NEW POSITION : USC All-American Cleveland Colter to Start Out on Bench Against Utah State

On the cover of the USC media guide are photos of the team’s three returning All-Americans--safeties Cleveland Colter and Mark Carrier, and lineman Tim Ryan.

Earlier this week, Coach Larry Smith put an X through one of those photos.

He benched Colter.

For Saturday night’s game at the Coliseum against Utah State, Marcus Hopkins has replaced Colter in the starting spot at strong safety. Colter will certainly play, and he may well be back in the starting lineup for Ohio State a week from Saturday. But for now he’s not a starter.

“Last year’s All-Americans don’t count this year,” said Smith, citing four missed tackles by Colter against Illinois in the season opener, including one on receiver Shawn Wax, who was en route to the first of the Fighting Illini’s two touchdowns in their 14-13 come-from-behind victory.

One theory is that this is nothing more than a kick in the pants for Colter, a move to fire him up for the meat of the schedule by sitting him down against an opponent USC figures to blow out.

“It’s a touchy situation,” secondary Coach Bobby April said. “When you demote just one guy in the secondary after a loss, it obviously looks like the guy needs to be shown a lesson. But I don’t think that’s the reason. If we just wanted to get Cleveland ready for Ohio State, we would get him as many plays as we could against Utah State.

“No, I think the reason is just that Marcus played well against Illinois. That’s all.”

That he did. Hopkins not only performed excellently in the secondary, but also scored USC’s only touchdown on a blocked punt.

What he remembers, though, is the touchdown he didn’t score, because he keeps hearing about it from teammates.

Hopkins was camped on the Illinois five-yard line, his eyes focused on running back Luke Petraitis. Quarterback Jeff George, stuck in the end zone, lofted a pass toward Petraitis. But he lofted it too far, the ball sailing over Petraitis directly at Hopkins. The defensive back, anticipating that Petraitis would make the catch, was so intent on hitting him that he never saw the football. It hit Hopkins in the face mask and dropped harmlessly to the grass, a sure touchdown lost.

So Hopkins has been hearing stuff like: “You need to eat your carrots because you’re going blind,” or “What do you need? Contacts? Glasses?”

Hopkins can smile now, but Smith has lobbed another opportunity in his direction, and he says he doesn’t intend to let this one get away.

“I feel great,” Hopkins said of his starting assignment. “I worked hard. I feel I improved drastically from spring ball. I feel more comfortable on my reads and my decision making is excellent. Whatever the coach decides, I’m all for it.”

But while he’s thrilled, Hopkins is certainly cognizant of the situation. “I think it’s awkward,” April said. “It’s tough on Cleveland. I think Marcus is very aware that Cleveland is the guy. I think behind me, and Colter and his family, nobody is pulling harder for Cleveland than Marcus. But once he gets on the field, he is going to take advantage of his situation.”

Hopkins said he was surprised by the promotion.

“I didn’t expect to be in this position,” he said, “although I worked hard and it’s what I wanted to do. I feel honored to be doing it because he (Colter) is an All-American and he’s known nationwide as being one of the top safeties in America. For me to even jeopardize his position is an honor. If I can make him a better player because he is threatened by my beating him out, that’s good.”

Hopkins is used to battling his way out from behind big shadows. After all, he went to Lincoln High School in San Diego. And whenever you mention football at Lincoln, people almost always bring up Marcus.

Uh, not that exactly that Marcus.

Long before Marcus Hopkins enrolled there, Marcus Allen was a star at Lincoln. But Hopkins found his own spotlight at the school, playing everything from running back to wide receiver to tight end to linebacker to defensive back. He had no choice. There were only 22 kids on the team.

Nevertheless, Lincoln won the CIF San Diego Section 2-A title in both 1985 and ’86. In ‘86, Hopkins earned All-State honors along with his school’s Marcus Allen Perpetual Trophy.

Hopkins continued to emulate the other Marcus by becoming a Trojan, although that wasn’t his original game plan. He wasn’t interested in going to a school already loaded at tailback, and USC wasn’t particularly interested in him. But Smith, then the coach at Arizona, liked Hopkins. And kept in touch when he took the job at USC.

Hopkins spent 1987, his first season as a Trojan, as a reserve tailback. He was switched to receiver in spring ball, then to defensive back. When Colter was hampered by a knee injury this past spring, Hopkins took his spot.

Just as he’ll do Saturday night.

A big help in Hopkins’ transition to the secondary is the presence in the USC defensive backfield of another All-American, Mark Carrier.

“Sometimes, I’m so hyped just to be there,” Hopkins said. “I want to do so well that my emotions overtake my physical skills. I look for him (Carrier) and he settles me down all the time. He’s always on my case, which I need right now.”