COLLEGE FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : USC : Strother Does Well in Switch

There have been precedents for the great season USC fullback Deon Strother is having.

John Robinson once switched a guy named Marcus Allen from tailback to fullback. Ditto for Lynn Cain. When Robinson told Strother last spring he was switching him from tailback to fullback, Strother grimaced.

“I thought: ‘Oh, no--all that pounding,’ ” Strother recalled recently.

With two games left, Strother, a 205-pound senior from Oakland, stands second on the team in scoring, rushing and receiving.

Earlier this season, he said: “I can’t believe it. I’m second in receiving on this team to Johnnie Morton, and he’s setting records.” Strother has 41 catches, Morton 71.