CLEVELAND RUSHER NOT `BLOWING IN THE WIND'.

Byline: Matthew Kredell Staff Writer

One look at Clyde Griffin and Cleveland High of Reseda coach Craig Cieslik thought the kid never would play football.

It wasn't that Griffin didn't have the skill. It wasn't even that he was 5-foot-6 and 140 pounds.

Griffin transferred from Pasadena High, where he had about a 1.0 grade-point average and a troubled past. Cieslik sees so many similar kids. They say they are going to turn themselves around but they don't. That's why Cleveland has just 21 players on its roster.

``He came to see me with his sister and her husband, and he was extremely defiant toward them the whole time,'' Cieslik said. ``When they explained to me his grades, I was like, `Oh wow, he has no grades and he's a smart-mouthed kid. He'll never play.' ''

It took until his senior year, but Griffin finally is eligible to play football for the first time. Just like with the opportunity to get away from his difficult life in Pasadena, he's making the most of it.

Griffin leads area large-school rushers with 12.4 yards per carry. In four games, he has 38 carries for 472 yards and seven touchdowns, leading surprising Cleveland to a 3-1 start.

But Griffin's most impressive statistic is his 3.1 GPA since starting at Cleveland. By taking summer classes, he now is on pace to graduate on time.

Two years ago, the only thing Griffin ran with was the wrong crowd.

With a clinically schizophrenic mother and a father ill from diabetes, Griffin had little guidance. Instead of going to school, he would hang out on the streets with his friends.

No one was around on a daily basis to tell him not to.

`I didn't really think about the future because I was always with my friends,'' Griffin said. ``Since they had no goals, I never really thought about it. I thought the streets were better for me than going to school.

``But my friends led me down the wrong path. I was always on the streets, and I wasn't doing what I was supposed to do.''

The situation became desperate for Griffin's family when he was arrested for breaking and entering in the spring of his sophomore year.

Griffin broke into the house with his friends on a dare. He didn't steal anything and was put on probation.

``That scared me to death when he was arrested,'' said Griffin's father, Clyde Sr. ``I decided I had to do something about it. I wanted to get him out of that neighborhood. I didn't want him to end up in jail. I didn't want him to get in that mode of getting in trouble all the time.''

Griffin's parents are married but have been separated for a long time. Griffin was living with his mother, Laquana. His father was planning on having Clyde live with him in Orange County but wasn't sure whether it would be much better.

As Griffin Sr. worked and dealt with his illness, Clyde often would be unsupervised.

Griffin Sr. called his grown daughter, Vangelia Hardie, and asked whether she could take Clyde for the weekend and see whether she could reach him.

Vangelia, 34, was 17 and about to move out when Clyde was born, so she hadn't spent much time with him.

``I felt bad because I had four kids of my own and never really checked to see if my brother needed me,'' Vangelia said.

Vangelia didn't yet know that Clyde had been arrested. When she found out, she decided she had to do something.

``I said to my husband (Mark), `What do I do? I'm afraid that my dad is really sick and my brother is just blowing in the wind,' '' Vangelia said. ``He said, `Why don't we just have him come over here?' ''

Guardianship of Clyde was signed over to Vangelia. At first, he was disobedient, as Cieslik saw. Clyde would visit his mother in Pasadena and fall back with the same friends.

Vangelia and Mark gave him discipline for the first time in his life. They grounded him. They took away the phone for six months. They insisted he get his grades up. They had him earn his way, cutting the grass, cleaning the pool, taking out the trash, alternating on kitchen duty and helping their younger kids with homework.

``When we brought him here, there was a lot of retraining needed because he wasn't used to having any rules,'' Vangelia said. ``We taught him that nothing was promised to you.''

Everything began clicking for Griffin once he had that meeting - and made the bad first impression - with Cieslik.

Griffin comes from a football family. His father played high school ball in Louisiana, once going up against Terry Bradshaw. And two uncles played in college, with one spending a season on the Pittsburgh Steelers.

If he was going to continue that tradition, he knew he needed to turn around his grades immediately.

``My sister and brother-in-law said, `Do you see how your previous life affected your goals?' '' Griffin said. ``I started trying to improve my grades to play football. The goal of playing football was pushing me to do well with my grades.''

To Griffin's surprise, once he applied himself to school, it came easy to him.

``It was surprising because of all the time I was acting stupid in the past,'' Griffin said. ``I realized I could do it. If I went back to Pasadena the way I am now, I think I would get straight A's. I just didn't have the motivation.''

If Griffin was an underdog to be successful, he fits right in on the Cleveland team. The Cavaliers already have more victories than last season, when they were 2-7-1. That is despite having the fewest players of any team in the City Section.

Griffin runs behind an offensive line that averages 185 pounds. Only next to him do they seem a normal size.

``If you came out to practice, you would be like, `Come on, how can this team beat anyone?' '' Cieslik said. ``But all the kids are like Clyde. They work hard and buy into it.''

Griffin Sr., who is awaiting a kidney transplant, came out to watch his son play for the first time Friday in a victory over San Fernando.

``I'm so proud of him,'' Griffin Sr. said. ``When I saw him run for that touchdown, it brought tears to my eyes. It was just like me out there.''

Griffin hopes football will help him go to college, become a firefighter and come back to support his mother.

His size might make him go the junior college route, but coaches from Fresno State have come by to take a look at him.

Cieslik never has been happier to admit his first impression was wrong.

``He's the one kid I've coached over the years that no one has a bad thing to say about,'' Cieslik said. ``Everyone loves him, from teachers to coaches to players. He's always smiling, happy and upbeat. He's proof that you can turn your life around at any time.''

Matthew Kredell, [phone]

matthew.kredell(at)dailynews.com

Montclair Prep (0-3) at Cleveland (3-1)

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) GRIFFIN

(2) Clyde Griffin is playing high school football for the first time, averaging 12.4 yards a carry.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer