USC’s Claridge Is No Ordinary Freshman

Is Travis Claridge too good to be true? Has there ever been an 18-year-old offensive lineman this good? What’s he going to be like in 1999, when he’s a senior?

USC’s coaching staff ponders such questions, whenever Claridge’s name comes up.

At a time in football when some players have more earrings than battle scars, Claridge’s is the profile of the old-fashioned football player.

He looks as if he has jumped off a page in Street & Smith’s 1956 college football preview.

Travis “Trapper” Claridge came to USC from Vancouver, Wash., last August, the most celebrated of John Robinson’s highly rated freshman recruiting class.

“When the NFL scouts came here [in the spring of 1995] and timed our seniors in the 40, Tony Boselli ran five-flat and they all went nuts,” said Robinson, recalling the 6-foot-8, 320-pound offensive tackle who was the NFL’s second draft pick that year.

“Travis came in here and ran 4.85.”

After that, Claridge was issued uniform No. 71, Boselli’s number.

And at the Kickoff Classic against Penn State on Aug. 25, he became the first USC freshman offensive line starter--at right guard--since Brad Budde in 1976.

He stands 6 feet 6 and began the season at 300 pounds but has since dropped to 290. The body is chiseled, and Claridge can dunk a basketball with both hands from a standing jump.

James Strom, Trojan strength coach, says he expects Claridge’s bench press to improve from his present best of 405 pounds to 500 when he’s a senior.

He has also proven he can play in pain.

He was hit on the same spot on his right thigh by Houston helmets four times two Saturdays ago, yet Mike Barry, USC’s offensive line coach, had to physically pull Claridge out of practice one day last week and send him to the training room. He limped away, furious.

“I asked him to leave, and he wouldn’t,” Barry said.

“He was in pain, we could all see it. So I grabbed him and pulled him out. He’s a very talented young guy who demands perfection of himself and he sees coming out for an injury as short-changing himself.”

Barry is in near-awe of Claridge.

“What he’s done, it’s amazing,” he said. “You look around the country and tell me how many true freshmen offensive line starters you see.

“He’s done a great job with all the stuff we’ve thrown at him in a short time. And he’s done it under a lot of pressure. The expectations on him were like what Ron Powlus [Notre Dame’s quarterback] had his freshman year.”

Claridge, rated by one recruiting service last year as the No. 3 high school football prospect in the nation, had his pick of scholarships.

But USC was a lock, after he met the man who recruited him, Barry.

“I decided early on that coach Barry was the best man to get me where I want to go, to be the best offensive lineman I can possibly be.” Claridge said. “If he’d left SC and gone to another school, I’d have gone there.”

Claridge, who won’t turn 19 until next March, isn’t much of an interview yet.

He was asked about the recruiting process, and said the only recruiting trip he took was to USC.

Not even to Washington?

“Washington’s horrible,” he said.

What about Notre Dame?

“I hate Notre Dame,” he said.

He already has made a major improvement in one area--stage fright.

“I was so nervous before the Penn State game, I could barely put on my uniform,” he said.

“But that’s the way I am. I puke before every game.

“But I went from high school games with 800 people to Giants Stadium and 80,000 people. I walked out on that field and thought: ‘Hey, I’m really going to do this. I’m really here. . . . The cameras are rolling, and this is Penn State.’

“The first two series, the center [Jonathan Himebauch] had to remind me on every play what I was supposed to do. Then they took me out to let me watch a couple of series. After that, I was OK.”

Claridge said his development in football is parallel with his academic performance.

“I went from a 1.9 GPA my freshman year in high school [Fort Vancouver High] to a 3.2 last year,” he said, with some pride. He said his No. 1 academic goal now is an “A” in his U.S. history class.

Claridge rooms with three other high-profile freshman players, linebacker Chris Claiborne, quarterback Mike Van Raaphorst and another offensive line recruit, Faaesea Mailo.