Freedom Bowl Is Special to USC’s Pollack : College football: Sophomore offensive guard wants to be able to hold his head up when he returns home--to Fresno.

USC’s game against Fresno State Tuesday night in the Freedom Bowl is probably more significant to Kris Pollack than to any other Trojan.

“It means a lot to me,” said Pollack, a 6-foot-5, 285-pound sophomore offensive guard from Clovis West High in Fresno. “I want to win so I can come back home and have the bragging rights.”

USC’s only player from Fresno--he worked out the past two summers at Fresno State--Pollack will line up against the Bulldogs despite a dislocated left shoulder that will require reconstructive surgery on Jan. 4.

Pollack’s injury forced him to sit out most of the second half of the season, but he was determined to play this week.

“Is he 100% healthy?” said Bob Palcic, who coaches USC’s offensive guards and centers. “Absolutely not. He has a loose shoulder joint. He may last the whole game, or he may last two plays.

“But he really wants to play in the game. He said, ‘Coach, I really want to play against Fresno State.’ So, it was his decision.

“I’m happy to have him.”

Palcic said that Pollack, who played two seasons at Clovis West after his family moved from Lake Oswego, Ore., is a potential star.

“He has all the qualities you look for in an offensive lineman,” Palcic said. “The sad part of it is, he’s been in and out of the lineup because of injuries, so he hasn’t been able to receive the coaching and gain the experience that you’d like him to have.

“If we can keep him in one piece, he’s got a real chance.”

Before arriving at USC, Pollack was an all-league golfer, helping Clovis West reach the state championships twice during his three seasons.

“There was a time, early on, when I could foresee him going off to college on a golf scholarship,” said his mother, Mary Ann.

His size, though, helped dictate that he would be a football player.

Recruited by most of the schools in the Pacific 10 Conference after a senior season during which he was voted the outstanding lineman in the North Yosemite League, Pollack never seriously considered Fresno State.

“Not because of the school or anything, but (because) I wanted to get out of the town, get away from home,” he said.

Pollack committed to USC after making visits to California and Arizona State and before canceling trips to UCLA and Arizona.

“I really liked the football program,” he said of his decision to sign with the Trojans. “I really like the tradition, and (especially) the tradition they have for (producing) offensive linemen.

“And the business school, you can’t beat it.”

A public administration major, Pollack showed enough potential while redshirting as a freshman that former USC tackle Pat Harlow, a first-round pick in the 1991 NFL draft, bequeathed his number to the promising rookie.

Coach Larry Smith, speaking at a banquet in Fresno, said that Pollack “could be in the mold of a (Don) Mosebar or a (Brad) Budde,” comparing the then-freshman to the former Trojan All-Americans.

Proudly wearing Harlow’s former jersey No. 77--”Pat Harlow was the kind of guy I looked up to, (a guy) I kind of idolized,” he told the Fresno Bee--Pollack started nine games as a second-year freshman after injuries slowed those in front of him on the depth chart.

This season, the injuries slowed him.

An ankle injury kept him out of the Trojans’ 17-10 loss to Washington on Oct. 3. Two weeks later, in what turned out to be his last start of the season, he suffered the shoulder injury during a 27-24 victory over Cal.

A month later, the shoulder was injured again after less than 10 plays against Arizona. After sitting out against UCLA, he returned against Notre Dame, but was used only in passing situations.

“When I wasn’t injured, I played pretty well,” he said. “I worked hard in the off-season to get stronger and quicker, which I did. It’s just kind of disappointing to get injured, because I had goals.”

With two seasons left, he will have time to reach them.

“If he would have been able to stay (sound) this year, I think he would have emerged as a top Pac-10 lineman,” Palcic said. “He has a lot of potential. We just have to get him put back together.”