Late Prep Coach’s Words Stoke Keneley’s Competitive Fire : Football: USC lineman strives to be the best, using the advice of Mike Rush to inspire him.

There were bloodstains on his pants, several cuts and bruises on his arms and calves, and his thumbnail would have matched a Minnesota Viking home jersey quite nicely.

As USC defensive lineman Matt Keneley sauntered off the field last week, thoroughly exhausted from a grueling practice, his options seemed pretty clear: a dip in the whirlpool, a wrap session with a few ice packs, a long, cool shower, or all of the above.

So where did Keneley go? Straight to the weight room to work out for another half-hour.

“I could have gone to the training room and relaxed, but I wanted to get a little extra work in,” said Keneley, a sophomore nose tackle. “It’s not something I was in the mood to do. It’s a sacrifice. But for the good of the team and myself, it’s something I had to do.”

To understand why Keneley would inflict further punishment on his weary body, one must go back to 1989, his sophomore year at Mission Viejo, when former Diablo Coach Mike Rush, who died last year of a heart attack, spoke the words that still inspire Keneley.

What you gave today, you’ll have forever. What you didn’t give today is lost forever.

“It’s true with everything in life,” said Keneley, a public administration major with a 3.58 grade-point average. “You can’t go half speed in practice and expect good things to happen on Saturday. So I give everything I have, and in the long run that will make me a better player.

“That’s why I come off the practice field bloody, sweaty and feeling like crap, because if I’m not trying to improve myself, I wouldn’t be where I am.”

Keneley is in the middle of a young USC defensive line that is trying to fend off opponents and critics.

The line was considered a soft spot on last year’s 8-5 Trojan team, allowing six teams to rush for 200 yards or more, including 305 to Notre Dame.

USC Coach John Robinson said during the off-season that the line needed to get tougher, and he hoped a switch from a read-and-react style to a more speed-oriented, attacking style would improve the defense.

But the results after two games have been mixed. The Trojans did a decent job against Washington and standout tailback Napoleon Kaufman in a 24-17 season-opening victory. The speedy Kaufman had 152 yards, but it took him 26 carries to do it. He had no game-breaking runs, and the Huskies had only 164 total rushing yards.

Then came last Saturday’s disaster. Penn State, behind running back Ki-Jana Carter and quarterback Kerry Collins, rolled up 286 yards rushing and 248 yards passing in a 38-14 blowout of USC.

Keneley, who started nine games as a redshirt freshman last season, had a career-high nine tackles against Penn State, but that was hardly consolation.

“I thought it would be a stern test, a chance to find out how good we are, but as it turned out, we’re not as far along as we hoped,” said Keneley, a 6-foot-5, 280-pounder who had 41 tackles, including two sacks, in 1993. “But I think it’s too early to label our defense (as being soft against the run).

“If we can look back at the end of the year and say this was a game where we realized we needed to take a step up in preparation and play in order to be a top-10 team, then a positive can come out of what would appear to be a huge negative.”

Keneley, who despite being a sophomore is the most experienced player on the Trojan defensive line, took a major step up during the off-season. As Penn State ’94 will be for his teammates, Notre Dame ’93 was a sobering experience for Keneley, one that motivated him all winter, spring and summer.

“That game really showed us how important it was for us to be more physically dominant up front,” Keneley said. “I sat down after the season, reflected on the games we lost, and attributed a large part of it to the defensive line not getting off blocks, not stopping the run. I decided to be the best player I could be, I had to change my body and improve my skills.”

Keneley hit the weight room with an unprecedented zeal, adding more muscle mass and upper-body strength. He worked with Laguna Hills speed coach Jim Walsh, who helped Keneley lower his 40-yard dash times from 5.1 seconds to about 4.8 seconds and also refined his techniques.

“Plus, I took the mind-set that I have a great opportunity to take my career where I want it,” Keneley said. “The worst thing I could do is waste my talent. That’s why when I go to practice I don’t worry about injuries. I do worry about having regrets, though.

“I don’t want to say I could have been All-Pac-10 or All-American. I want to leave everything on the field. I decided I want to be one of the premier players in the league, if not this year maybe next year.”

That attitude was apparent to USC coaches, who consider Keneley one of the team’s most improved returning players.

“He made huge strides with his physical and mental conditioning,” said USC defensive line coach Doug Smith, the former Ram center. “He refuses to be beaten. He’s always been a tough-minded guy, but this year he seems obsessed with beating the opponent.”

Keneley, a Times All-Orange County first-team selection in 1991, thrives on that competition in the trenches, where linemen have been known to do anything--kick, scratch, bite, trip, hold--to gain an advantage. He doesn’t consider himself a violent guy, but violence is one of the most alluring aspects of the game.

“I’m basically punching (the offensive lineman) in the chest every play,” Keneley said. “It’s an absolute war for four quarters, and the guy who competes every play is going to win, and I love that. I’ve always found that exciting. There’s no other thing that can give me the same feeling.”