LOS ANGELES — Contrary to popular belief around here and the Pac-10, Jeff Byers has not been at Southern California as long as coach Pete Carroll has. He really isn’t as old as Carroll, either.
At times during his six years at USC — yes, six years — Byers probably felt like it. Since arriving in 2004, the 2003 Gold Helmet Award winner from Loveland High has had hip surgery and back surgery, missed the 2005 and 2006 seasons, then capped that with a lovely bout of Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
Needless to say, when Byers crosses the street in L.A., he looks both ways. Carroll makes sure of it, especially this week when his third-ranked Trojans visit No. 8 Ohio State in the biggest national game this week.
“It’s amazing,” Carroll said of his preseason All-America center after practice. “And really, the wonderful part about it is he’s at his very best right now. He’s the most physically fit. He’s the biggest, strongest, quickest, smartest. He’s a terrific player.
“I can’t imagine there’s a guy who means more to his unit than he does anywhere in the country.”
These words sound particularly soothing to Byers. For two years he heard Carroll talk about the team and the opponents and all the players but him. Now Byers is one class away from an MBA, is team captain and the unquestioned leader of an offense that has a shot at getting him a second national championship ring.
He’s the only Trojan with one. He started four games his true freshman year when USC won it all in 2004. Since then, he has either played or studied the same system, at guard and center, for five years. If line coach Pat Ruel ever calls in sick, Carroll will just hand Byers the whistle.
“I can see the game from a perspective that I never could’ve imagined,” said the 6-foot-3, 295-pound Byers, who turned 24 Monday. “I know the blitzes before they come. I know the pressures. I know when a guy will slant. I know how to study film. I can read coverages. I know what the tight end’s doing. I know what the fullback’s doing.
“I know everyone’s assignments, which allows me to play much faster.”
To reach this point, however, Byers has gone through more than all of his fellow linemen put together. He hurt his hip against UCLA at the end of his freshman year and surgery cost him the 2005 season.
His back began nagging him the following fall, and after the opener against Arkansas he began losing feeling in his legs. Scratch 2006. He started all 13 games in 2007, but the following May at his sister’s wedding in Estes Park, he contracted spotted fever.
A creek trickled into a small lake by the church and Byers went exploring. In the willow trees, the ticks gave him a blitz he couldn’t handle. And yes, Rocky Mountain spotted fever is as bad as it sounds.
“Nausea, diarrhea, headache,” Byers said. “It’s like the flu from hell.”
He lost 40 pounds and wasn’t cleared until the week before the 2008 opener at Virginia. Don’t feel sorry for him, though. If you do, he’ll be the only person with an MBA from USC who’s pitied.
Sitting out the 2005-06 seasons, he loaded up on class work and last year petitioned the NCAA for a clock-extension waiver. In December he was granted a sixth year.
“I decided I’m going to get into school,” Byers said. “I’m going to get my mind off football. All the time I wasn’t out here on the field watching, I was making sure I was busy doing schoolwork, so you don’t get down on yourself.”
USC’s MBA program doesn’t advertise on the back of match covers, either. What did he get out of it? Carroll had him address the team last season about the subprime mortgage crisis.
“I think guys really respect me for what I’ve done,” Byers said. “I think guys took it to heart, which I was impressed by. I was touched.”
So join the debate, Mr. Byers. Who’s to blame?
“The greedy people,” he said. “The corporations. The homeowners. It doesn’t matter. Everybody wanted more.”
Byers does too. But his crises are behind him.
