USC Transfer Fargas Waits for Last Chance

Justin Fargas stayed after practice the other day for a bit of torture, sprinting a few feet, diving to the turf, springing up and doing it all over again. About two dozen times.

This drill often serves as punishment for some misdeed, but that wasn’t the case with Fargas.

“I need the work,” he said.

The redshirt junior tailback is in football limbo, a newcomer to USC who must sit out next season after transferring from Michigan. He runs and lifts weights and spends afternoons during spring practice on the sideline, watching a new team and a new offense.

“He’s just got to make the best of it,” running backs coach Wayne Moses said. “He’s got to learn a new system for when his time does come.”

The wait is long for a 21-year-old who will probably have only one season of eligibility remaining when he takes the field in 2002. But he sees the switch to USC as his best shot at making good on a once-promising college career.

“I want to show that I’m still a quality back,” he said. “This is my last chance.”

In 1997, as a senior at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High, Fargas ranked among the top rushers in the nation. A month into his freshman season at Michigan, he ran for 120 yards against Northwestern.

That was the high point of his Wolverine career.

Near the end of 1998, he suffered a broken leg that would require three surgeries and keep him off the field more than a year. The thought of leaving Michigan crossed his mind as he spent long winters far from home.

Another thought kept him in Ann Arbor. Fargas envisioned a triumphant return: Michigan’s matchup with UCLA last September. He pointed toward getting fit for that game and, only two weeks before, rushed for 70 yards against Bowling Green.

Yet senior Anthony Thomas and freshman Chris Perry stood above him on the depth chart. So when the Wolverines came to the Rose Bowl, Fargas had but one kickoff return and no carries.

“That was basically the point when I knew,” he said. “I wasn’t going to accomplish my dreams at Michigan.”

The following week, he requested a switch to safety. Coach Lloyd Carr told reporters: “I tried to dissuade him.” Within weeks, it became clear a bigger change was in order.

“It was a tough decision for him,” his father, Antonio Fargas, said. “But he needed to be close to home . . . to come back and pick up the pieces.”

Justin began contacting universities in California, including USC, which recruited him in high school. He was scared away then by the firing of John Robinson and the arrival of a new coach, Paul Hackett.

This time, with USC going through another coaching change, he liked the idea of playing for Pete Carroll, who previously coached the New York Jets and New England Patriots.

“When I walked into his office, I recognized his face from seeing him on TV in the NFL,” Fargas said. “It was kind of an honor to be meeting him.”

The Trojans were impressed by Fargas too. Moses recalled seeing film of him in high school when he dived over a pile at the line of scrimmage, flipped, landed on his feet and kept running.

“All of us remember that,” Moses said. “It was like a nationwide highlight.”

Transferring required quick action and Fargas had to leave Michigan before the Wolverines’ trip to the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1. He jumped into new classes at USC and underwent yet another surgery--a fourth--to fuse bones in his big toe.

“It kind of set him back,” said Moses, who worried that Fargas was struggling to fit in with his new surroundings.

Things have gotten better in recent weeks as Fargas has settled into school and come to know his teammates. It helps that he is living at home in Encino for a while.

Working to add muscle to his 6-foot-1, 195-pound frame, he hopes to take part in USC’s summer camp in August and expects to line up at tailback, though he has left open the possibility of switching to defense. He and his father have talked to the university about petitioning the NCAA for a sixth year of eligibility, which would allow him to play through 2003.

In the meantime, Fargas is doing as much as he can to be involved. Moses saw him running the up-down drill with another player after practice and said: “That’ll make him part of the team.”