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MATT BARKLEY NEWS

• USC football: Matt Barkley named Pac-12 offensive player of week
• USC Trojans Football: Matt Barkley The Maestro In Upset Of Oregon
• Matt Barkley Heisman campaign begins
• USC huge win at Oregon
• Stopping RB Polk is biggest key
• USC's Matt Barkley finds love and perspective in Nigeria
• Record-game For Barkley; Woods and Lee Shine in 48-41 Win Over Arizona
• USC Football Returns Home To Host Arizona
• Bank Of The West Weekly Football Honors
• FB | Jones still out with injury, to miss game Saturday against Southern California
• Trojans in need of better effort
• Scoggins: For Kiffin, misery doesn't love company
• USC Football Notebook: Barkley, Woods on same page in scrimmage
• USC's Matt Barkley named to 2011 Manning Award watch list
• USC FOOTBALL NOTES: Barkley shaky in first scrimmage
• Pio Vatuvei Verbals To USC Trojans Football
• USC's Matt Barkley, 5 other Pac-12 players named to 2011 Walter Camp watch list
• Southern California Trojans football
• USC Trojans Football: The Nickell Robey Story
• USC football: Issues come to the fore in the fourth
• Trojans release new numbers fot the fall roster
• No changes on the horizon for USC's football uniforms
• USC football: Nick Perry has a big number in mind
• OT Smith helps keep first-round grade at USC pro day
• Injuries will impact USC practice
• USC linemen the next Cam Newton?
• USC hires Nebraska's Gilmore as WRs coach
• USC Trojans redshirt freshman WR Kyle Prater breaks foot
• Eight USC Trojans invited to 2011 NFL Combine
• USC's Johnson, O'Dowd, Wright to take part in 2011 Under Armour Senior Bowl
• Amir Carlisle and Anthony Sarao Choose USC
• USC Recruiting | Trojans eyeing McKeesport DL recruit Delvon Simmons
• USC football: Is Lane Kiffin too unemotional?
• USC signs two more JC gridders
• Football recruiting: Losing Aaron Douglas hurts
• USC Football Recruiting: One More Verbal and Closing the Book on a Busy Weekend
• USC football: Breaking down Matt Barkley’s season
• USC seniors deserve a better ending
• USC Football Hosts Notre Dame In Famed Intersectional Rivalry
• USC Football: Was the Arizona Game a Sign of a Modified Spread in 2011?
• Barkley named semifinalist for O’Brien Award
• USC FOOTBALL NOTES: Passing comment serves as motivation
• Report card: Grading the Trojans (vs. Stanford)
• USC Football | Sarkisian shows he has transitioned from student to master
• Jupiter and Havili named USC Credit Union Student Athletes of the Week
• USC Football: Robert Woods' 97-yard kickoff touchdown return
• USC's Tyler goes from forgotten to first
• USC leans on Matt Barkley's leadership
• Mater Dei WR Blackwell among best in California
• USC Football Success Factors in 2010 And Beyond
• Laying the Foundation: USC Football Recruiting, 2011
• Joe McKnight doesn't mind the comparisons to New Orleans Saints' Reggie Bush
• USC Trojans to face Boston College Eagles in Emerald Bowl
• Corp gets the nod in Saturday's game against Washington
• Colts sign rookies Austin Collie (WR, BYU) and Fili Moala
• The Sideline Report: '09 College Football Preview
• USC 101: History of the Song Girl
• USC football: The best DBs, OLs in the nation?
• USC football: 5 most indispensable Trojans
• Ryans set to help Cushing
• USC football: 10 things we learned in spring (No. 4)
• UCS's Pete Carroll to Author "Win Forever" Book
• Trojans' quarterback Barkley getting into a groove
• Trojans' defense is quickly making strides
• 2009 NFL Draft Preview: Clay Matthews
• Lions coach Jim Schwartz will keep open mind at draft
• Waiting game finally over for Chiefs' Cassel
• Odd questions are the norm for prospects at the NFL combine
• Longevity runs in Matthews family
• Pythons kept at bay by brilliant Baxter
• SIGNING DAY 2009 : West Helena's Winston highlights Razorbacks' 2009 commitments
• USC's Sanchez among 12 Trojans invited to NFL combine
• Should He Have Stayed One More Season? Mark Sanchez Enters the NFL Draft!
• Carroll apologizes to Sanchez for demeanor
• Carl Smith And Mark Jackson Join USC Football Staff
• High School Football: Matt Barkley Leads White Team to Victory in Under Armour All-America Game
• Next Season Could Be A Test For Carroll, Trojans
• Trojans offensive line will have holes to fill
• Trojans' Moala will try not to cry
• Trojans' outlook: Up in BCS, down in Rose Bowl hopes
• USC blanks Arizona State, 28-0
• USC Seeks Upward Mobility
• QB Tuel takes aim at Centennial
• USC linebacker Cushing could be sidelined for Oregon State game
• Matt Barkley, Nation's Top HS Football Prospect, Opens Season on ESPN2

