OPERATING IN THE BLACK

The secret of Michael Black’s success is really quite simple.

That success has manifested itself in 1,157 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns this season. Along the way, the Washington State running back grabbed some of the spotlight on a team better known for quarterback Ryan Leaf, who was a Heisman Trophy finalist, and the Fab Five receiving corps.

Black also found a way to help the Cougars get into the Rose Bowl against Michigan on Thursday.

“I don’t think we’d be here without Michael Black’s contributions,” Coach Mike Price said.

Contributions such as running for 102 yards in a season-opening 37-34 squeaker over UCLA. Or blazing through the Stanford defense 27 times for 174 yards in a 38-28 victory last month.

The secret of Michael Black’s success is a paradox. To be a better runner, he had to slow down.

“Just be more patient,” he said. “Don’t be too quick.”

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By now, most people know where Black came from. They know about his problems with the law.

While most prep football stars get to be the big man on campus, Black was playing at Camp Kilpatrick, a youth detention facility in Malibu where he served time for auto theft. After he ran for a school-record 324 yards and six touchdowns against St. John’s on Nov. 8, 1990, there was no dance in the gym, no party at a friend’s house.

While any other kid with such considerable talents might have caused a recruiting stir, Black returned to Dorsey High just long enough to get himself into more trouble, and was sentenced to three years in a Norwalk youth authority prison for participating in a night of armed robberies in Burbank.

After that, Black turned his life around, enrolling at West Los Angeles College, running for 2,403 yards over two seasons and, more importantly, keeping his nose clean long enough to attract a scholarship from the Cougars.

Once he learned to live within the boundaries of the law, there was another adjustment to make. This one happened to be on the football field.

“Wherever I played before, Pop Warner, Camp Kilpatrick, West L.A., it was always the I-formation,” he said.

The “I” features a fullback, a burly fellow whose job it is to clear away potential tacklers. Black was accustomed to exploding out of the backfield, cutting one way or another off the fullback’s block.

In Pullman, Price stuck him in a one-back offense, a solitary figure lining up behind the quarterback, a runner who must keep his wits about him.

“Any time an offensive lineman makes a mistake or a linebacker blitzes, I don’t have that lead blocker,” he said.

So Black had to learn new tricks. He arrived at Washington State with ample athleticism, the kind of acceleration and quickness required to play Division I football, said Buzz Preston, the Cougars’ running backs coach. From there, Black needed both the desire and the intelligence to become a smarter player.

“Understanding the blocking schemes,” Preston said. “Understanding how things are going to happen and being able to see those things before they happen.”

In the short span of time that encompasses the snap, the handoff and a first few steps toward the line of scrimmage--a heartbeat, really--Black must take an extra split-second to survey the scene.

“I’ve got to pick a hole and, if it’s not there, I’ve got to change my plan of action,” he said. “I’m an elusive type of person. I’ve got to use that.”

Last year, he established himself as the team’s starting back, averaging a healthy 5.2 yards. He ran for 214 yards against California on his way to 948 yards for the season. Coming into 1997, the coaches were relying on him to augment the vaunted passing attack.

“People sometimes get caught up too much in this game of the quarterback and the receivers,” Preston said. “People who know football can see how important Michael is to us.”

Price sees a direct connection between Black’s steady improvement and the squad’s win-loss record.

“Every time we’ve had a 1,000-yard rusher, we’ve had a winning season in the 18 or so years that I’ve run this offense,” Price said. “And every time that we haven’t had a guy rush for 1,000 yards, we’ve had a losing season.”

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Washington State was picked to finish seventh in the Pacific 10 this season but emerged from the scramble with an offense that ranks second nationally in scoring (42.5 points per game) and total yards (502.2 yards per game).

As a result, the Cougars are making their first appearance in the Rose Bowl in 67 years.

That means a trip home for Black, a chance to play before family and friends, a chance to show his stuff against the top-ranked team in the country. Just a few months shy of graduation, not to mention the NFL draft, he gets to showcase himself in front of 100,000-plus fans and a national television audience.

“I always wanted to be the featured guy, the guy who was fast and sweet on the field,” he said.

It’s all a matter of taking his time. Of being slow while he’s being quick. That is the secret of his success.

“I learned to relax and let my talent speak for itself.”