Waldrop Is a Big Plus as Team Thinks Minus : Arizona: Powerful nose guard is key to defense that has opponents going backward.

A quarter of a ton. Five-hundred pounds.

Rob Waldrop can lie on a weight-training bench and shove that much iron up over his body.

The Arizona nose guard, the powerful engine driving the relentless Wildcat defense that USC faces Saturday in Tucson, has not only taken his game to the next level, he has taken it to areas largely unexplored in college football.

Waldrop, a 6-foot-1 1/2, 272-pound senior, is the nation’s only returning defensive consensus All-American, one of three finalists for the Outland Trophy and one of 12 semifinalists--along with USC’s Tony Boselli and Willie McGinest--for the Lombardi/Rotary Award.

He’s Mr. Bulwark, a colossus of the interior.

When Arizona played outclassed Pacific three weeks ago, Waldrop sacked the quarterback twice. On another play, a pesky center was in his way. So, with a double forearm smash, he sent the center flying into the quarterback, knocking him down.

Four weeks into the season, Arizona (4-0) has the NCAA’s top-ranked defense, in large measure because of Waldrop, a guy who is out of the loop when it comes to training.

Arizona’s defense:

--Has tackled opponents for 45 losses in four games--that’s 17% of opponents’ scrimmage plays.

--Held Oregon State to zero or negative yardage on 28 plays in a 33-0 victory last week.

--Has held opponents to runs for zero yardage or no gain, incomplete passes or for no gain, or tackles for losses in 53% of all plays run against Arizona.

--Has thrown opponents for an average of minus 4.3 rushing yards a game.

--Has given up one touchdown rushing in four games.

--Leads the Pac-10 in sacks, averaging 5.8 a game.

--Had three sacks at Oregon State, eight at Illinois, seven against Pacific and five against Texas El Paso. Two at Illinois resulted in fumbles that were returned 76 and 46 yards for touchdowns.

--In one game, the Wildcats’ 16-14 victory at Illinois, the defense scored all the points.

Even Arizonans acknowledge that those numbers have been achieved against weak opponents and that USC will be by far Arizona’s most formidable opponent.

But no one questions that the Waldrop-powered Desert Swarm defense is legit. Or that Waldrop is, indeed, its commander in chief.

“He’s incredibly strong,” said Craig Gibson, the 256-pound senior USC center who must block Waldrop Saturday.

“He tries to knock the crap out of you with his first shot. Then he tries to get that first big step and ‘swim’ by you. If you can survive the first shot, you have a chance with him. He was the best guy I played against last year.”

How much is 500 pounds? USC has never had a football player who lifted that much.

Said Jim Bush, USC track coach: “There are world-class shotputters who can’t bench(-press) 500 pounds.”

But Waldrop is more than a barbell junkie. He has also gotten into aerobic training, running instruction and nutrition.

His 1992 season was one that Arizona Coach Dick Tomey still marvels over.

“He was . . . a big-time prospect when we recruited him out of Phoenix. But during his 1991 rehab (from a knee injury), he decided to become a great player, and he did,” Tomey said.

“His improvement between his sophomore and junior years was the greatest of any player I’ve ever been around.”

Waldrop, an admitted junk food junkie when he arrived in Tucson, is now on nutrition pathways seldom seen in football. Or in many other sports.

“I’m eating healthy, and I’m eating small meals five or six times a day,” he said.

“I’ve learned what you eat does make a difference, if you’re an athlete. I’m going for low-fat all the time, low-carbohydrates Sunday through Wednesday, then picking up on carbohydrates Thursday and Friday. I can’t eat all the carbohydrates that I need, so I take supplements.

“A typical meal for me before Thursday might be three pieces of whole wheat bread, a can of tuna, a bowl of rice and some yogurt. Breakfast might be a fruit bowl, yogurt, three pieces of whole wheat and scrambled eggs.

“Another might be pasta with tomato sauce, wheat bread and an apple.

“I’ve really studied nutrition. In fact, I took so many related classes I changed my major from poly sci to health.

“I got pretty fat my freshman year, when I went up to 280 pounds. And at one point during knee rehab, I was 297. I dieted on my own, just eating less, but I lost muscle tissue and stayed fat.

“I tried all-protein and I got stronger. . . . But I had no energy and I just didn’t feel healthy. It used to take me too long to recuperate from the Saturday games.”

During knee rehabilitation, Waldrop worked with Arizona’s strength and conditioning coach, Darryl Eto. They created Waldrop’s diet.

“I’m now feeling more fit and strong than I ever have,” Waldrop said.

And to USC Coach John Robinson, he looks quick.

“The thing that jumps off the film at you . . . is that there is a suddenness to him,” Robinson said.

Waldrop said Eto also worked with him on running, enabling him to reduce his 40-yard sprint time from 4.80 to 4.67.

Another part of Eto’s Waldrop project was a relic from the 1920s--medicine balls.

“Medicine balls are an extremely valuable training tool for strength sports, especially defensive linemen,” Eto said.

“Rob uses a 25-pound ball for trunk and torso strengthening. He makes chest passes to me, he does twists with them while seated, he does sit-ups with them and we even play catch with them while he’s doing sit-ups.”

What drove an already good player to become a great one?

“I never worked hard at football in high school,” Waldrop said. “I just got by on ability.

“But I thought a lot about myself and football after I hurt my knee. . . . I decided to go up to the next level and to do it I needed to do extra stuff, like changing my diet and special training.”

Although Waldrop provides most of the wallop for Arizona’s defense, there are six other identifiable stars.

Defensive ends Tedy Bruschi and Jimmie Hopkins, defensive tackle Jim Hoffman, inside linebackers Brant Boyer and Sean Harris, and strong safety Brandon Sanders are Waldrop’s supporting cast.

Bruschi leads the Pac-10 in tackles for losses, with 11 for 87 yards. Harris is sixth. They also are first and fourth in sacks.

But Waldrop is the key.

Said Tomey: “What he did was amazing. In the space of one year, he went from being a good player to maybe the outstanding defensive lineman in the country.”