RUNNING OUT OF THE SHADOWS OAKS CHRISTIAN'S TYLER IS HIS OWN MAN.

Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE Staff Writer

WESTLAKE VILLAGE - He comes across as cool and quiet. His answers are short and clipped, but never boring, even though the questions are always the same.

Marc, tell me about your dad? What was it like growing up as the son of an NFL running back?

Marc, what's it like to play with Jimmy Clausen? Is he really as good as people say he is?

As shadows go, the two Marc Tyler has been cast in are about as long as they get. His father Wendell Tyler was a Pro Bowl running back with the San Francisco 49ers. His good friend and teammate at Oaks Christian of Westlake Village, Jimmy Clausen has been the No. 1 high school player in the country for the past two years.

His laid-back personality lent itself to sidekick status, too.

But something different has happened this fall. Something no one could have imagined even a few months ago: Tyler has finally outrun those long shadows.

In the Lions' two nationally televised games this fall, it was Tyler who stole the headlines. Against St. Bonaventure of Ventura, he had 271 yards and scored five touchdowns. A week later against Venice, he had 232 yards and four touchdowns.

In the following weeks, every major recruiting site moved him from a top-five running back to the top spot.

``After those two TV games, it was different,'' said Tyler, theNo. 1-rated running back in the country by all the major scouting sites who has verbally committed to USC. ``I go to USC games and people are like, `There's Marc Tyler.'

``It used to always be, `There's Wendell's son, there's little Tyler' or `There's Jimmy Clausen's running back.' ''

At first look, you think Tyler is unmoved by this development. He looks up and off to the side as he's talking. He stands politely with his hands behind his back.

His mother, Carmen, isn't buying it though.

She still remembers the day he came home from kindergarten and asked to be dressed in flashy, bright-colored clothes instead of the conservative, white, button-up shirts and khaki trousers she'd picked out.

``Even then, he wanted some of that jazzy stuff,'' she said. ``He's just always had a sense of himself and what he wanted.

``He might come off as this cool, laid-back guy. But I think he's always kind of liked the flashy stuff. He's always loved the big games and the big challenges.''

It's hard to be flashy though, when you're regularly beating teams by 40 points and sitting out the second half. Tyler has carried more than 12 times in a game only twice this year, in the TV games against St.Bonaventure and Venice.

Most nights, his line looks something like: 12 carries for 163 yards and three touchdowns. On the season, he's scored 30 touchdowns, carrying 129 times for 1,625 yards (12.5 yards/carry) and catching 12 passes for 265 yards.

Last year, when he edged Clausen for State Junior Player of the Year, he scored 45 TDs, carrying 183 times for 2,196 yards and catching 28 passes for 413 yards.

Despite the limited carries and playing time, he's racked up 121 career touchdowns, 16 shy of Lorenzo Booker's career state scoring record set from 1999-2001 at St. Bonaventure.

Clausen is just a little bit ahead, with 130 career touchdowns, meaning that both have a chance to break the state record with a big performance in the playoffs.

Clausen could break Robert De La Cruz's state record for passing touchdowns (132) tonight in a first-round match-up with St. Bernard of Playa del Rey.

``If me and Marc both played the whole game, every single game for our whole careers, I think we'd both break every record there is,'' Clausen said. ``But it's not really about records for us. We just come out to play football.''

Did you notice that?

Did you notice how all of a sudden the roles flipped and Clausen was answering a question about Tyler?

With all the hype surrounding Clausen, you'd think he'd have trouble ceding some of the spotlight. On the contrary. In this case, he's happy to have someone to share the stage with.

``In my opinion, he's the best back in the country and he's been the best back since early on in his career,'' Clausen said. ``I'm sure the fact that I'm supposed to be the No. 1 player in the country has something to do with (Tyler not getting as much attention). But shoot, he's just as good of a player as I am, if not better.''

Tyler, standing about 10 feet away, couldn't help but smirk when Clausen said this.

He broke his patient pose and started nodding his head. Clausen caught his eye. Tyler nodded back. They both started laughing.

Finally, it seems, the rest of us are in on what they've known all along: When it comes to Marc Tyler, no comparison is necessary.

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) Oaks Christian's Marc Tyler runs for a touchdown against St. Bonaventure. Tyler has 30 TDs this season.

(2) Jimmy Clausen, left, celebrates with Marc Tyler against St. Bonaventure.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer

Box:

(1) MARC TYLER'S CAREER STATS

(2) TODAY'S SOUTHERN SECTION GAMES