Now, Whitfield Is a Gang of One : Stanford: The 300-pound pro prospect, too big for a life of crime, chose football. Saturday, he will take on USC.

Obesity may be underrated. Fat can be functional.

In the case of Bob Whitfield, an All-American offensive tackle at Stanford, it might even have saved him from a life of crime.

Gangs and drugs were prevalent in the Carson neighborhood where Whitfield grew up and he was fascinated by the lifestyle of the street toughs.

But the gang members weren’t interested in him. He was too fat.

“I was the biggest kid on the block, so they wouldn’t let me hang with them,” Whitfield said. “(They would say), ‘You’re too big. You can’t keep up. You’re not quick. You’re too slow. You’ll get caught.’ ”

Stung by rejection, Whitfield channeled his energies in a less destructive direction.

A curious child--his mother, Eartha, said that he read from encyclopedias and the Bible before first grade--Whitfield engrossed himself in school work.

And later, at the urging of his late father, older brother and probably just about every coach at Banning High in Wilmington, he turned to football.

By the time he was a senior, Whitfield was no longer fat. As a great prospect and good student, he was probably the most coveted offensive lineman in high school football, wooed by college recruiters from USC and UCLA to Notre Dame, Miami and Michigan.

Legend has it that, upon being hired to replace Jack Elway as Stanford coach in 1989, Dennis Green didn’t call his wife first to break the news. He called Whitfield.

It was time and money well spent by the Cardinal.

A 6-foot-7, 300-pound junior, Whitfield may be the best offensive lineman in college football.

It has been speculated that Whitfield, who will celebrate his 20th birthday today and will play against USC Saturday at the Coliseum, will make himself available for the NFL draft next spring.

He has given it much thought.

“I try not to,” he said. “I try to avoid it. But it keeps flashing in my head. That’s a good opportunity, probably one of the best opportunities I can have--to do something I’m talented at and I like to do that can earn me some money.

“That’s a nice little job.”

Whitfield said he won’t decide about the draft until after the season, adding that he will consult with Green first while weighing his options.

If he is assured of being a high pick, he’ll probably leave.

“You can’t pass up that kind of money,” Whitfield said.

Whitfield has started every game at Stanford since the day he arrived 2 1/2 years ago.

As a true freshman, a year when most players are either redshirted (asked to sit out a year to gain strength and maturity) or used on special teams, Whitfield played every offensive down and was named to the All-Pacific-10 Conference second team.

Last season, when Stanford upset then-No. 1 Notre Dame and narrowly lost to co-national champion Colorado, Whitfield was the only sophomore finalist for the Outland Trophy, which is awarded annually to the nation’s outstanding interior lineman.

“He graded out in the 90th percentile for the season--and that was against a schedule that included teams like Colorado and Notre Dame and Washington,” Stanford’s offensive line coach, Scott Schuhmann, told the Peninsula Times Tribune. “If he’d been a fourth- or fifth-year senior, you’d have said he had a great season. For a sophomore, it was unbelievable.”

This season?

“Bob is playing magnificently,” Green said.

Whitfield is attractive to pro scouts, Schuhmann said, because of his size and athletic ability and because he lines up on the left side.

In passing situations, left tackles protect right-handed quarterbacks from blindside hits.

“People will want him because of the position he plays and his physical prowess,” Schuhmann said.

In his time at Stanford, Whitfield has gained a reputation not only as a great player but also as a prankster, occasionally pouring hot sauce in the mouths of teammates or smearing toothpaste on their foreheads while they nap.

Linebacker Ron George told of the time he introduced Whitfield to a girlfriend.

“She’s about 4-foot-10 and weighs all of about 80 pounds, and Bob was trying to be cute and he head-butted her,” George said. “He knocked her cold, and I think she was dizzy for a week. Sometimes, Bob just doesn’t realize how big and strong he is.”

The youngest of three children, Whitfield was hotly pursued by USC and UCLA, but he wanted to leave Los Angeles “to have a new experience somewhere else,” he said.

He never gave much thought to Stanford before Green was hired. The school caught his eye by hiring a black coach and won him over, in part, because it was not too far from home.

“It wasn’t so far away where I’d feel like I was long gone,” said Whitfield, who also visited Notre Dame, Michigan and Miami.

Though he visited UCLA, Whitfield never seriously considered signing with the Bruins, despite the efforts of his mother.

“As much as I love UCLA and Terry Donahue, I couldn’t sway him,” she said. “He just wasn’t interested.”

Academically, Stanford has been everything Whitfield wanted.

But Whitfield, an industrial engineering major, has been disappointed with the Cardinal’s lack of success on the field.

Two years ago, Stanford was 3-8, last year 5-6.

This season, with 17 starters back, Whitfield expected another jump, but the Cardinal is 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the Pac-10, most likely out of the Rose Bowl race.

“I felt, coming off my sophomore year, this would be the year for us to shine, but it has taken us a little while,” he said. “But you have to have patience. I’m not going to give up. I still have confidence we can turn this team around.”

If that happens, Whitfield will undoubtedly play a major role, even if he doesn’t always understand the fuss made over his ability.

“They give me an assignment and I try to do it,” he said. “I don’t know if I’m doing it much better than the next guy.”