SOWARD `STRUGGLES' IN SUMMER.

Byline: Karen Crouse

As fast as he is, R. Jay Soward couldn't outrun suspicion. It overtook the USC receiver last Thursday, shortly after he completed the eighth of 16 wind sprints with the football team.

It's plain to see Soward is a marvelously gifted athlete. He's so speedy, he was just a blur to his teammates this summer.

Soward, 21, chose to prepare for his senior season in his own way. So while 40 of the Trojans he'll go to war with this fall got bigger, faster, stronger and closer, Soward built up his muscle in the music industry.

Marquee players at the school have excused themselves from these so-called optional workouts before, which might explain why recent USC teams have failed chemistry.

``When you're suffering and your teammates are sweating right there with you, that's what builds ultimate respect,'' senior safety David Gibson said.

Respect is won on the field of battle, too. Soward's absence from the summer mix might have gone unnoticed if his name hadn't been so conspicuous by its absence from the 1998 All-Pac-10 and All-America first-team lists.

Everybody knows running back Barry Sanders used to eschew Detroit Lions' conditioning camps. Of course, his Heisman Trophy and 10 All-Pro berths were more than enough collateral for his teammates. All Soward could offer is two All-Pac-10 second-team berths. That's really not enough to warrant training apart from his teammates.

As Gibson put it, ``I don't think he's at the stage to be doing what he's doing.''

Soward sounded sincere when he said, ``I want to win a Heisman so bad.''

But wishing won't make it so. You have to pay for that kind of success with sweat and tears.

God-given talent has gotten Soward this far. It's a shame he won't at least chip in some determination and discipline.

The 41 summer conditioning sessions would have been a good place to start. It couldn't have hurt Soward to run his routes over and over and over with quarterback Carson Palmer until he knew them as well as the notes to his favorite songs.

Instead, the connection Soward spent more time strengthening was with the people who call the plays in the music industry. In his L.A. apartment, where a few weights, 1998 game tapes and a VCR might have been put to use, Soward set up a pre-production studio. He recorded a rap song titled, ``It's a Struggle.''

Film of his last wind sprint on Thursday would have worked nicely for the accompanying MTV video. It was such a struggle, Soward had to stop and catch his breath.

Don't think his teammates didn't notice. Soward never has demonstrated dean's-list discipline where hook-routes or school books are concerned. So you could forgive Soward's teammates for suspecting the only thing that has changed this year is his class standing.

When he bailed on the running drill, Soward acknowledged his teammates ``gave me a look like, `Is he going to be ready?' '' He said he was ``very embarrassed'' by his effort.

He sounded sufficiently contrite when he said, ``As far as my teammates, I regret that I didn't come around. I could have made our team so much better.''

It's not too late. There are untold practices and at least 12 games to make amends. But the alliances cemented under the lazy summer sun and the friendships fortified under buckled weights - they are lost, never to be retrieved.

It's not just on the field that Soward has dropped the ball. From the day he stepped foot on the USC campus, Soward seems to have been taking his leave of the place.

Having turned down the NFL to return to USC for one more year, the hope here is Soward will make an effort to leave footprints.

A bright young man, he hasn't invested any more in his studies than is absolutely necessary.

Soward has a heaping helping of personality, but he hasn't invested much of his charisma toward being a team leader. He's friendly, but he hasn't cultivated many close relationships on the team. Press clippings are nice, but they're no substitute for lifelong friendships, lasting memories and a positive legacy.

Soward has committed so little of himself to college, he hasn't left much of an imprint. Here's hoping he changes his course - and fast.