THE COUNTY CONNECTION

It was a dream season for a high school running back.

DeShaun Foster ran for 3,398 yards, an average of 10.5 per carry, and scored a state-record 59 touchdowns for Tustin High in 1997.

Foster has shown flashes of that brilliance in two seasons at UCLA, but injuries have stopped him short of his full potential. Now, as he prepares for the start of his junior season, Foster hopes he can stay injury-free and regain some of the karma from three years ago.

“It’s an important season for me,” Foster said. “I want to be able to come back strong. It was real disappointing to have the ankle injury last season.”

The injury kept him out of two games, and he missed most of three others. Foster finished the season as the Bruins’ second-leading rusher with 375 yards, but it was well below expectations.

The season before, Foster ran for 673 yards, the most ever by a true freshman at UCLA. However, he missed most of the Oregon game and all the California game because of a sprained knee.

Still, UCLA fans have gotten a taste of Foster’s ability.

Against USC as a freshman, Foster scored four touchdowns--including one on a 65-yard run--and finished with 109 yards rushing and 18 more on pass receptions. Against Stanford last season, Foster ran for 100 yards in 19 carries, caught three passes for 33 yards and scored twice.

Foster hopes there will be more games like those this season, thanks to his off-season conditioning work.

“I wanted to strengthen up,” Foster said. “I’ve had enough of those injury problems, and I want to get back on the right track this year. I worked six days a week, four hours a day quite a bit of the summer, and I think it helped me. I wanted to be faster this year, and I think I am. Another year of maturity should help me.”

Foster will be one of several former Orange County players in prominent roles for college teams this season.

Carson Palmer, who played at Santa Margarita High, is back as USC’s starting quarterback after breaking his collarbone in the third game last season against Oregon. The injury came early enough in the season, however, that Palmer was able to redshirt and he retains three seasons of eligibility.

Palmer shared playing time with Mike Van Raaphorst in USC’s first eight games in 1998, but earned the starting job for the final three games of the regular season and the Sun Bowl game against Texas Christian.

Palmer passed for 1,755 and seven touchdowns and had only seven passes intercepted as a freshman. He had a 73.6% completion rate and 490 yards passing before he was injured last season.

Two former Capistrano Valley High players also are among the Trojans’ top backs. Junior Malaefou MacKenzie is expected to share time at tailback, and junior Charlie Landrigan is the returning starter at fullback.

Marcell Allmond of Anaheim (and Santa Fe Springs St. Paul High) is one of the Trojans’ top receivers after making 14 catches for a 16.6-yard average as a freshman last season. Redshirt freshman Lenny Vandermade of Mater Dei is a key offensive lineman, and Ifeanyi Ohalete is one of the team’s top defensive backs. Ohalete had 84 tackles, two interceptions and broke up 15 other passes last season as the starting free safety.

Another former Orange County quarterback, David Priestley, is expected to be in a key role this season at Pittsburgh, if he can regain the form he showed before an injury late last season.

Priestley, who played at Brethren Christian, earned the starting job as a sophomore but missed the last two games of the season after suffering a shoulder separation against Miami.

Priestley ranked 23rd in the nation in pass proficiency, completing 92 of 158 for 1,305 yards in nine games. However, he was sidelined for spring practice, and he and senior John Turman, who shared playing time at the position at times last season, have renewed their battle for the No. 1 spot for the season opener at home against Kent State.

Two other former county quarterbacks--Austin Moherman and John Leonard--are at different schools this season.

Moherman, who played at Capistrano Valley High, was Ohio State’s starter early last season, but lost the job to Steve Bellisari and decided to look elsewhere. He originally announced plans to attend Murray State, but shifted to Southwest Missouri State when the Murray State coach moved to Illinois State. Moherman chose to drop to a Division I-AA program to avoid sitting out a season.

Leonard, who played at Mater Dei High and El Camino College, will have to sit out this season after transferring to Cincinnati. Leonard was the backup for Ryan Kealy most of last season at Arizona State, completing 29 of 74 passes for 340 yards. He participated in spring practice at Arizona State, but decided to transfer after it was over.

Sean Stein, the starting quarterback for New Mexico most of last season as a junior, is sitting out this season and considering transferring to another school in January for a final season of eligibility.

Stein, who played at Los Alamitos High, passed for 176 yards a game last season, but New Mexico changed from a dropback passing style to an option-oriented attack in spring practice, and Stein said he was told he wouldn’t be the starter this season.

