Phalen Improves Pound for Pounds : Football: Some said hefty USC offensive lineman had a fat chance at making it, but diet and training changed that.

This was the summer of ‘93, at one of John Robinson’s first practices after returning as USC’s football coach.

Robinson was chatting with a couple of reporters when one of his first recruits, Phalen Pounds, walked by, temporarily blocking the sun.

Pounds was 6 feet 7 and 355 pounds at the time.

“That’s Phalen Pounds from Pasadena,” Robinson said. “We think somewhere in that massive body there’s another Lincoln Kennedy, but it might take us a couple of years to find it.”

Last season was a long one for the aptly named Pounds. In his redshirt freshman season, he was the butt of a lot of fat jokes.

“If he can’t play, we can always use him for shade,” quipped offensive line coach Mike Barry one day.

Thirteen months later, there are no more Phalen fat jokes.

There are no Phalen jokes of any kind.

Phalen did not fail.

Phalen is no joke.

After a winter of weaning himself from fast food, and doing some intensive weight training, the body of a year ago has been transformed.

“I’m down to about 315 now and I’m much stronger than I was a year ago,” Pounds said.

“It’s a combination of staying away from the refrigerator, eating a healthier diet, working out more and weight training.”

Pounds was an offensive tackle last year. He was moved to guard last spring. He developed quickly in spring practice and training camp, and started USC’s first two games.

“I have a feeling that if everything goes right for him, he’ll be a star,” Robinson said.

“He’s going to get much stronger, and he understands what he has to do to be a great player. Already, I can see he’s flexible, that he adjusts to things quickly.”

Barry, Pounds’ position coach, is a blunt, tough-talking, tobacco-chewing type who demands much from a talented group that includes All-American senior Tony Boselli (6-8, 320), Kris Pollack (6-5, 290), Jeremy Hogue (6-4, 270), Norberto Garrido (6-7, 305) and Pounds.

“A year ago we didn’t know if Phalen could get that excess weight off, and he really had to do that,” Barry said.

“Well, he got it off and he’s done a great job. He can pull much better than he could a year ago. His stamina is better. He’s risen to a level where he’s assuming the responsibility a starter must take on.

“He improves at something in practice every day. In the Penn State game, he did some really good things.”

Barry, who leads the coaching staff in both tirade frequency and volume, is Pounds’ biggest fan . . . and his toughest critic.

“Man, coach Barry is always on my back about something,” he said.

“Every day, it’s something else. He’s worse in the offensive line meetings than he is at practice. He’s got a red face anyway, but he gets so mad sometimes his face gets really red.

“He’s a good coach, though.”

Pounds, who was also recruited by Washington, decided on USC after Robinson became coach in January of 1993.

“I was leaning toward Washington, but coach (Mike) Sanford (USC wide receiver coach) started recruiting me real hard,” Pounds said. “And when Robinson came in, I saw a chance to start fresh with a new program.”

Like a lot of football players who also play basketball in high school, Pounds is a late arrival to serious weight training.

“I never lifted much in high school because after football I went right into basketball,” he said. “Guys my age here who played only football came in stronger than me because they lifted all winter. But I’ll catch up. I came here with a bench press of 335 pounds and now I’m up to 390.”

Basketball?

“He was a pretty good player,” recalled Jack Loos, one of Pounds’ football coaches at Pasadena High.

“He played at about 335 pounds. He wasn’t so good at getting up and down the floor but he was a very physical player and he could score.

“In football, we all felt Phalen was a great natural talent but that he’d never achieve his potential if he didn’t get his weight down.”

So far, Pounds says major college football is toughest at USC’s Howard Jones field, where the Trojans practice.

“The toughest guy I’ve played against so far is Matt Keneley, who lines up against me most of the time in practice,” he said.

Keneley is a USC defensive line starter.

“The Washington and Penn State guys were big, but they weren’t as good as Keneley,” Pounds said. “And that’s good, because he’s making me a better player. Hopefully, maybe I’ll make him better too.”

The switch from tackle to guard was good news, he said.

“I knew last year if they kept me at tackle, I’d be playing behind Norberto (Garrido, the starting offensive right tackle), and I just wanted to play--anyplace,” he said.

And instead of having to look inside Pounds for another Lincoln Kennedy, Robinson instead found the real Phalen Pounds.