Droughns Is Back in the Running : Football: Oregon tailback is regaining form after severe leg injury cost him second half of last season.

The lasting image of Reuben Droughns last season was of him sitting on the Oregon bench, head in his hands, after a 41-38 overtime loss to UCLA at the Rose Bowl.

The Ducks’ unbeaten record was gone after Droughns rushed for 172 yards but lost three fumbles, including a crucial one.

What he didn’t know was that his season was over too.

Droughns had gone back into the game despite an injury that later proved severe--a broken bone and ligament damage in his right ankle that cost him the final six games of the season and kept him out of spring practice as well.

Now Droughns is back, and USC--which played Oregon the week after UCLA--will see him Saturday for the first time, a year after losing to the Ducks, 17-13, in a game Droughns and No. 2 tailback Herman Ho-Ching were sidelined because of injuries.

The Trojan defense has allowed an average of a little more than 50 yards rushing against Hawaii and San Diego State. But against Oregon, the defense will have to contend with Akili Smith’s surprisingly effective replacement at quarterback, A.J. Feeley, as well as serious running threats in Droughns and Ho-Ching.

“I hesitate to say he’s back to 100%,” Oregon Coach Mike Bellotti said. “But I think he’s getting close.”

Droughns at 100% is scary. A 6-foot, 205-pound senior tailback from Anaheim High and Merced College, Droughns had three 200-yard games in his first five games for Oregon last season and has rushed for at least 100 in six of his eight games for the Ducks.

At the time of his injury, he ranked fourth in the nation in rushing at 164.8 yards a game, and his 7.4 yards a carry ranked No. 1.

Because he played in only five games, he didn’t qualify to be ranked among NCAA leaders at the end of the season.

But if he had? He would have been second only to Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams.

That’s all behind him, though. Now Droughns is trying to work his way back.

“I feel like I’m getting better each game,” he said. “It’s strong. It’s holding up.”

Held to 59 yards in 23 carries in a 27-20 loss to Michigan State in Oregon’s first game this season, Droughns has rushed for more than 100 the last two--108 yards in 21 carries in a victory over Texas El Paso, 110 yards and three touchdowns in only 18 carries in the Nevada blowout last week.

“I’m still kind of mad about my performance in the first game. I think I was a little tentative,” he said. “I think I was ready physically, but something in the back of my mind said, ‘What if I want to cut? What will happen?’ ”

The physical part of his injury was difficult to deal with--Droughns’ right foot was in a “boot” until spring--but the mental and emotional strain of the injury were hard too.

“I couldn’t even go to practice,” he said. “I was just drowning in my pain. I was in a lot of pain. I was in tears when I first found out.

“It really hurt me. Even if we were losing, I wanted to be a part of it. It’s hard to stand on the sideline.”

One of the few things that got him through the season came Nov. 2, when his daughter, Bernadette, was born in Anaheim, only weeks after his Oct. 17 injury.

“That right there was a bright spot in my life,” Droughns said. “I did have a happy moment, and that helped me out of my pain. I needed that. At that point, I was kind of down. I didn’t know when I’d be back, when I’d be able to play ball again.”

The Ducks were never the same after his injury either, going 3-3 the rest of the way to finish 8-4--including a loss to lowly regarded rival Oregon State in the last game of the regular season.

What if Oregon had beaten UCLA in overtime, and Droughns had never gotten hurt?

“You want me to speak truthfully? I think we could have competed for the national championship,” he said. “I think we could have.”

But the injury happened, and it was more serious than even he knew.

“There were six minutes left and we were ahead,” Droughns said. “Usually, with five minutes left, we go to an offense where you try to stay inbounds. I didn’t want to get knocked out of bounds, so when I saw the defender, I tried to slide, and the grass caught my cleats and I sat on my own leg. I didn’t get touched. I did it all on my own.”

Instead of playing the next week against USC, the team his high school coach, Allen Carter, played for as a tailback in the early 1970s, Droughns was out.

“It was disappointing. I’m a big USC fan. My high school coach was a USC guy,” he said.

Droughns even would like to have played for the Trojans, but academic shortcomings required him to go to junior college. Then, after growing up in a rough area of Anaheim, he thought Oregon was a good place for him.

“It was best for me to go away so I’d stay out of trouble,” he said. “This is going to be a big game. A lot of us are friends with people on their team.

“USC’s a great team, so we’re going to go in hopefully with a lot of poise and try to do everything right.”

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Reuben on the Run

Oregon running back Reuben Droughns has rushed for more than 100 yards in the last two games. A look at what he’s done in the first three games for the 2-1 Ducks:

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Game Rush Yds TD Result Michigan 23 59 0 L 27-20 Texas El Paso 21 108 1 W 47-28 Nevada 18 110 3 W 72-10

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