USC Loses Claiborne, Keeps Soward

See you in the NFL, Chris Claiborne.

And see you at the Coliseum for one more season, R. Jay Soward.

Claiborne, the first Butkus Award winner and the only unanimous All-American linebacker in USC history, made it official Tuesday by announcing he’ll skip his senior season to make himself available for the NFL draft.

“I was ready for a new challenge,” Claiborne said. “I had a little unfinished business. I wanted to go to the Rose Bowl. . . . [But] I felt now was the time to move on and step up to the next level.”

Soward, the Trojans’ hyper-talented but inconsistent junior receiver, said he’ll be back to try to improve on a season that was less than what he envisioned.

“I know at the next level, you have to be consistent and play like Chris Claiborne every week,” Soward said. “He came out and played like an NFL linebacker, saying it was just another day at the office.

“That’s the kind of mentality you have to play with. I have to take responsibility, grow up and be a man, not just on the field, but in the classroom, and act like going to class is an eight-hour job. Get up like Chris does, and go to the office. I’ve been looking to take an example from Chris.”

Soward was told he would go anywhere from late in the first round to the third round of the draft but said, “Late first round and other crazy predictions, you don’t want to play with your life like that. . . . Mel Kiper can say what he wants, but the general managers will do their own studying and maybe I’m not the person they want.”

There were no such mixed reviews for Claiborne, projected to be a high first-round pick.

“Everybody talked about the top 10. I think it could get even higher,” said USC Coach Paul Hackett, who has spent much of his career in the NFL. “What will happen now is a lot of people will want to work Chris out and get to know him, and I think he’ll do nothing but go up when they get to know him.

“A lot of it depends on quarterbacks, how many there are. After that, there’s not a better football player out there.”

Hackett counseled Claiborne about his decision, but he could see the way it was going. “The key issue is to follow your heart. When you give all that Chris has given to USC, it’s not a matter of saying, ‘Hey, give us a little more.’ . . . You have a great opportunity here at USC to put us into the Rose Bowl. But on the other hand, you have an opportunity to follow the great USC tradition into the NFL and have an impact on an NFL team.”

Claiborne said it was important to his mother, Millie Perkins, that he finish school, and that he will take classes at USC this spring and summer and the following spring to graduate.

Without Claiborne, USC’s defense will be young, though fairly experienced.

The contenders to fill Claiborne’s middle linebacker spot include Zeke Moreno and Mike Pollard, but the Trojans might also turn to a junior college recruit such as Long Beach City College linebacker Markus Steele, who is expected to sign with USC in February.

If USC can solidify its linebacking, David Gibson could move back to safety, where the Trojans also need to shore up a secondary that loses seniors Daylon McCutcheon, Ken Haslip, Rashard Cook and Grant Pearsall.

“You don’t replace a guy like Chris,” defensive coordinator Bill Young said. “You have to have 10 or 11 people step up.”

Soward, quarterback Carson Palmer and tailback Chad Morton will be the cornerstones of an offense that would have been hurting at receiver had Soward left. As it is, the Trojans lose Billy Miller, Larry Parker and Mike Bastianelli.

The offensive line remains the focus of USC’s recruiting and will be the focal point this spring as the Trojans prepare to try to take another step up in Hackett’s second season after improving from 6-5 to 8-5, but finishing with a loss to Texas Christian in the Sun Bowl.

“The Rose Bowl next year, we’re going to try,” Soward said. “Right now we’re not going to say anything. We want to be sleepers in the Pac-10, sleepers in the nation. Go out work hard, get in our hole and train.”