USC's Tyler goes from forgotten to first

 

Marc Tyler wasn't sure this night would ever come. Before the USC home opener on Saturday against Virginia, he joined his Trojan teammates in their traditional procession toward the Coliseum peristyle, wading through the adoring cardinal-clad crowd of thousands, shaking strangers' hands, bumping little boys' fists and feeling loved.

The hard-running redshirt junior tailback has gone from forgotten to famous, having climbed from depth chart's bottom to its top in just a month. People who now know No. 26 without having to run a finger down a roster or find him on an injured list were shouting his name.

But Tyler heard nothing but Waka Flocka Flame and Gucci Mane rap pumping though headphones, carrying him to his own mental space. This was his first Trojan Walk as the starting tailback at Tailback U.

"Coming into the stadium, I was thinking, 'This is what I've been working for three years,'" recalled Tyler after the then-16th-ranked Trojans (2-0) held off Virginia, 17-14. "This is my dream come true."

His mother had been praying for this day when the setbacks and injuries would end. His father, Wendell, a former UCLA and NFL All-Pro running back, believed this day would come if his youngest of four children, Marc recalled, "worked harder than the rest of them, worked when they slept, worked on my body, my football and went out in practice every day and took that job from them."

Every backup who wants to quit the team, every benchwarmer who grows frustrated waiting for his touches and every oft-injured reserve who tagged as too risky to play should think about Tyler. He had those positions, feeling restless and ignored and in and out of pain since he arrived at USC four years ago.

Touted as the nation's second-best high school running back behind ex-Trojan Joe McKnight, Tyler broke his leg after being horse-collared late in his 2006 senior season at Division III state champion Oaks Christian of Westlake Village.

Hampered by the leg injury, the Parade All-America two-way talent – he also played linebacker – redshirted 2007. In 2008 the reserve had 36 carries for 198 yards and a touchdown. He hoped for a breakout redshirt sophomore season but suffered a season-ending toe injury during practice before the second game. He had 72 yards and one touchdown in for 2009.

"The injuries were getting him down, and I tried to tell him how I hung in there when I got hurt," said Wendell Tyler, the all-conference Bruin tailback (1973-1976) who played for the Los Angeles Rams (1997-1982) and San Francisco 49ers (1983-1986). "I told him about hard work, about praying, about Christianity and God and miracles."

This father knew he had a football playing son since Marc was a child, watching video tapes of his father's NFL days – until the kid learned how to record "Sesame Street" over a game. Wendell also remembered seeing 7-year-old Marc run the ball during a flag-football in a Lancaster park.

"They pitched him the ball. He dipped in, dipped back out to the sideline, went about 60 yards for a touchdown, and I knew, you can't teach a kid that," said the father and fan. "He had football in him."

That's why Wendell urged Marc to enroll at Oaks Christian, where he could play elite football and get exposure. Because his family was in Lancaster, Marc lived two years in Westlake Village with the family of future Notre Dame and NFL quarterback Jimmy Clausen. Marc was used to making sacrifices for sport.

But the setbacks got to Marc in late 2009, when his sprained toe injury required December surgery. He was sick of being hurt, angry about being thought of as a faded former high school star.

Wendell went to his son with an aggressive plan for recovery, for two-a-day workouts, for losing about 20 pounds to reach today's 215 and for regaining the confidence necessary for a comeback.

"I told him my own story, too," said Wendell, referring the car accident after his Rams played in the 1980 Super Bowl that left him with a dislocated hip. "The Rams owner, general manager and all the doctors told me that I had a 10 percent chance of playing again. ... I played seven more seasons."

