This Trojan Was Born to Play Football

It was a routine practice play, one like thousands of others 18-year-old Chris Claiborne will experience in his USC football career.

Except for the pain.

As the play ended, a teammate crashed into Claiborne’s left knee. Claiborne crumpled, clutching his knee, as trainers ran to help.

Turned out the injury was not as serious as the pain indicated. A minor sprain, the doctor said, and Claiborne was not only suited up but made 19 tackles--most by a Trojan in nine years--in the loss to California three days later.

But when he was on the ground, looking at teammates gathering around him . . .

Images, he said later, flashed through his mind: Surgery . . . sitting out the rest of the season . . . crutches . . . months of rehabilitation . . . a knee brace . . . and the finish to what has been a smashing rookie season for the recruit from Riverside.

“It really scared me,” the freshman linebacker said.

“I’d never been injured before. I didn’t know what tc think. I was even afraid to have a doctor check it out. I heard my knee make a sound when it got hit. It was still sore Thursday but by Friday I knew I could play on it.”

And so the banner season for perhaps the best young linebacker in the Pacific 10 Conference rolls on.

Claiborne, a look-alike for former heavyweight boxing champion Riddick Bowe, started as USC’s backup middle linebacker to sophomore Taso Papadakis. But Papadakis went out a month ago because of a high ankle sprain, the kind that seemingly takes forever to heal, and Claiborne has since played as if he doesn’t plan to give up the position.

After five games, linebacker coach David Robinson is calling Claiborne a near-complete package.

“He’s on his way to being a great player,” David Robinson said. “He’s got size, strength, speed and the athletic ability. Plus, the mental part is there. He very badly wants to be a great player.

“And he’s in a defense where he can really develop. The two tackles [Darrell Russell and Matt Keneley] take on a lot of blocks and free him up. When two guys are blocking Russell, Chris can stop a play in a hurry.”

Some might wonder why Claiborne’s position coach isn’t Charles White, who coaches the running backs.

At North High in Riverside last season, Claiborne’s yardage at tailback totaled almost two miles. He averaged 9.4 yards a carry and scored 38 touchdowns.

After USC’s opening-game loss in the Kickoff Classic, someone wondered why Coach John Robinson couldn’t recruit running backs like Penn State’s Curtis Ennis, who’d had 241 yards against the Trojans.

Well, Robinson had. But Claiborne wanted to play linebacker, not tailback.

“I much prefer hitting people to getting hit,” is how he expressed it.

It’s possible the best two running backs at USC are playing defense. The other is sophomore cornerback Daylon McCutcheon, who averaged 9.1 yards a carry his senior year at La Puente Bishop Amat, but also prefers defense to offense.

Claiborne, at 235 pounds, is as big as he will ever need to be to play linebacker at USC, but both coaches want him stronger. His best bench press in August was 280 pounds.

“I’d like to get that up to about 350 by next year and maybe 500 by the time I’m a senior,” he said.

Claiborne’s role model is former Trojan Junior Seau. Claiborne tapes San Diego Charger games and studies Seau.

“The thing I like about him is his intensity,” he said.

“He makes mistakes sometimes, but in the crunch he makes a lot of big plays. One day, I’d like people to think of me like that.”

He said that after his 19-tackle game against Cal last Saturday, one of the first to congratulate him was Papadakis.

“We both want to start, and he’s been great,” Claiborne said. “It’s not an unfriendly thing at all. He helps me a lot. Like if he sees something he thinks I might not see, he’ll tell me.”

Of the surprising loss to Cal, Claiborne responded as his Marine Corps sergeant father might.

“Coach told us every Pac-10 game is going to be tough from here on out,” he said.

“We just have to get better, that’s all. Every series, our goal has to be three [plays] and out.”

Claiborne’s father, Gunnery Sgt. Emmitt Claiborne, is a 27-year Marine stationed at Okinawa, Japan.

“He’s going to try and get to L.A. for the Washington and Notre Dame games,” said Claiborne, who last summer visited his father on Okinawa.

“My dad and I are pretty close,” he said.

“When he calls and asks ‘How’re you doin’?’ he’s not just asking about football, he wants to know how I’m doing in class too.”

Claiborne has an older brother, Adrian, who is a wide receiver at Fresno State.

“I’m bigger than Adrian, but he’s faster,” he said.