Iacenda Can’t Block Out His Thoughts

The tough part, he will tell you, is sitting in the locker room before games. The minutes tick by.

Ted Iacenda cannot wait to run onto the field as USC’s starting fullback, a redshirt freshman who adds 225 pounds of muscle to a rejuvenated backfield.

“I get butterflies,” he said. “Waiting’s a killer.”

The tough part, he says, is hanging around his apartment, killing time by tapping out e-mail messages on his computer. The weeks and months tick by.

For almost a year, Iacenda has stood accused of sexually assaulting a former girlfriend in a Las Vegas hotel room. Prosecutors depict the 19-year-old as a violent offender who could spend the rest of his life in prison.

The charge does not jibe with what many others say of him, that he is smart and well-mannered, something of an All-American boy. But Iacenda knows that, at a time when more and more college athletes are turning up on police blotters, he has fallen under a cloud of suspicion.

So, as the justice system grinds toward a Jan. 12 trial, he longs for a chance at vindication. The tough part, he says, is waiting.

“It’s something that goes through my mind every day from the time I wake up till I go to bed,” he said. “I just try to keep my days busy.”

*

Saturday night he will keep himself busy against Nevada Las Vegas at the Coliseum, splitting time at fullback with senior Rodney Sermons.

Sermons specializes in running and catching the ball. Iacenda specializes in throwing himself at linebackers and diving headlong through the line of scrimmage.

“We need somebody to go in there and make some holes,” said Charles White, Trojan running backs coach. “He knows how to move the pile.”

From such brutality comes peace of mind.

“I have to concentrate on what I’m supposed to do,” Iacenda said. “It’s the only time when I can’t think about my case.”

The Clark County district attorney’s office declined to comment on the case. Attempts to contact the accuser were unsuccessful. Iacenda’s attorney, Stan Hunterton, offered brief details.

The crime is alleged to have occurred in July 1996 as the young woman celebrated her 17th birthday in Las Vegas with her parents and a friend, Hunterton said. Though she and Iacenda had reportedly severed their relationship some months before, he drove there to see her.

Accounts vary as to whether or not she asked him to come. But no one disputes that they had intercourse in his hotel room on July 7. Iacenda said it was consensual. Four days later, she reported it to police as a rape.

In December 1996, a grand jury indicted Iacenda on one count of sexual assault, a crime that carries a sentence of 10 years to life. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment.

The charge made some acquaintances reconsider his otherwise impressive record, both on and off the field:

Iacenda gained 5,861 all-purpose yards and scored 99 touchdowns over three years at Hart High. He scored more than 1,300 on the Scholastic Assessment Test, making him one of the most sought-after high school running backs in the nation.

“On top of the world,” he recalled. “But things took a turn.”

Advised not to comment on the facts of the case, Iacenda says he is innocent but does not belabor the point. He fears that his words have little effect on people.

“Maybe they look at me differently now,” he said. “Maybe they question.”

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His first months at college, shortly after his arrest, were a dark time. Iacenda often drove home to Valencia to be with his family. He looked out of shape and a step slow on the practice field.

“He came in and wasn’t used to playing at a high level in practice,” Coach John Robinson said. “He was saving it for the game. We told him he might be an old man before he got into one.”

Iacenda considered quitting at various times during the season but ultimately went to see White instead.

The assistant coach--who had his own well-publicized struggles with the law some years ago--counseled Iacenda to rededicate himself to football.

“That’s when I saw a change,” White said. “He showed some maturity.”

Iacenda showed a willingness to work, hitting the weight room, playing more intensely in practice.

The results showed in fall practice this season and, more markedly, last week at Cal. The Trojans, anxious to jump-start their ground game, started him as a battering ram for tailback LaVale Woods. The assignment was hardly glamorous but, as Iacenda said, “It was much more satisfying than not being in there.”

On USC’s first drive, he leveled a Cal safety to give Woods room for an eight-yard gain. Later, at the Cal one-yard line, Iacenda led the way for Woods’ touchdown plunge.

There were also rookie mistakes: Iacenda missed a block on a fourth-down play, then dived helplessly as a Cal linebacker slipped past him to nail Woods in the backfield on a crucial third down.

“I don’t think those were things you can learn from the playbook,” Iacenda said. “That all comes from playing in games and getting experience.”

During the game, White called down from the press box every few minutes.

“When you’ve got a freshman like that, you want to tell him that he’s doing a good job,” White said. “You don’t want him to go into the tank.”

*

January seems far away. The minutes tick by.

In the meantime, some might say Iacenda should not play football--or be profiled in newspapers--until a jury has reached a verdict.

“People have their own opinions about what’s going on,” he said. “I don’t know what to say to them.”

His father tells him not to worry, but it’s impossible advice. He hears the same from his current girlfriend, Anna, a Hart student he met around the time of his indictment.

“She and her family, they believe in me,” he said. “I couldn’t see myself doing that if I was in their situation.”

Hunterton has warned Iacenda that jury trials are unpredictable. The attorney said: “You’ve got to be realistic and say that he could be convicted.”

For now, Iacenda prefers to stay in at night. He does homework or cruises the Internet or invites friends to his apartment.

The weeks and months tick by.

“I tell myself every day that I’m a stronger person for having to go through this,” he said. “But I don’t really know that. It’s not over yet.”