STEELE COULD BE A STEAL USC LINEBACKER SHOULD GO TODAY.

Byline: Matthew Kredell Staff Writer

When a team representative calls today to tell USC linebacker Markus Steele that his dream of making the NFL has come true, he will not be the one who answers the phone. He will not be watching the draft on ESPN. He won't even be inside the house.

``I'm going to do anything but watch the draft,'' Steele said. ``I'm not going to stress myself out like that. I'll be outside playing basketball.''

Scouts love Steele's size and explosiveness. He is muscular, quick and hard-hitting. In one game against Notre Dame his junior year, USC was losing by a touchdown and the Fighting Irish were running out the clock in the final minutes when a blitzing Steele burst through the line so quickly he tackled the fullback during the handoff and forced a fumble.

Steele finished with 15 tackles that game, a feat he would duplicate two more times that year. However, after entering his senior year as a candidate to win the Butkus Award as the nation's top linebacker, he was slowed by offseason shoulder surgery and missed most of the last four games after spraining his right ankle against Cal.

His predraft workouts were particularly important because he couldn't let his play as a senior do the talking. He trained in Atlanta with Chip Smith, who had worked with the 2000 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, Chicago linebacker Brian Urlacher.

The results were mixed. While he passed all physicals to dispel health concerns, Steele didn't post the eye-catching 40-yard-dash time he needed to zoom up draft boards. Smith had clocked Steele at 4.45 in the 40, a time usually reserved for running backs, receivers and cornerbacks. It set high expectations.

After declining to run the 40 at the NFL Combine in February, Steele ran a 4.58 and a 4.61 at the USC workout in March. They weren't terrible times for a player who is 6-foot-3 and 241 pounds, up from his college playing weight of 225. The average time for an outside linebacker at this year's combine was 4.72. Steele tried to look at the positives, including a 41-inch vertical leap after jumping 33 inches at the combine.

``I think I answered a lot of questions about can he move on that ankle and can he handle the added weight,'' Steele said.

Steele is projected to go in the second or third round as the top USC player taken, with defensive tackle Ennis Davis and inside linebacker Zeke Moreno also having a chance to be drafted by the end of Saturday's third round.

The St. Louis Rams and Dallas Cowboys have set up independent meetings with Steele. Dallas coaches flew to Steele's hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, to meet with him and his family this week. The Cowboys were Steele's favorite team growing up, but he said he doesn't care who drafts him. He just wants to get it over with.

``It really doesn't matter to me as long as I can go there and make a quick impact,'' he said. ``Then, hey, the team will make me fall in love with them.''

The Cowboys have the sixth pick in the second round and pick eighth and 31st in the third. St. Louis has picks 11 and 23 in the second round to go along with pick 21 in the third.

Steele has no elaborate plans for his pending wealth. Judging by picks in the second and third rounds of last year's draft, he can expect to receive around $2 million over the next four years, including a signing bonus of up to $1 million.

A new Porsche or Corvette certainly would be understandable, but Steele said he intends to continue to live modestly.

``I want to take care of my family and set up a trust fund for my daughter to go to college,`` he said. ``I basically have everything I really want. Back home (in Cleveland) I see a lot of homeless people on the street. I want to do some work in the community. Seeing them in the wintertime is a real heartbreaker.''

Smith believes Markus could be a steal for some team.

``Everybody last year was talking about Lavar Arrington, but Urlacher was the real deal,'' Smith said of the one linebacker chosen ahead of Urlacher. ``He was the best athlete I had seen for his size. When I look at his numbers and look at Markus, Brian played at New Mexico, not a national powerhouse. Markus played at USC and I'd be surprised if any linebacker in the draft turned out the numbers he will.''

It doesn't hurt that USC has a great tradition of linebackers succeeding in the NFL. San Diego's Junior Seau, New England's Willie McGinest and Detroit's Chris Claiborne all are former USC linebackers playing in the league.

If Steele were healthy in 2000 and performed as he had his junior year, he might have joined Seau, McGinest and Claiborne as first-round picks. While that is out of reach, there are a wide range of opinions from draft experts on where Steele will be taken. That's why he can't stand to watch.

His parents, Robert and Linda Steele, will man the phones and keep an eye on the television as Steele tries to remain calm outside the Cleveland home in which he grew up.

``It's really a crapshoot when you get into the draft,'' said Smith, who has trained dozens of former NFL draft picks, including Washington cornerback Champ Bailey. ``All you have to do is find one team that likes you.''

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USC's Marcus Steele hopes to join a list of successful Trojans linebackers in the NFL. The draft is today.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer