He Put Career on Line for Trojans

Travis Claridge knows something about pain after his four seasons at USC.

Two shoulder surgeries, one ankle surgery--and something else he never anticipated: 22 losses.

But the surgeries always waited until after the season, and Claridge not only never missed a game, he has never missed a start from the day he arrived as a freshman in 1996.

Saturday’s game against Washington State in Claridge’s home state will be No. 46 in a row.

UCLA will be No. 47, and Louisiana Tech will be No. 48.

With that--barring some cruel twist of an injury in the dwindling days of his senior year--Claridge will become the first USC offensive lineman to start every game of his career from the day he arrived on campus as a freshman.

Brad Budde was the only other offensive lineman to start a season-opener for USC as a true freshman, in 1976, but he didn’t start every game, sharing his position that year.

The only USC offensive lineman to start every game of his career was Jeff Bregel in the mid-1980s--but Bregel redshirted his freshman season, meaning he’d already practiced with the team for a year before he became a starter.

Claridge was good enough to start as a true freshman, tough enough never to sit out a game.

But the pain has not been all physical, and nothing these last few games can make it go away now.

“It’s my last season as a Trojan. Tell me what I could feel good about,” Claridge said. “A five-game skid, then beating UCLA to end the streak? OK. But that game’s next week. We’ve got to win a game first. Not beat the streak. Just win a game.”

It’s not what he thought he was signing up for after playing at Fort Vancouver High in Vancouver, Wash.

“I never thought in a million years I’d be sitting here with this many losses my senior season--or in my SC career,” Claridge said.

“SC had just gone to the Rose Bowl and beat Northwestern. Brad Otton was coming back. Delon Washington was coming off a 1,000-yard season. . . .”

His high hopes didn’t pan out.

Claridge accepts that.

“It made me a better man,” he said. “I believe I’ve matured over the past four years. I believe everything happens for a reason.

“If I had it to do all over again, if it was 1996 and I was a senior in high school and I had the national letter of intent in front of me, I’d sign with the Trojans again.”

He has done whatever they’ve asked of him for four years, starting at right guard for three and at right tackle this season.

When injuries took a mounting toll on USC’s line late in a game against Stanford last month, Claridge took on another position: left guard.

“It was gut-check time,” he said. “I never played it before. It didn’t matter. The team needed me.

“Everything’s reversed. On the right side, you have a right-handed stance. On the left side, you have a left-handed stance. You use the opposite hand and opposite foot for different reasons.

“I was just telling myself, I hope we score real fast.”

His next challenge is the NFL.

Once expected to be a first-round draft choice by the end of his USC career, Claridge is now projected to go in the mid- to late second round.

“He’s a real solid player,” said USC Coach Paul Hackett, a former NFL offensive coordinator. “He’s a worker. He doesn’t say much. NFL people, that is exactly what they want.”

That will all come soon enough, Claridge said.

“Now it’s just playing for pride. To at least come out even,” he said. “The world of football this year has been weird, college and pro. I’m not saying that has anything to do with us. We lost those games. No matter what, I know I gave it all I had.”

Not to say his career has not had its moments.

“Beating Notre Dame at Notre Dame. Beating Notre Dame here in overtime,” he said. “Beating Notre Dame at Notre Dame was big. It was the first time my mom came to see me play, and my brother came.”

(That same brother, Ryan, a tailback, will become the second Claridge to play for John Robinson next season at Nevada Las Vegas.)

Claridge’s own college career is almost over.

It was not the one he hoped for--not with a record of 23-22 and counting--but he gave it all his body had.

“There were times I could barely walk home, my legs were so sore,” he said. “Times I couldn’t lift my arms. Sometimes all night I’d be tossing and turning, so sore I couldn’t sleep.

“That’s tough, knowing you’ve given everything, and it just wasn’t good enough.”