KareemRising

The two sides of Kareem Kelly could not be more evident on a sunny afternoon in practice. One moment, he races past a cornerback with that high-prancing stride, sailing downfield, hauling in a long pass. His teammates howl. The next moment, he pulls up short on a sideline route, the ball glancing off his hands, and those same teammates chide him.

For much of his college career, Kelly has been a microcosm of the USC football team: talented but inconsistent. Like his quarterback, Carson Palmer, he played well enough as a freshman to create tremendous--perhaps unreasonable--expectations. Like Palmer, he has struggled with those expectations since.

How many times have fans wondered when the junior might put his full talents to use? How many times have coaches pulled him aside to cajole or plead or yell?

“In one ear and out the other,” he said. “I never listened.”

Not until a few weeks ago. The Trojans were playing at Oregon and shifted into their no-huddle offense. Kelly remained on the sideline for several minutes, which prompted the television announcers to mention his reputation for loafing in practice. Speaking to a national audience, they wondered if he was being punished.

The coaching staff insists that was not the case. But Kelly’s mother told him about the comments when he got home and, for good measure, he watched a videotape of the broadcast.

“I guess I’m maturing,” he said. “I took what they said to heart.”

It can be tough to decipher this young man. His features are sleek with eyes swept back, a face that frowns just as naturally as it smiles. Confident to the point of cocky, he nevertheless acknowledges his shortcomings, and on occasion has claimed to turn over a new leaf.

This time, there is evidence he might be sincere.

Look at the season he is quietly putting together. Two weeks ago at Washington, Kelly dropped a long ball but returned minutes later to catch a 58-yard touchdown pass that tied the score in the fourth quarter. Last week, against Arizona State, he led the team with five receptions for 127 yards.

Coach Pete Carroll is not ready to proclaim Kelly a changed man, but sees the genesis of what he calls “an exciting transformation.”

“I don’t think anyone has tapped into him before,” Carroll said. “They just told him how great he was.”

His debut as a Trojan was so promising. There were five catches for 104 yards in that first game against Hawaii. Later came a 72-yard touchdown against California and a 58-yard reception in South Bend that Notre Dame Coach Bob Davie still talks about two years later.

It was the best freshman season--54 receptions for 902 yards--in the history of the Pacific 10, a conference that has seen the likes of Lynn Swann, Ed McCaffrey and Keyshawn Johnson. But it also was deceivingly easy as the third man behind R. Jay Soward and Windrell Hayes. Soward drew all the double-teams and pressure from the media.

“I was just out there having fun,” Kelly said. “I thought it was going to be a cakewalk.”

Last season, with Soward and Hayes gone to the NFL, the fun ended. After big games against San Jose State and Colorado in the first few weeks, his numbers dropped.

Palmer suggests that his top receiver too often cruised through practice, then ran at full tilt in games. “He’s so hard to get a timing with anyway because he’s so much faster than other guys,” the quarterback said.

Former coach Paul Hackett tore into Kelly at halftime of a loss to Washington State, a game in which he fumbled near the end zone and let a pass bounce out of his arms for an interception. Other times, Hackett put an arm around him and spoke quietly after practice. Even Palmer took a shot, at one point telling Kelly: “Look, I know how good you are and you know how good you are.”

Nothing changed until Carroll arrived last winter. The new coach started with Kelly’s schoolwork, saying: If you want to play, you must do better than a C average. Next came a summer conditioning program that saw nearly everyone on the team gain speed and strength.

Still, when training camp opened in August, the same old Kelly showed up. Too many dropped passes. Not enough hustle.

On top of everything else, offensive coordinator Norm Chow was installing a new scheme that required quick reads and precise routes. Kelly had always relied on speed, the velocity he generates with a lithe, muscular frame.

Now he needed concentration. “It was a big adjustment,” he said.

Chow spent last season at North Carolina State where he worked with Koren Robinson, a talented wideout who faced similar doubts about his work ethic. Robinson buckled down, had a breakthrough season and parlayed that into a multimillion-dollar NFL contract. So the coordinator tried showing films of North Carolina State games and telling Kelly: “You can do that.” In truth, he was beginning to run out of patience.

Then came the Oregon game. Hardly anyone on the team knew that Fox Sports Net commentators Tom Ramsey and Steve Physioc had been so critical. They saw only the result.

“A light went on,” Chow said. “He totally bought into our program.”

With 14 catches in the last three games, Kelly has risen to fifth place on USC’s all-time receiving list and, with a season and a half remaining, could eventually move past Soward, Johnson, John Jackson and Johnnie Morton. More important to his coaches are the little things.

They see him running cleaner routes and learning to fight for the ball, something that had been lacking in his repertoire. Whenever he makes a catch in practice, he sprints all the way to the end zone. When someone else makes a catch, he runs alongside, which puts him in position for another missing element--the downfield block. It also gives him a chance to bark at his teammates.

“His attitude has changed,” receiver Keary Colbert said. “He’s getting everybody else up, telling us to do the right thing.”

But the transformation is gradual. Last week, when Kelly dropped that sideline pass in practice, Athletic Director Mike Garrett was standing nearby and could not hide his grimace. Carroll rushed over. Kelly tried to wave him away.

“Look, the coaches shouldn’t have to ride me,” he said. “I should put it upon myself.”

He knows that all those expectations must be fulfilled--and those commentators proved wrong--one practice at a time. Each day now, he is trying to show his better side.

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USC at NOTRE DAME

Saturday at South Bend, Ind.

11:30 a.m. PDT, Ch. 4