Starting Over

Nice young man, that Mike Van Raaphorst. Going to do well in life.

Too bad his football career is more or less over.

Or so it seemed until Carson Palmer lowered his shoulder against Oregon and made Van Raaphorst USC’s starting quarterback again.

With the crack of a collarbone, USC’s season is in Van Raaphorst’s hands, ready or not.

Remarkably, even improbably, he was ready Saturday night, passing for a career-high 227 yards in little more than a half and nearly rallying USC to victory in a 33-30 triple-overtime loss.

“You sit around and try to tell yourself, ‘Be ready. You don’t know what might happen,’ ” Van Raaphorst said.

“Thank God I prepared. It would have looked really bad if I wasn’t ready. We would be in a world of hurt.”

Think about it. How many people would really have gone to every one of those infamous voluntary summer workouts after losing the starting job, knowing their destiny was to back up Palmer for two more years?

Van Raaphorst did.

“That’s just the type of person he is,” Palmer said. “He’s not going to give up. I mean, when our roles changed, he never slowed down, he never took a day off, never took a practice off. He was always there.

“I don’t think we lose a whole lot with him in there, because I think he’s going to get it done.”

Van Raaphorst didn’t do all that he did with any sense that he would somehow overtake Palmer, the anointed star. He just did it.

“Basically, that’s me,” Van Raaphorst said, adding that he never considered transferring. “I came here to play football, and as long as I’m doing that I’m going to give it everything I have, whether I’m the starter or the backup. God gave me the ability to work hard, so that’s what I do.”

Ken O’Brien, an assistant coach and former NFL quarterback, knows how hard that can be for someone who doesn’t expect to play.

“I can understand a guy saying, ‘Where do I fit in?’ ” O’Brien said. “But at some point, it’s bigger than just me. A lot of guys are counting on you. You have to decide, am I going to complain, or am I going to go do my job? He took the high road, and not everybody can do that.”

Van Raaphorst shrugs.

“It’s funny,” he said. “Things change. College football is an amazing game. A lot of people thought my career was over, and all of a sudden it’s time to play. I feel bad for Carson. It’s a horrible injury he had. But we’ve got to pick up the pieces and move on.”

He picked them up quite well against Oregon.

“Everybody said, ‘Well, if Carson could have been there in that second half,’ ” Coach Paul Hackett said. “Well, Mike Van Raaphorst, holy smokes, you talk about a guy that stepped up.”

Van Raaphorst never really seemed to have the confidence of USC’s coaches last season when he started eight games as Palmer waited in the wings.

“You know, no matter what we say, that last year he knew Carson was there, an untapped talent, the new kid on the block, and there was a lot of pressure to play him,” O’Brien said.

Now the job is Van Raaphorst’s.

“I think he’ll really be a lot more relaxed. It showed in the game,” O’Brien said. “He feels a lot more in control out there.”

He is a better quarterback than he was a year ago, both Hackett and O’Brien said during training camp, though at the time it seemed irrelevant.

“I just think my reads have cleaned up a little,” Van Raaphorst said. “It’s the same things people say about Carson: I’ve been in the system a little longer. I know what to look for. I think I just make smarter decisions.”

Not everyone realizes Van Raaphorst has started more games than Palmer.

He started two as a redshirt freshman in 1997, after beating out John Fox, then missed the last two games of that season because of an ankle injury.

With the eight he started last season, that’s 10, to Palmer’s eight. Even Fox, now the backup, has started nine.

“The one thing we know about Mike is that he has done it,” Hackett said. “He has played and started and won. And the great thing about Mike is that he has utilized his time as a backup to improve his own skills. He’s throwing the ball better than he ever did.

“I think Mike is as strong a guy, stepping into that position, as anyone in the country would be.”

That doesn’t mean there aren’t doubts.

One that lingers is the struggle Van Raaphorst had with nausea last season. It affected him in three games, leading to medical tests, as well as to speculation that he was suffering from a bad case of nerves.

All resolved, Van Raaphorst said.

“It’s very resolved,” he said. “Everyone who’s known me growing up knows it wasn’t nerves.

“It turns out it was a reaction to anti-cramping pills. I look back, and I laugh. It’s funny. I talked to some different people, and I guess that’s one of the side effects. I took them before those games. Purdue was going to be very hot, and I took them the night before. Florida State, it was humid, and Washington State, we were going to wear leg tights.”

This season, he’ll risk the cramps, thanks.

Live and learn.

“I’ve seen the highs and lows,” Van Raaphorst said, and he has stayed at USC through it all.

“I really enjoy it here. I’ve built a life here. I wasn’t going to give it up.”

He has found a church he likes, Bel-Air Presbyterian, a congregation where UCLA and USC students mingle.

“Carson goes occasionally and Cade McNown was a regular last year,” Van Raaphorst said. “God doesn’t discriminate.”

With a 3.7 grade-point average, he is two classes from graduating and will enter USC’s MBA program next fall as a redshirt senior.

And suddenly, his best moment on the football field may still be ahead of him.

“If we had walked out of there with a victory [Saturday], no doubt about it, that would be it,” Van Raaphorst said. “Because we walked out of there with a loss, I couldn’t tell you that was my favorite moment. I thought I performed well, but it still feels empty.”

Passing Through

Junior quarterback Mike Van Raaphorst (6 feet 5, 220 pounds) has appeared in two games for USC this season and will make his first start of the season Saturday. His career statistics:

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Year Comp Att Pct Yds Int TD 1997 21 46 .457 218 2 1 1998 77 155 .497 1,066 4 8 1999 25 46 .543 310 1 1 Total 118 247 .478 1,594 7 10

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