From 1994 through 1996, 6-foot-6 Brad Otton played quarterback for the Trojans, helping USC win a Cotton Bowl, a Rose Bowl and end a 13-game winless streak against archrival Notre Dame.

Though he backed up Rob Johnson and split time under center with Kyle Wachholtz, Otton still managed to throw for 5,359 yards during his USC career (fourth most for a Trojan at the time).

After graduating in 1996, Otton spent a couple years in the NFL before injuries forced him to retire and begin his coaching career.

He started out at Cal State Northridge before being reunited with his old USC coach.

"I was coaching at UNLV with John Robinson, coaching quarterbacks, when he retired," Otton said as we sat at the pizza bar in his Pasadena Settebello restaurant.

"I had majored in business at USC and I had always wanted to have my own business," Otton said. "When I lost my job at UNLV, I just decided to give it a shot, went over to Italy and hired a pizza maker. He's been with me for six years and we open our fourth location here in about a week so it's gone really well."

Otton spent two years in Naples on a Mormon mission to Italy and while there, was introduced to their thin-crust pizza making traditions that date back more than 200 years.

"All we're trying to do is recreate pizza how it was made in Napoli in the early 1700's," Otton said. "Napoli is the birthplace of pizza in Southern Italy so we're trying to make it the authentic way -- how it's made there.

"As customers, you're either going to love it or it's not going to be your thing. But you'll know right away whether it's your thing and then you're addicted and can't eat any other pizza."

Settebello, the nickname given to the seven of gold in the Italian card game Scopa, is a member of the Vera Pizza Napoletana (VPN), a Napoli restaurant organization established in 1984.

According to the VPN charter, member restaurants are required to use only specific raw ingredients to create the hand-worked pizza dough and that it be cooked directly on the surface of a wood-fueled bell-shaped pizza oven.

The heart of Otton's restaurant is the massive brick pizza oven that gets so hot it can cook a pizza in about a minute.

"These ovens have been made for generations," Otton said. "We buy ovens from a third-generation oven builder in Napoli. The oven gets to about 1,000 degrees and we cook it for about 45 seconds to a minute. It keeps the flavors really fresh."

Otton's path from football player to operating a pizzeria chain was an interesting one.

After suffering a knee injury during his senior season, he went to the Washington Redskins as an unsigned free agent in 1997.

He reinjured the knee during his second season with the Redskins and never played football again.

"I decided wasn't meant to be," Otton said. "I do wish I could go back though, do it over and keep at it."

When his playing days ended, moving into coaching was a natural transition.

"Coaching was kind of my family's profession," Otton said. "My dad was a coach before I was born, he still coaches and is the all-time winningest coach in Washington high school history."

Otton got his start in coaching at Cal State Northridge with head coach Jeff Kearin. During Otton's playing days at USC, Kearin was a quarterback graduate assistant coach with the Trojans.

"Jeff Kearin wanted me to coach there with him at Northridge," Otton said. "At first I said no, but then I started to go to meetings and practice and I got the bug.

"I was hired right away as quarterbacks coach."

Unfortunately for Kearnin and Otton, Northridge dropped its football program after the 2001 season.

"I had great time at Northridge and when they got rid of football, John Robinson hired me at UNLV.

"I coached for about four years at Cal State Northridge and UNLV, then I got the itch to start my own business. I'd like to get back into that at some point but not in college It's too much of a grind for someone with a family. But maybe in high school or a JC."

Even though Otton has moved on with his life, football is still in his blood. We took a trip down memory lane talking about his 1996 Rose Bowl victory over Northwestern.

After he'd gotten off to a fast start at quarterback, Otton was allowed by Robinson to play the entire game. The normal routine was to split time with Wachholtz. Otton put up a Rose Bowl record 391 passing yards and was slated to share the game MVP award with Keyshawn Johnson.

"I was actually up on the awards stand with Keyshawn and John Robinson was talking about how we were Co-MVPs and how proud he was of us," Otton said. "I noticed they only had one MVP trophy in hand and I figured they had another one in the office or something.

"While they're talking, the guy told me, 'Brad, we decided to only give it to Keyshawn.' So I'm standing up there on podium while they gave Keyshawn the MVP. Then the guy the next year threw for like 130 yards and got the MVP so I don't know.

"I wasn't too upset about it at the time, but I didn't know you got your name on a plaque in the front of the Rose Bowl. So now, I got to show my kids Keyshawn's name up there and say I played in the game instead of having my name up there. But it was a great memory, just a little bitter ending to it."

It was tough for Otton following that Rose Bowl season with a 6-6 campaign the next fall, but there was at least one bright spot.

"That was the year we broke the Notre Dame streak, we beat them in the Coliseum in overtime," Otton said with a smile. "That was my last game and the crowd stormed the field at the end. That was a great way to go out."

Otton's touchdown pass to Rodney Sermons in overtime gave USC its first victory over the Fighting Irish in 13 years.

"I gotta be honest, that was probably a greater memory than the Rose Bowl just because of all the frustration of that last year and turning it around in the last game.

"It was a cool experience to be a part of the Trojan Family. It's not just football players but everyone connected with USC, the alumni, everyone. You feel an instant kinship with them so it's a pretty cool deal."

You can find Settebello on the web at settebello.net.