Entering Week 3, there might not be a college football player more anxious to see the playing field than Lamar Dawson. And, if there is, it certainly wouldn’t take long to call roll.
During a practice session in late October of 2013, the USC linebacker sustained a knee injury that cost him the last five games of the season. Not only that, but the subsequent surgeries and rehabs kept the player out for the entire 2014 season as well.
In a cruel twist of fate, Dawson, who was cleared to participate in spring practice, sustained broken ribs in a mid-August summer camp practice and has been sidelined for the first two games of the 2015 season. Medically cleared from that issue, however, Dawson is now ready to see the field this Saturday against Stanford, which would serve as his first game action since Oct. 19, 2013, against Notre Dame in South Bend.
And it’s not like the senior will be eased back into action as Dawson is expected to share playing time with freshman Cameron Smith.
“He hasn’t played for a little while but Lamar’s a heady player,” Trojans head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “He’s a savvy player, he’s got a good feel, he’s kind of slippery getting off blocks, making plays, so I think he and Cam will be a nice complement to one another.”
Dawson, when healthy, does have extensive starting experience. He started the first seven games of the 2013 season before the knee injury. The previous year, he started nine of the 12 games in which he appeared, while his true freshman season in 2011 ended with four straight starts.
