Settling Out West

Dwayne Jarrett could not wait to board the plane.

He was 17. Finally on his way to Los Angeles. Bound for USC.

Less than 24 hours after graduating from high school in New Jersey in June, Jarrett had eagerly waited all day at Newark International Airport to fly standby to the West Coast.

He waited the next day. And the next day too.

But now, ticket in hand, the waiting was over. He really was leaving.

Jarrett walked into the plane, maneuvered his 6-foot-5 frame into the economy seat, buckled up and sat back for takeoff.

As the plane roared over and across the United States, Jarrett spent more than five anxious hours thinking about the challenges that lay ahead -- and the mother, grandparents and other close-knit relatives he left behind.

Before he knew it, the plane touched down at LAX. It taxied for a few minutes to the arrival gate and rolled to a stop before the seat-belt sign chimed.

“Oh my God,” he thought. “I’m really out here by myself.”

Jarrett is over it now.

The homesickness that stirred thoughts about leaving and possibly transferring to a school closer to home is gone.

So is the early problem of holding on to passes.

After a rough few months at the outset, USC’s youngest player has settled in as the Trojans’ leading receiver. Jarrett, who turned 18 in September, has 31 catches and eight touchdowns for a USC team that has been ranked No. 1 since the start of the season and is on track for an appearance in the Orange Bowl.

“I grew up a lot from the time I left until now,” he said last week.

“His whole world has shifted,” Coach Pete Carroll said.

Jarrett’s quick success on the field is uncommon even by USC’s recent standards.

His initial struggles with loneliness away from it, however, were not. USC’s roster includes players from 12 other states and one from American Samoa.

“We have to build a support system to help these guys until they can get on their own feet,” Carroll said. “It’s not just the coaches, it’s the family working in conjunction with us.”

Receivers coach Lane Kiffin, who expanded the Trojans’ recruiting base when he tapped Mike Williams from Florida in 2002, said an exciting weekend trip to campus and a home game offer recruits only a glimpse of college life -- regardless of which school a player visits.

“Out-of-state guys, all they know is 48 hours,” Kiffin said.

Reality, and oftentimes loneliness, set in once out-of-state players arrive for summer workouts or training camp. There are more than 80 new teammates to bond with. But parents, relatives and old friends usually can offer only comfort from the other end of a phone connection.

Running back LenDale White starred as a freshman for USC last season, but the Colorado native said he was exactly like Jarrett after he flew in from Denver in the summer of 2003.

“Every day for the first two first months I got here ... I was contemplating going back home, leaving, transferring. That was just a part of me,” White said.

Quarterback John David Booty said he hit the same two-month marker last year after he left Shreveport, La., for USC.

“It’s like, ‘Wow. This is for real. I’m not going home,’ ” Booty said.

Out-of-state players also sometimes struggle because of subtle culture shock. Fitting in with a majority of teammates who attended California high schools can take time.

“It’s a tough adjustment because the stuff you’re used to doing or you think is quote, ‘cool,’ may not be anymore,” Booty said.

Most of the time, though, the battle is with the distance from home.

“You don’t think about it till you do it,” said freshman tight end Fred Davis, who arrived last spring from Ohio and shares an apartment with Jarrett.

While starring in football and basketball at New Brunswick High in New Brunswick, N.J., Jarrett considered scholarship offers from schools all over the country. USC, Miami and Virginia were among those in the mix.

“I was thinking Virginia,” his mother, Camille, said by phone last week. “It was more of a comfort zone. I could get in a car and drive down there if he needed anything. It was close. I was thinking close.”

Jarrett, though, was thinking far. He watched on TV as Williams starred in the Southern California sunshine and the Trojans won a share of the national title.

He visited USC during UCLA week a year ago and loved it. He was leaning to the Trojans.

But as signing day approached, Jarrett wavered.

“As it got closer, I was going back and forth,” Jarrett said. “That’s why I waited till like the last day to make my decision.

“I wasn’t really sure with the distance being so far, just leaving my family back home.”

By the time the school year ended, though, Jarrett could not wait to get to Los Angeles.

So his mother was stunned when she began receiving teary phone calls from California.

“I couldn’t believe that was the Dwayne who expressed to me that he wanted to leave the day after graduation,” she said.

Said Jarrett: “You start to have second thoughts, ‘Should I have picked this school or not?’ ”

Jarrett hit a low point during the Fourth of July weekend. While others celebrated, he loathed his newfound independence.

“We knew we were in for a fight right there,” Kiffin said. “He told me, ‘Coach, I don’t know if I’m feeling it.’ ”

Jarrett returned to New Jersey for a visit and came back to Los Angeles, seemingly re-energized.

Soon, though, the phone calls to his mother and grandmother started again. He wanted to come home.

Camille held firm. She had given birth to her only child when she was 15. While her parents looked after Dwayne, she finished high school. She got a job, found a place for the two of them and raised her son to be responsible and to honor his word.

“His mom is a strong young lady -- she is not easily broken,” said Norma Jarrett, Dwayne’s grandmother.

Camille said she came close.

“I had to really get a backbone,” she said. “He almost had me.”

When training camp began in August, Jarrett still could not shake his longing for home.

“I told Coach Carroll I wasn’t sure if this was the place for me,” Jarrett said. “He had guys come talk to me. He brought, basically, the whole team in there, so I felt the love from that.”

White shared his experiences. So did others.

“LenDale made me open my eyes and realize there’s a bigger picture than this right now,” Jarrett said.

Jarrett began the season as the Trojans’ third receiver and made his college debut against Virginia Tech in front of more than 90,000 at FedEx Field. He made two receptions for eight yards.

Then, with his mother in the stands at the Coliseum, he scored his first touchdown on his birthday against Colorado State and another the next week against Brigham Young.

“After the third game, it just clicked for me,” said Jarrett, who caught five passes in USC’s fourth game, against Stanford.

Jarrett also caught a touchdown pass in the Trojans’ 23-17 victory over California, setting the stage for his breakout performance.

On Oct. 16 against Arizona State, Jarrett moved into the starting lineup because of a leg injury suffered by Steve Smith against Cal. He caught five passes for 139 yards and scored three touchdowns as the Trojans routed the Sun Devils, 45-7.

Last week at Washington State, Jarrett shed defenders like Williams used to and scored on a 42-yard pass play. He also outmaneuvered a defender for a four-yard touchdown catch.

“He’s been the go-to guy since Steve’s been out,” quarterback Matt Leinart said. “I know he loves that position.”

So, once again, Dwayne Jarrett cannot wait to board the plane.

USC’s team charter is scheduled to depart for Oregon this afternoon.

Jarrett will find a seat, buckle up and maybe settle back and watch a movie during the flight.

USC plays Oregon State in Corvallis in a Pacific 10 Conference game Saturday night.

“I’m glad I had an opportunity to get through this,” he said. “When another freshman comes in next year, I can just tell him my experience.

“Just keep working hard. Things will get better.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Receiving Line

This season’s game-by-game performance by USC wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett:

*--* OPP REC YDS AVG TD Virginia Tech 2 8 4.0 0 Colorado State 3 32 10.7 1 BYU 3 58 19.3 1 Stanford 5 54 10.8 0 California 4 37 9.3 1 Arizona State 5 139 27.8 3 Washington 5 31 6.2 0 Washington St. 4 64 16.0 2

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