In a career defined by managing adversity, Toa Lobendahn forges on with his coaches and teammates be

LOS ANGELES — Vince Lobendahn knew.

He was there when his son — Toa, USC’s starting center — was the MVP of a camp that caught Lane Kiffin’s attention six years ago. He was there when Toa, on their way back from a Washington camp, received a scholarship offer from the Trojans a few days later.

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And he knew where he had to be now.

“I saw him come out of the locker room last Saturday. I waited this time because I felt, oh, man, I was going to leave and come home but I felt this was the time,” Vincent says before a long pause, “I needed to be there for him.”

Toa has started 43 games in his career — among the most for an offensive lineman in program history — and that number could climb to 46 by the end of this season. He’s started games at left tackle, left guard, center and right guard.

Those 43 starts have spanned two head coaches, three offensive line coaches and two season-ending knee injuries.

Still, in a career that’s been defined by managing adversity, this was tough. USC lost to Cal, 15-14, for the first time in 15 years on Saturday. In the third quarter, one of Lobendahn’s snaps went over quarterback JT Daniels’ head and into the end zone for a safety.

After the game, Lobendahn emerged from the locker room and picked up his postgame meal as a horde of reporters awaited with questions about snapping issues that have persisted since training camp.

“I’m definitely mad at myself,” he said.

Adversity and Lobendahn have been married seemingly ever since he committed to USC and he’s responded well to it throughout. He’ll have to again when the Trojans (5-5 overall, 4-4 Pac-12) face off with crosstown rival UCLA on Saturday at the Rose Bowl (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX).

Think back to the time Lobendahn, as a rising junior in high school, committed to USC in June 2012.

Kiffin was still the program’s head coach. The Trojans were named preseason No. 1 later that summer. The McKay Center, the university’s multimillion-dollar athletic facility, would open shortly after.

“I remember we had a lot of hype around us because the year before we beat Oregon but we still weren’t able to go to a bowl game because of the sanctions,” Lobendahn said. “Just being around all the recruits, all the players and all the coaches and stuff, I was just like, ‘Dang, if I could make it here, that would be awesome.’ Come around summertime, when I was able to compete in camp, got offered, it clicked right away for me, and committed.”

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Obviously, the USC Lobendahn committed to and the one he’s experienced are vastly different. He got a sense of that early on.

The coach Lobendahn pledged his commitment to, Kiffin, was fired during his senior year at La Habra. Then-interim coach Ed Orgeron stuck to the commitment and so did Lobendahn, who was a four-star prospect in the 2014 recruiting cycle.

Two months later, Orgeron was gone, too, and Steve Sarkisian was in. Naturally, there were some doubts.

“I remember thinking, ‘Is SC going to keep my scholarship still? Because it’s a new coach, I don’t know if he wants to switch it up,’ ” Lobendahn said. “They ended up keeping the same class. … I definitely got the feel people come and go in this business and it’s crazy to see but you’ve got to be able to deal with it.”

It kind of set the tone for Lobendahn’s career.

“Toa Lobendahn,” Rece Davis said on ESPN’s broadcast of the 2014 Holiday Bowl, “is going to be a name that people know pretty well.”

Tim Drevno received his introduction earlier that year. Drevno arrived at USC as its offensive line coach — a role he returned to a few weeks ago — shortly after the San Francisco 49ers, whom he served as the offensive line coach for three seasons, lost the NFC Championship Game to the Seattle Seahawks.

Lobendahn’s maturity, natural athletic ability and mindset appealed to Drevno that spring. And a trust developed.

“One thing with linemen I like, once they correct something, they don’t make the same mistake,” Drevno said. “He could fix a problem and never allow it to happen again and you’d automatically trust him. He understood what you wanted and how you wanted it done.”

Drevno and Sarkisian entrusted Lobendahn with plenty of responsibility as a true freshman. He started the first eight games of the season at left guard and the final five at left tackle, which is what he played in high school. The versatility that has made him valuable throughout his collegiate career was apparent right away.

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He was asked to block veteran players in practice, and standout pass rushers like Nebraska’s Randy Gregory in that Holiday Bowl.

“He played left tackle in the spring time and left guard and I could see unbelievable recoverability,” Drevno said. “Getting half of a block, then he’d win the block. It’s like, OK, this kid’s got something. Just natural stuff, stuff that you don’t have to coach.”

Then, as a sophomore, the adversity hit. Sarkisian was fired as the Trojans’ coach after five games. Lobendahn suffered torn knee ligaments against Utah, which ended his season, two games later.

He made it back for the 2016 season opener against Alabama and started at center, only to tear knee ligaments in that game, which forced him to redshirt.

“Those first couple of weeks, you can’t even walk, so that’s the hardest time,” Lobendahn said. “Those are the hardest times. … You’re like, I don’t know if I want to do this again and go through all of this.”

Lobendahn battled back from injury and has started 22 of the program’s past 24 games — 13 at left tackle and nine at center.

He was named All-Pac-12 second team for his work protecting Sam Darnold’s blind side last season.

Vince played Toa at left tackle when he was the coach at Lakewood (Calif.) High School. Given his athleticism, it made sense for him to play on the perimeter, against more athletic pass rushers. Vince didn’t really train him at center, and he wasn’t too keen on Toa mixing it up in the traffic that comes with playing on the line of scrimmage and the potential injuries it could cause.

But this offseason there was a belief, because of his height, 6 feet 3, and weight, 295 pounds, that maybe he’d be better suited playing inside for his NFL prospects. Eventually, Toa returned to center.

He was limited in the spring but was full-go for training camp. He had some troubles with snaps — attributed to rust — early on. It wasn’t an issue against Stanford or Texas, but it popped up against Washington State and has been a topic seemingly ever since.

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Vince is subject to the groans and complaints from the fans during the game. Clay Helton was subject to questions about it from the media after the loss to Cal.

“Toa Lobendahn is a man of honor and a great player. I’m sorry that the snap went over our head,” Helton said in firm defense of Lobendahn on Saturday. “I know he has worked tirelessly on it. He’s our best center. He’s our best man at that position. It’s something that has plagued us through the year. There were 74 snaps tonight and 73 that were perfect. We were able to function and we had one that went over our head. Toa’s one of the loves of my life and he will be our center.”

The stern defense of Lobendahn has drawn the ire of some fans. From a coach’s perspective, you can understand why Helton is sticking with him. It’s the player who stuck with his commitment through a coaching change, who stuck with the program through two coaches and three offensive line coaches and fought back from two season-ending knee injuries to become a team captain.

From a fan’s perspective, it’s easy to see why they’re upset, the ball isn’t getting to the quarterback in a consistent manner.

“I understand it,” Lobendahn said four days before the Cal game. “I’m definitely my biggest critic anyway, so they’re not alone in criticizing myself. I’m just thankful to be able to come out of each practice, game healthy no matter what it is. Because I know I’ve had it taken away for a while and it can be taken away at any time.”

“If someone is offering him a job beyond SC now, I mean yeah (play center), even at SC, your first job is to get the ball to the quarterback,” Vince said. “That’s my first thing if you’re going to play center. Did I want it? No, I didn’t want it but I still want him to do the job better than what’s being performed and I think he knows that. I don’t want him to be the highlight of why SC lost to Cal because of his two-point play.”

Was that snap why USC lost to Cal? No. The Trojans still held a 14-2 lead after that. The defense allowed two touchdowns shortly after and couldn’t come up with a stop in the final minutes. Meanwhile, the offense as a whole faltered in the second half.

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Is it an issue that needs to be fixed? Yes. Helton seems intent on keeping Lobendahn at center, and Lobendahn doesn’t want to push one of his fellow linemen out of their starting spots, so the only apparent solution is for him to improve his snaps.

When asked what he’d tell his 17-year-old self before he was set to enroll at USC, Lobendahn said the following: “Whatever happens, you just have to look to God and trust in him. His plan isn’t always in line with ours. His results aren’t always the same (as) what (we want) our results to be.”

Lobendahn’s career hasn’t gone as exactly as he’s drawn it up. The Trojans never played for a national title in his time on campus. He couldn’t even play in the Rose Bowl they won to cap the 2016 season because of the knee injury.

He’s dealt with the criticism this season and he’s a senior captain for a USC program that’s 5-5 through 10 games for the first time since 2001. There will be no Rose Bowl this year, no Pac-12 title, not even a division title.

There are two games left in the regular season, and a bowl game remaining should the Trojans beat UCLA or Notre Dame, to make the most of.

“He has all these different reasons that would take a toll on people mentally, and I’m sure would take a toll on him,” said former USC offensive lineman Viane Talamaivao. “But like I said, he’s a guy that comes to the building every day with the same mindset, just to get better, and I think it speaks to his character and toughness.”

(Top photo by Brian Rothmuller / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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