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Christian Rector reflects on tough final season but memorable run at USC

Redshirt senior defensive end Christian Rector plays his final home game in the Coliseum on Saturday vs. UCLA.
Redshirt senior defensive end Christian Rector plays his final home game in the Coliseum on Saturday vs. UCLA. (Nick Lucero/Rivals)

Back in the summer, redshirt senior defensive end Christian Rector said he felt the weight and pressure lifted entering his final season at USC.

He had stressed about his NFL draft prospects last fall, having planned on that being his final college season before making the jump. When his draft evaluations weren't what he hoped, he turned his sights toward one more run with the Trojans.

Talking back then, Rector had hopes for double-digit sacks and felt he was just a small adjustment away from finishing more plays in the backfield. Mostly, he emphasized at the time, he just wanted to have fun this season and not stress about what was to come in the future.

To his credit, Rector has by all accounts maintained that mentality to this fall despite some tough setbacks -- primarily the high-ankle sprain in Week 2 that changed the course of his whole season and then the targeting ejection in the first quarter last week at Cal.

"Yeah, it's frustrating, but there's things that are out of your hands sometimes. And we let God handle those and stay blessed and yeah, just move on and enjoy life," Rector said Wednesday after practice.

Said USC defensive line coach Chad Kauha'aha'a: "He's been in good spirits. He knows this is part of the game and you get hurt. He was never down. If anything, it made him stronger, it made him a stronger leader. … I know he wanted to be out there, but what he did was he brought our room together. Even him being hurt, he was out there, he was positive, he was helping the younger guys, he was helping Drake Jackson, he was helping Caleb [Tremblay] so it was good. He was positive the whole way through."

Rector enters his final home game in the Coliseum, Saturday vs. UCLA, with 16 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 sack and 1 interception this season.

Again, the ankle injury had a lot to do with depressing those numbers.

Rector only missed one game initially (at BYU) before returning to play through the injury. He managed just 1 solo and 5 assisted tackles over the next three games before the coaching staff decided it was best he shut things down and truly let the ankle heal. He sat out two games before returning against Oregon and then made the game-saving pass deflection and interception at Arizona State.

It looked like Rector was off to a strong start last weekend when he broke through the line unblocked and hammered Cal running back Christopher Brown Jr. in the backfield for a punishing tackle for loss on the opening series.

But a subsequent official review led to a targeting ejection because Rector had led with the crown of his helmet in a bang-bang moment of collision with Brown. Just like that, another game was wiped away from his final season.

"I don't agree with the call, but I accept it. I thought it was a good hit and I'm just moving on to UCLA," Rector said this week.

"To get ejected in that last game for a hit like that was unfortunate," Kauha'aha'a said. "... Every game counts for Christian, so I'm glad we got him back. It happened in the first half, we got him back [for the full game Saturday], but it is what it is."

Rector has this UCLA game and the Trojans' bowl game to put a final stamp on his collegiate career. While the numbers aren't overwhelming this fall, his career totals tell a different story with 104 total tackles, 22 tackles for loss, 13 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries, 5 passes defensed and that 1 interception.

His best season was 2017 when he posted career-highs of 11 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles.

"He's made a lot of big plays for us over the years, and we've missed him all year being completely healthy," defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast said. "He tried to play through the injury since Stanford and didn't get a lot of practice reps, and finally after Notre Dame we shut him down and wanted him to get 100 percent healthy before he came back. Against Oregon he felt he was, and it's helped him. I think he's played better of late -- unfortunate what happened last week on the first drive, but he'll be ready to go this week."

For one last time in the Coliseum … although Rector wasn't ready to think about it in those terms.

"I don't like to think about it too much. It hasn't really hit me. I'm just focused on beating the next opponent and that's UCLA," he said.

As for how he looks back on his five years at USC in general, Rector offered no regrets or laments -- just the way he committed to approaching this last season.

"I think they were great and amazing and I wouldn't change them for the world. We were able to win a Rose Bowl and Pac-12 championship, and very few people are able to do that, say that they did that," he said. "So yeah, I wouldn't change it for the world and was blessed to have experienced that."

Senior Day

USC will honor 14 seniors and redshirt juniors prior to the game Saturday:

-ILB Matt Bayle*

-OT Clayton Bradley

-OG Jacob Daniel

-RB/WR/CB Dominic Davis

-RB Chris Edmondson*

-K Thomas Fitts*

-S Richard Hagestad*

-WR Matthew Hocum*

-ILB John Houston

-CB Justin Newell*

-S/QB Brandon Perdue*

-WR Michael Pittman

-DE Christian Rector

-RT Drew Richmond

*denotes walk-on

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