He Gets a Kick Out of Returning : USC Freshman Soward Makes the Big Time With Explosive Efforts

Are we in a pattern here?

At USC, R. Jay Soward is the preferred new spelling for E-X-P-L-O-S-I-V-E.

After his first game as a Trojan, the USC freshman receiver-kick returner was averaging 97 yards a catch.

At Arizona State, he rendered a screaming crowd of 74,947 mute with a 98-yard kickoff return, giving USC a 28-21 lead.

At Washington State last Saturday night, he ran the second-half kickoff back 78 yards, tying the score, 10-10.

In three of the 15 plays he has handled the ball, the 5-foot-11, 175-pound Soward has amassed 273 yards. Against Illinois, the first time he handled the ball, he and Matt Koffler combined on a 97-yard touchdown pass.

If he runs one more kickoff back all the way, he will tie Anthony Davis’ 22-year-old single-season NCAA record.

Among USC’s 20 top kickoff returners, only Davis, with six, has more than one touchdown. The best average is Curtis Conway’s. He returned 73 for a 23.60 mark . . . but only one touchdown.

Running kicks back for touchdowns at Tempe, Ariz., and Pullman, Wash., may be exhilarating, but what would it be like to bring one back against UCLA, or Notre Dame, at the Coliseum?

Soward smiled and said, “I try not to think about it.”

That way, he can surprise himself.

He said that when he reported to USC’s preseason training camp last July, he pegged his chances at playing this season at close to zero.

“Nobody knew who I was,” he said. “Guys like Stan Guyness and Troy Garner came in here with a lot more [publicity] than I had, so my attitude was, I was going to be the best receiver here, but it would take time. I expected to be red-shirted this year.”

In the first week of camp, however, Soward impressed everyone with his athleticism, speed and an aggressive, attack-the-ball receiving style. By the second week of the season he had passed up Guyness and Garner and last week, at Washington State, became a starter.

It hasn’t been a stellar year for Trojan receivers, made all the more noticeable by Keyshawn Johnson’s achievements of the last two seasons. Johnson caught 102 passes last year and 66 the season before--for 16 touchdowns.

This season, the leading receiver is the fullback, Rodney Sermons, with 27.

And at times, it has seemed as if there have been more drops than big plays by wide receivers.

It has been the entire wide receiver corps, Soward included. Sophomore Billy Miller was thought of as Johnson’s heir apparent, but it hasn’t happened yet. Miller, playing with a shoulder injury, isn’t catching the ball consistently.

The same can be said of senior Chris Miller and junior Larry Parker.

Soward said the Trojan who has been the toughest on him is Johnson.

“Keyshawn went to the [high school] Shrine game last summer and I scored a touchdown and dropped a pass,” he said. “I thought he was going to congratulate me for the touchdown. But he said, ‘Man, you can’t be dropping passes. You’re not good yet.’ ”

He also resists comparisons to Anthony Davis.

“I don’t like to hear any of that.” he said. “People will expect too much.

“Really, [the long-distance touchdowns] don’t mean all that much to me right now. They’ll mean more someday when I come back here with a child, and show them to him on a video.”

Soward’s coach at Fontana High, Dick Bruich, kiddingly wonders how USC has gotten two kickoff return touchdowns from Soward when he got none.

“I’ve got to needle him about that, about how come we didn’t get any and he’s already run two back,” he said.

“He’s explosive. When we played Clovis last year, he went 80 yards on a reverse on the game’s first play. And he iced the game with an interception. He’s got great speed and a great first step.”

One big step Soward took a year ago was transferring from Rialto Eisenhower to Fontana High. He said he was in danger of winding up on the ground, a bullet hole in his chest.

“There was a gang situation there [at Eisenhower] that I was afraid of,” he said.

“My cousin was involved in an incident at a party. He was living with my grandmother, a block from school. One night some people showed up at 3 a.m., got out of their cars and fired about 15 shots into the house and left.

“No one was hurt, and I wasn’t even there, but that was enough for me. The thing that scared me was I look exactly like my cousin.

“I just didn’t feel safe. I didn’t want to wind up laying on the ground, seeing my life, all my dreams . . . going away.”

Now, he eagerly looks to challenges he expects Washington to present him Saturday at the Coliseum. He was asked if he expects the Huskies to put their kickoffs where he isn’t.

“If they don’t kick to me, I’ll feel like they’re challenging me,” he said.

“I just might run to the other side of the field and catch it.”