At times this past season, Robert Woods became USC's Forgotten Man. A terrific receiver in his own right, Woods just so happened to play alongside a once-in-a-generation talent: Biletnikoff Award winner Marqise Lee.
With Lee becoming the focal point of the offense, Woods' production fell from record-setting in 2011 to merely very good in '12. His NFL draft stock took a bit of a hit as well.
This week offers Woods an opportunity to bounce back up -- to make the people who matter remember.
The 2013 NFL scouting combine is under way in Indianapolis, and Woods is among more than 300 participants. Like former teammate Matt Barkley, Woods is out to prove to general managers, scouts and coaches that he's the same player who dominated two seasons ago, even if the most recent set of statistics suggests otherwise.
"I'm just trying to go out there and show that I still am who I am -- same game, even better," Woods said before heading to the combine. "I hope they didn't forget about me."
They haven't. Woods is considered one of the best receivers in the 2013 class. But there's a difference between being one of the best and being the best, and Woods seemed to be tracking toward the latter after a spectacular sophomore season.
Woods caught 111 passes -- most in Pac-12 history -- for 1,292 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2011. He was everybody's All-American.
Ankle surgery slowed Woods the following offseason. Then the Trojans' offense shifted. Lee caught more passes and received more accolades. Woods ended up with 76 receptions for 846 yards and 11 TDs -- fine totals in a vacuum but nowhere near his 2011 production.
"I think I made the best of the opportunities I did have," Woods said during a break from training with Velocity Sports Performance in Irvine.
"I did what I was capable of doing. But I felt like I could have done a little more to help the team."
Woods wasn't happy about his reduced role, but he didn't complain about it either. He approached every play as if he were going to get the ball. If he knew he wasn't, he'd try to block like a fullback.
"I don't know how you could be put in a harder situation," said USC coach Lane Kiffin, who, as the team's play-caller, contributed to Woods being in that situation.
"As a true sophomore, you catch more passes than anyone in the history of this conference. Then you go into your junior year, and all of a sudden you're not catching the most balls on the team. And it happens to be your buddy that you raised in the system.
"He handled that great. That speaks to who he is. I don't think many people would have handled that that well."
NFL personnel types undoubtedly will make note of Woods' unselfishness. When they talk to Kiffin, they'll also hear about an ultra-competitive player who loathed having to sit out practices while his ankle healed. His peers training with Velocity call him "L.A. Rob," but there's little glitz to Woods' game, no diva in his personality.
"Robert has a true love for the game," Kiffin said. "He loves to practice ... which is not always the case with kids. Robert's old school that way."
Woods and Barkley are similarly wired; it's one of the reasons they worked so well together (and will do so again at USC's March 27 pro day). If it rankled Woods to miss practices, one can only imagine how Barkley felt having to miss the Trojans' final two-plus games, as well as the Senior Bowl, because of a shoulder injury.
Barkley's representatives informed NFL teams that their client will not throw at the combine because his shoulder isn't fully healed. Whether he does other drills when quarterbacks work out Sunday remains to be seen. Barkley is scheduled to meet the media Friday.
Opinions on where Barkley will be drafted vary from day to day and analyst to analyst. Some believe, when all's said and done, that he'll still be a top-10 pick in a quarterback-starved league. Others -- the majority, at this point -- project him as a second-round selection, a concept that would have been inconceivable a year ago.
"Matt is a great quarterback," Woods said. "There's always going to be doubters. There's been people who doubted Matt ever since he stepped on USC's campus. So that's nothing new.
"He's been out of the picture a little bit, but ... once you see Matt in person again, once he does the interviews, people are going to remember why he is Matt Barkley."
This is the time to conjure those positive memories. No one knows that better than the Forgotten Man.
Contact the writer: mlev@ocregister.com
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50893395/ns/local_news-orange_county_ca/
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