The USC football team, which meets Utah State Saturday at 8 p.m. in the L.A. Coliseum, is filled with players that most college teams in the country would love to have.
There are defensive backs Mark Carrier and Cleveland Colter, who were the subjects of a Sports Illustrated feature earlier in the month. There's defensive tackle Tim Ryan, a top candidate for the Outland and Lombardi Trophys, and receiver John Jackson, who should break the USC receiving record this year. Then there's Aaron Emmanuel and LeRoy Holt, a pair of quality running backs who would fit into anyone's backfield.Yet the player who is getting most of the attention on a team that has 18 starters back from last year's 10-2 team that won the Pac-10 championship and a berth in the Rose Bowl, is a freshman.
His name is Todd Marinovich, and he is the Trojans' quarterback, perhaps the most ballyhooed quarterback ever to come out of the high school ranks.
Marinovich is a hard-throwing, 6-foot-4, 210-pound left-hander who looks a lot like U.S. Open tennis champion Boris Becker. During his senior season at Capistrano Valley High School in Mission Viejo, Calif., he broke the national record for career passing yards with 9,194.
Last year, before he even graduated from high school, Marinovich was the subject of a lengthy Sports Illustrated story and has been the subject of much media attention this year. The stories have told how Marinovich was groomed from the time he was born, literally, to be where he is today.
When Todd was just a month old, his father, Marv, a former USC lineman himself, started his son on stretching and strengthening routines. Before long, Todd was crawling around the house with a medicine ball. His diet was strictly monitored. He was never allowed to have soft drinks or Big Macs or anything that might harm his body. He used to take sugar-free cake to birthday parties as a child.
Eventually, Marv Marinovich got 13 different experts in various fields of physical development to work with his bionic boy, everybody from an eye specialist to a biochemist. And Todd grew up to be the USC quarterback, the first freshman to start at quarterback since before World War II.
This fall Marinovich came to camp as the Trojans' No. 2 quarterback behind junior Pat O'Hara, but was named successor to 1988 Heisman Trophy runner-up Rodney Peete when O'Hara suffered torn knee ligaments in the team's final preseason scrimmage.
In his debut against Illinois, Marinovich, who redshirted last year, didn't have a great game as he was unable to get the Trojans into the end zone in the 14-13 loss. USC's scores came on a pass interception and two field goals.
After the loss, Marinovich said, "I'm angry. I hate to lose. This team hates to lose. We'll watch the film and be a lot better in two weeks."
Against Illinois, Southern Cal Coach Larry Smith opted to play it close to the vest offensively, with his inexperienced quarterback rarely throwing deep. Marinovich's longest completion was for 20 yards. He completed 14 of 27 passes for 120 yards and one interception.
But Smith wasn't too disappointed with the play of Marinovich last week.
"Our quarterback graded out as well as anyone on the offense," he said. "He didn't do anything to hurt us, but he didn't come up with what a quarterback needs to do, make a big play."
Smith is making a few changes this week in his starting lineup. Ricky Ervins will start instead of Emmanuel at tailback, Brent Parkinson and Bill Schultz will start on the offensive line and Marcus Hopkins will be the strong safety in place of Colter, who was an all-American a year ago.
"Last year's all-America doesn't count this year," said Smith. "I think Hopkins played better than Cleveland against Illinois. Cleve missed four tackles, and you can't have that."
Even if Smith wasn't real impresed with his team's opening-game performance, Utah State's Chuck Shelton was.
"They're just awesome. They're exremely physical and probably as well-coached as any team in the United States."