Wendell worried that Marc "had lost his fire," having sat out so long and having just 41 carries, 270 yards and two touchdowns to show for his past three seasons of college ball.

"Marc thought he couldn't get rid of the injury label and he wanted to leave (USC) for a fresh start," said Wendell. "Then there were miracles with his recovery and some other news."

Exit Pete Carroll after the 2009 season. Enter Coach Lane Kiffin. Shed the label.

Tyler pushed himself through rehab and began running in January, just a month after surgery. He was still hurting, unable to cut and pivot and push off explosively during spring camp. He called his father after learning that he was fifth on the depth chart going into fall and, again, wanted to leave.

Wendell urged his son to stay at USC, give the new coaching staff another chance but, most importantly, get his sociology degree, which Marc is scheduled to earn in May. Marc and his parents met with Kiffin and new athletic director Pat Haden, Wendell's former Rams teammate, about his future.

"They told me all the jobs were open, that they didn't care about what happened last year," said Marc Tyle, encouraged. "They told me they would play the best people."

Healthy to start fall camp, Tyler could finally show the potential, "the football he had in him," his father said. Kiffin and new offensive coordinator/running backs coach Kennedy Pola were impressed by Tyler's consistency, his blend of speed and power and effort and his durability.

Senior Allen Bradford, who had entered fall camp atop the depth chart, bruised his knee and went to the sideline while Tyler sprinted into the starting job. Tyler started his first career game at Hawaii, breaking out with 154 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. He pried out a team-high 67 yards on 18 carries on Saturday night against the front-loaded Cavaliers.

"This was a special game for me, starting and playing at home in front of my family and friends," said Tyler. "I just wish I could have played better."

But let's remember: Marc Tyler is just getting started.

 

More on ocregister.com

 

MORE MATT BARKLEY NEWS

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Jan 30 2012 2:34PM GMT

Football recruiting: Morris may be a pleasant surprise for Tide
Montgomery Advertiser Jan 30 2012 2:34PM GMT Florida State. "You see Alec Morris here, he's serviceable. Alabama hasn't needed to have Andrew Luck, Matt Barkley or Matt Stafford out there to win. So field generals are good. Quarterbacking one of the premier programs for two seasons in

Football recruiting: Morris may be a pleasant surprise for Tide
Prattville Progress Jan 30 2012 12:20PM GMT Florida State. "You see Alec Morris here, he's serviceable. Alabama hasn't needed to have Andrew Luck, Matt Barkley or Matt Stafford out there to win. So field generals are good. Quarterbacking one of the premier programs for two seasons in

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Santa Cruz Sentinel Jan 30 2012 10:59AM GMT the Intermediate flight, La Selva's Ryan Gonyea shot a 2-under 112 for the win, San Jose's Matt Barkley took second with 117 and Monterey's Sean Allen took third at 119. CYCLING The fourth race in the Surf City Cyclo-X series course was held Sunday at

Kiffin, Orgeron Keep USC on Track
DawgsBite.com Jan 30 2012 6:37AM GMT of Robert Woods and Marquise Lee among others, and some teams could lose some of their leaders like Matt Barkley. ?Getting or keeping those guys on campus while trimming the roster of non producers will help lessen the impact of the scholarship

Holler: RG3 holds the key
PackerReport.com Jan 29 2012 2:22PM GMT flat on their faces, the quarterback market is as hot as it has ever been. The decisions of Matt Barkley and Landry Jones, both of whom would have been first-rounders, to stay in school increased Griffin?s value. Unlike most aspects of life, where

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SI.com Jan 29 2012 7:58AM GMT read is that Tannehill is the most likely candidate. Washington's desperation at quarterback is obvious, and no Matt Barkley or Landry Jones means the Redskins might have to roll the dice on the former Aggie. Quinton Coples, DE, North Carolina. The

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Pittsburgh Tribune Review Jan 29 2012 7:23AM GMT Missouri, Gateway (Mo.): Academics forced him to JC for two years, Missouri backup for half of 2011. 5. Matt Barkley, QB, USC, Mater Dei (Calif.): Threw for Pac-12 record 39 TDs, early Heisman favorite for 2012. 1. Terrelle Pryor, QB, Ohio State,

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