Loudly, USC’s Soward Is Back

R. Jay Soward ran a little pass route Tuesday, pulled off his helmet and made an announcement for anybody within earshot of Howard Jones Field.

“I’m back!”

The one-game suspension imposed by Coach Paul Hackett for Soward’s academic shortcomings is over--and Soward admits now he kept hoping it would somehow end before USC’s game against Purdue did.

“I dreamed about it all week. I had a dream he came in at halftime and said, ‘R. Jay, get dressed!’ ” Soward said.

“He stuck by his decision, though. I’ve never had a punishment like that in my life. I used to get spanked by my father, but I’ve never in my life been sat out of a football game. It was the hardest thing in my whole life, up to this point.

Watching from the sidelines was “an experience” Soward said.

Then again, so was bedcheck the night before the game, for every member of the team.

“First time a head coach ever did a bedcheck,” Soward said, laughing. “He came in pumped up, giving us T-shirts [emblazoned ‘Expect to Win’] and water, and I said, ‘I don’t need water. I’m not playing!

“Can you imagine John Robinson coming in the room? ‘Time for bed, let’s have a great day.’ ”

Soward says he’s a changed man. To prove it, he rubbed his shaved head, bereft of the short braids he wore all summer until Monday.

“I grew my hair out from the time I found out I was going to get suspended,” he said. “The game’s over, I’m starting fresh. We’ll see what fate brings.”

Fate already has brought a few developments.

One is the quarterback debate. Mike Van Raaphorst or Carson Palmer?

“I really have no comment,” Soward said, then immediately proceeded to comment in his irrepressible way, his mouth as fast as his feet.

“Me and Mike practiced all summer, talking about what we were going to do. And Carson, I really love the way he throws the ball. God has blessed that kid.”

Then there’s the issue of kickoff returns. Chad Morton returned one 98 yards for a touchdown against Purdue, and Hackett acted Sunday as if Morton might get the nod over Soward, a return-man extraordinaire with three kick returns longer than 75 yards for touchdowns.

Hackett, by the way, backed off that Tuesday.

“I don’t know, he has to earn his spurs now,” Hackett joked, then said Soward will be on kickoff returns, though Morton will get some too.

“R. Jay is right where he was, that was our agreement.”

It’s something Soward was worried about.

“Sooner or later, I’ll be back,” he said. “Right now, Chad’s there.

“The guy’s so fast. My eyes got like this big.

“You saw two guys running fast as they can, and Chad splits them and they hit each other and fall out. I haven’t ever done anything like that in my life. He was awesome.”

But Morton says he’ll block for Soward if called on.

“I know he would. I’d block for him too,” Soward said.

He knows he has some catching up to do.

“Yeah, 21 receptions, 405 yards,” Soward said, citing Louisiana Tech receiver Troy Edwards’ statistics against Nebraska. “Man, that guy, I’m a whole week behind him.

“I’m like a firecracker. I’m ready to explode. I have so many emotions, I don’t know how to control them. I’m just going to get ready for San Diego State.”

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As for the hullabaloo over quarterbacks Raaphorst and Palmer, Hackett’s tune hasn’t changed.

“I believe in having one quarterback, but not at the expense of the development of a young guy,” he said. “[Palmer] has only had three weeks. He needs to learn. When I think he can take more than a couple of series, he will.”

“What Mike went through last year at Washington [in his first start], I don’t want to do to Carson. Mike recovered pretty well. Some guys never recover.”

For now, Van Raaphorst will get 60% of the practice snaps and Palmer will get 40%.

“The thing I don’t want to do is not develop the young quarterback because we’re so hung up on the starting quarterback. We want to develop the young quarterback in concert with the starting quarterback,” Hackett said.

“The thing with the two quarterbacks I was most impressed with is how they handled the situation with each other. I think they handled it very well. They’re very poised.”