Keenan Howry, who also played at Los Alamitos, shows potential to be a standout wide receiver for Oregon, following in the footsteps of another former Griffin, Tony Hartley, who set a school record for career receiving yardage last season as a senior.

Howry had 29 catches for 452 yards, an average of 15.6 yards, as a freshman reserve. He was only one catch short of the freshman school record.

Also at Oregon, Jim Adams of El Toro High is expected to start in the offensive line and Garrett Sabol of Kennedy High is a probable starter at outside linebacker.

Colorado likely will have three former county players as starters: wide receiver John Minardi from Santa Margarita, defensive tackle Sean Jarne of Esperanza and center Ryan Gray of Aliso Niguel.

Michael Jones of Laguna Hills High is set to begin his college career at Idaho State. Jones had to sit out last season as an academic nonqualifier.

Jones, who set a county career rushing record with 7,190 yards, is expected to share time at tailback this season, but he has been impressive in preseason scrimmages.

Rod Perry Jr., the former Mater Dei wide receiver, is in his second season at Penn State and is contending for a starting job. Perry began his college career at USC, but suffered a season-ending knee injury early in fall practice. He transferred to Cal State Fullerton, planning to play baseball, but later decided to return to football.

Some of the other county players expected to be in key roles at major schools include:

* Alfred Williams, who played at Irvine High, returns as a starting free safety at Arizona State. He ranked sixth on the team in tackles with 150 last season as a sophomore.

* Wide receiver Brian Forth, who played at Esperanza High, is expected to see more playing time for Arizona State after catching nine passes for 127 yards in an injury-troubled 1999 season.

* Former Mater Dei player Joey Boese is a junior cornerback at Wisconsin. Last season, Boese was used primarily as a fifth defensive back in passing situations. He made 31 tackles and had one of the team’s 16 interceptions.

* Mater Dei alumnus Mike McNair is in the running at fullback at Notre Dame after being sidelined most of his sophomore season with a foot injury.

* David Vickers, who played at Rancho Alamitos, is a returning starter at linebacker for Colorado State, and Brian Hart, who played at Fountain Valley, is a returning starter in the offensive line for Nevada Las Vegas.

* Chris Hoke from Foothill High is back as a starting defensive tackle for Brigham Young. He was third on the team with 51 tackles last season.

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County Players in the Top 25

Players from Orange County high schools on the rosters of college football teams ranked in the Associated Press’ preseason top 25:

No. 4 Wisconsin

Joey Boese, Jr., DB, Mater Dei

No. 6 Michigan

Scott Panique, So., FB, Mater Dei

No. 8 Kansas State

Matt Martin, Jr., OL, Edison

No. 13 Washington

Todd Bachert, Fr., C, Mission Viejo

No. 15 USC

David Bell, Sr., K, Western

Alex Bottom, Fr., TE/Snapper, Corona del Mar

Anthony Daye, So., DE, Laguna Hills

Matt Grootegoed, Fr., S, Mater Dei

Stanley Guyness, Sr., WR, Los Alamitos

Blair Jones, Fr., OT, Newport Harbor

Norm Katnik, Fr., OG/C, Foothill

Charlie Landrigan, Jr., FB, Capistrano Valley

Malaefou MacKenzie, Jr., TB, Capistrano Valley

Joe McGuire, Fr., OT, Servite

John Morgan, Sr., S, Dana Hills

David Munoz, Sr., WR, Santa Margarita

Matt Nickels, Sr., WR, Santa Margarita

Iefanyi Ohalate, Sr., S, Los Alamitos

Carson Palmer, So., QB, Santa Margarita

Bernard Riley, So, DT, Los Alamitos

Nate Steinbacher, Fr., OT, Esperanza

Lenny Vandermade, Fr., OG/C, Mater Dei

No. 16 Ohio State

Jack Tucker, Jr./LB, Kennedy

No. 18. Mississippi

John Romm, Sr., DE, Estancia

No. 22 Penn State

Rod Perry Jr., WR, Mater Dei

No. 24 Colorado

Ryan Gray, So., OL, Aliso Niguel

Neal Hannifin, Jr., C, Kennedy

Sean Jarne, Sr., DT, Esperanza

John Minardi, Jr., WR, Santa Margarita

Scott Nemeth, Jr., FB, Aliso Niguel

Vince Reed, So., TB, Servite