Often it was a football. Thunder Collins would run over to the practice fields at the University of Southern California, mere blocks from his family's home in notorious South Central L.A.

"Football has always been first to him," said Collins' mother, Sonia Oden Craig. "I always told him that if he studied his schoolwork as much as he played football, he'd be a rocket scientist."

A 9-foot wall - a fortress of sorts - surrounds the practice fields at USC. This past week, the wall has shielded fourth-ranked Nebraska as it prepared for the Rose Bowl national championship game Thursday in Pasadena. Only family and those close to the program are allowed inside.

Oden Craig gets to watch the workouts, because her 22-year-old son is the Huskers' flashy backup I-back.

"He always dreamed he'd play in either the L.A. Coliseum or the Rose Bowl," she said.

That 9-foot wall at USC rarely stopped Collins and his childhood friends from sneaking inside and playing tackle football on the plush green grass, the kind of grass that's difficult to find in the working-class neighborhoods near campus.

"We used to play really big games," Collins recalled, smiling broadly. "We're talking about 20 people on each team. We all had the same clothes on, you know, so you'd be running with the ball, and you're thinking somebody's blocking for you, and instead they lay you out."

Collins was in grade school then. Now, after a stint in a probation camp for troubled teens, after thousands of rushing yards in high school and junior college, after a sometimes trying adjustment period at Nebraska, Collins apparently has reached a comfort zone as a Husker.

"Thunder has really grown and matured," Nebraska running backs coach Dave Gillespie said. "He sees the big picture. For me, it's been a thrill to watch. It was just a matter of him learning to be focused, disciplined and accountable."

After appearing in only three games last season as a sophomore, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Collins this season ranks third on the team in both rushing (647 yards) and receiving (19 receptions, 189 yards). His 19 catches are the most by a Husker I-back since 1994, when Lawrence Phillips caught 22.

Collins lines up at times as an I-back, at times in the slot, keeping defenses guessing.

"We've really tried to build some things in our offense around Thunder," said Nebraska Coach Frank Solich, who doubles as offensive coordinator. "And whatever we've asked him to do, he's responded. Really, we feel like we have the whole package in Thunder."

Solich said Collins made significant progress last spring and early in preseason camp in August.

"I think he looked at it from this standpoint: If he was going to play and contribute here, he was going to have to get things done in the style that our offense dictates," Solich said.

In other words, Collins would have to become a more physical runner. Despite his relatively slender frame, he would have to make yards after contact. He would have to punish tacklers. He would have to, well, run with a style befitting a man named Thunder.

"He's a very bright young man," Solich said. "Once he saw what he needed to do, right away you saw a difference in Thunder and how he operated."

Said Collins: "I didn't really have to change anything in my game, I pretty much just had to make plays and make stuff happen."

Collins, eldest of Oden Craig's eight children, has never lacked confidence, she said.

"He's always talking about himself, saying, 'I'm No. 1,' " Oden Craig said. "I always tell his friends, 'Don't you ever get tired of hearing all that.' But I guess sometimes a kid has to be that way."

It no doubt helps to be strong and confident in South Central L.A.

"I've always said that when you're in the ghetto, you have to be like an ostrich - you have to stretch your neck above all the bad things going on," Oden Craig said.

Collins, though, didn't always heed his mother's advice, particularly during his teens.

"I was having problems with him," Oden Craig said. "We lived in a real bad area, in Watts, and he was getting in trouble."

Eventually, even after he moved to another part of town to live with an aunt, Bonita Davison, Collins wound up in Camp Kilpatrick, a camp for teens in trouble with the law. He stayed there for about five months, Oden Craig said.

"When he got out, Thunder was a different person," she said.

Said Collins: "I went and got my head straight."

As a senior at L.A.'s Manual Arts High School, Collins rushed for 1,100 yards and 10 touchdowns, earning prep All-America honors. At that time, Collins said, he wanted to attend Washington State, where Ryan Leaf was the star quarterback for the 1997 Rose Bowl's Pac-10 representative.

But Collins failed to achieve NCAA-mandated minimum scores on his SAT college entrance exam. So he attended East Los Angeles Community College and, despite not starting until the fourth game of his freshman season, Collins rushed for 1,548 yards and 23 touchdowns.

Three publications listed Collins as a juco All-American. He was living up to his name, the name his father, Thunder Collins Sr., bestowed on him. The elder Collins was murdered in L.A. when his namesake was 8.

Collins said neighborhood kids used to tease him about his name, and the teasing sparked fights.

"But then my name started working to my advantage as I got older," Collins said.

Collins sees it like this: If a coach has to choose between two great running backs, he'll take the one with the evocative name.

" 'Thunder' just grabs people, you know," Collins said.

The name conjures images of a big man, a powerful force. In Collins' case, though - at least last season - his name was misleading. Because "Thunder" makes one think of a storm. But as a sophomore, Collins' on-field production amounted to a trickle.

This season, Collins has made a significant impact. And next season, many figure the storm will intensify.

Collins always had the confidence, always had the energy.

"I was just waiting for my opportunity," he said.

NEBRASKA NOTEBOOK

Huskers booed at Lakers game: Not once. Not twice. Three times. According to Nebraska left tackle Dave Volk, the Huskers received three rounds of boos Friday night during the Los Angeles Lakers' loss to Toronto at Staples Center.

"Pac-10 fans, I guess," said Volk, tongue-in-cheek. "That's the only thing I can figure."

Said Nebraska cornerback Keyuo Craver: "They booed us, man, but who cares? You can't please everyone."

Laker fans apparently are among those who feel fourth-ranked Nebraska doesn't belong in the Rose Bowl national championship game Thursday in Pasadena.

At any rate, the boos didn't spoil Craver's night. The senior from Harleton, Texas, shook hands with injured Laker center Shaquille O'Neal and received a hug from actress Heather Locklear.

"That felt great," Craver said.

SOPPING WET: After four practices this week in nearly ideal conditions, Nebraska learned Saturday that it does, in fact, rain in southern California. Toiling in full pads, the Huskers practiced in steady rain for much of their two-hour workout. "As practice went on, it came down more," NU Coach Frank Solich said. "But it didn't limit us in any way, shape or form . . . There are times you have to play in this weather, so we try to get acclimated to whatever conditions we have to play in." Said Craver: "We did a good job of not complaining and just working through it." Solich reported no significant injuries as the Huskers neared completion of their first week in Los Angeles.

UP NEXT: This morning, both teams will participate in Media Day at the Rose Bowl, with each squad meeting with the press in the stadium for an hour apiece. The Huskers and Hurricanes will practice at separate sites late in the afternoon.

BEEF BOWLvAfter Saturday's practice, Nebraska players ate steaks at Lawry's restaurant in Beverly Hills as part of a Rose Bowl activity dubbed "The Beef Bowl." Although some regard it as a contest to see which player can consume the most steaks, Husker coaches instructed their players to act sensibly. "I know our guys can at with the best of them," Solich said.

OLD FRIEND: Former Colorado Coach Bill McCartney was the keynote speaker at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes banquet Saturday morning in Los Angeles. Afterward, Solich said, he had "a very good conversation" with McCartney, who asked about former Husker coach Tom Osborne and discussed the old CU-NU wars. "It was really quite interesting."

QUOTABLE: "I do a lot of shopping at thrift stores." Craver, when asked about his T-shirt promoting Creighton "Lady Jays" basketball (the Creighton women now known as the Bluejays). Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.