Now Royster’s Got a Brand New Bag : USC: The Trojan back rushed for 203 yards in a Heisman-like debut as a starter.

Carrying the ball 34 times in a football game can take its toll, but after he did just that Saturday night in USC’s 30-17 victory over Washington State at the Coliseum, Mazio Royster said he felt good.

He knew that he would.

It was a dream come true for Royster, who was named for a member of James Brown’s backup band, saxophonist Maceo Parker, but showed the moves of a headliner against the Cougars.

He ran for 203 yards and three touchdowns as a replacement for tailback Ricky Ervins, who didn’t play because of a sprained ankle.

As first starts go, it was superior to those turned in by USC’s four Heisman Trophy-winning tailbacks--Mike Garrett, O.J. Simpson, Charles White and Marcus Allen.

And Royster, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound sophomore, wasn’t told until just before the game that he would be starting. Clarence Shelmon, who coaches the Trojans’ running backs, pulled him aside during warm-ups and told him he would carry the ball 25 to 30 times and the coaching staff expected him to gain 150 to 200 yards.

“So I thought, ‘OK, no problem,’ ” Royster said.

Royster wasn’t so confident in the days leading up to the game. Realizing that he might start because Ervins hadn’t practiced after injuring his ankle Sept. 29 against Ohio State, Royster grew nervous.

“I was doubting myself a little bit,” he said. “It’s easy to sit back in those chairs on Monday, when we review films, and say, ‘Man, if I was out there, I could have made that cut. I could have done that. Ricky didn’t do that right. I could have done it.’

“But last week was my time, and I actually asked my dad, ‘Can I do it?’ I didn’t know.”

His father, Stanley, who was an All-American long jumper at California, reminded Royster that for two seasons in practice he ran against a defense that ranked among the best in the nation against the run.

“You go against all those first-, second- and third-round draft choices every day and you learn how to run or you get killed,” his father said.

He also reminded his son that if the Trojans didn’t believe in him, they wouldn’t have recruited him out of Bishop Amat High School in La Puente, which has produced such Trojans as Pat Haden, J.K. McKay, Randy Tanner, John Jackson and Stephon Pace, a starter at free safety and the Trojans’ No. 1 tackler this season.

Last week, Royster reviewed videotape of his games at Bishop Amat, where he ran for 1,704 yards and scored 18 touchdowns as a senior. As a junior, he was used mostly as a blocker for Eric Bieniemy, now at Colorado, but still ran for 707 yards.

“I just wanted to relive those feelings and (remember) how relaxed I was at Amat,” Royster said. “I was the guy, and since being at USC, I haven’t been the guy, so I just wanted to go back and think to myself, ‘I’m the guy. I’ve got to get it going.’ ”

It seemed to work.

Royster, who had carried only 15 times in 16 games at USC, ran for 10, nine and seven yards in his first three attempts against Washington State. By the end of the first quarter, he had scored two touchdowns, and by the end of the half, he had run for 123 yards.

“Everything flowed the way I thought it would--a little easier, actually,” Royster said.

While realizing that he will be demoted again to the second team when Ervins returns, Royster has no plans to back off.

“I’m ready to go,” he said.

For a time, Royster said, he wasn’t. Royster has experienced a love-hate relationship with the Trojans’ coaching staff.

At first unsure that he could compete at USC, he grew angry with the Trojans when their interest in him seemed to wane during his senior year at Bishop Amat.

He had planned to attend Washington until his twin brother, Marcus, asked him why.

Marcus is a 6-4, 255-pound linebacker at Fullerton College. “He said, ‘Washington? Man, you’ve been wanting to go to USC all your life and you’re going to Washington?’ ” Royster recalled. “And then--boom!--I forgot about the competition. I’m going to have competition wherever I go.”

Once at USC, Royster realized that he had the talent to compete. But he lacked the maturity, he said, to understand why he wasn’t playing.

Frustrated, he missed meetings. He skipped practices.

“I figured, ‘If I’m not playing, why should I be there?’ ” Royster said. “That’s not being disciplined.”

He said he matured last season when Coach Larry Smith grew tired of his attitude and assigned him to the scout team, allowing the first-string defense to beat him down. Royster ran for 50 yards and a touchdown in seven carries all season. By all accounts, though, he played well last spring and again in preseason practice.

But once the season started, he was on the bench again, backing up Ervins and Scott Lockwood. In USC’s first three games, Royster carried the ball once.

Then came the Ohio State game. Lockwood was moved to fullback, and Ervins, who ran for a career-high 199 yards, sprained an ankle.

On came Royster, who ran for 50 yards in his first carry.

“The play came in, and here I am with all these guys I always see on the field, but I never play with--like Todd Marinovich and (Mark) Tucker and (Pat) Harlow,” he said. “I heard the play (called) and I tried to relax.

“It was like warp speed, and as Todd was pitching the ball, I remember thinking to myself, ‘What am I doing out here with Todd Marinovich?’ I caught it and just ran. The whole thing was like in super slow-motion. It was great.”

Royster experienced the same sensation last week. “Everything was moving pretty slow,” he said.

Everything but Royster.