American tackle Tim Ryan and All-Pacific 10 guard Dan Owens, who were taken in the first three rounds of the NFL draft, Gibson is expected to be a standout.

As Owens’ replacement at guard, he will play a more glamorous role than he had previously.

“We’re going to focus more things around him,” Wolthausen said of Gibson, who also will be used at nose guard occasionally, depending on the development of nose guards Gene Fruge, his replacement last season, and freshman Mike Hinz. “Before, when pass showed, he was double-teamed a lot and just kind of collapsed the pocket.

“This year, instead of taking up a spot on the front and holding his ground, we expect him to make some more plays. We want to put him in a position where he (will) be single-blocked and be a little bit more productive.”

Until he was sidelined last season, Gibson was extremely productive.

The middle son of Frank and Barbara Gibson--his father was a three-year football letterman at the U.S. Military Academy and co-captain of the Cadets’ 1960 team--Gibson was a two-way starter for three seasons at El Modena High in Orange, where his teams won Southern Section championships during his sophomore and junior seasons.

Recruited as a defensive lineman by USC and UCLA and as an offensive lineman by Stanford and Arizona, where his older brother, Boomer, was an outside linebacker, Gibson ultimately chose USC over Arizona because of the Trojans’ winning tradition.

An Army brat who was born in Atlanta and has lived in New Jersey, Kansas, New York, South Korea and Virginia, Gibson said: “Wherever we lived, USC was always on TV.”

In selecting USC, Gibson turned down a scholarship offer from Larry Smith, who was Arizona’s coach at the time and a former teammate of Gibson’s father on Army’s freshman team. But after Gibson was redshirted as a freshman at USC, Smith was hired as the Trojans’ coach.

Gibson was inserted into the starting lineup by Smith and remained there until last summer, earning recognition as a sophomore All-American two years ago.

And while he languished to some extent in the shadows of Ryan and Owens, “our team and coaches and everybody felt there wasn’t much difference (among the three),” Wolthausen said. “We never felt he was any less of a player than those other guys.”

Last season, though, as he rehabilitated his knee and the Trojans led the nation in rushing defense without him, Gibson felt like an outcast.

“The thing is, you just don’t feel like you’re part of the team,” he said. “It’s really hard to grasp that. You don’t travel with the team. You don’t go to meetings. It’s a lot of self-discipline.”

It’s also tedious, but Gibson said his spirits were buoyed almost daily by his younger brother, Craig, a freshman reserve center at USC, and his father, who had suffered a similar injury at West Point.

And now, “as a senior, you find people looking up to you and respecting you,” Gibson said. “People expect a lot out of you.”

But no more, it seems, than Gibson expects from himself.

Asked to specify what he described as the “lofty goals” he has set for himself this season, the soft-spoken Gibson said: “To play better than I ever have.”

The Trojans expect no less.