LOS ANGELES (AP) – Back in the 1970s, USC fullback Mosi Tatupu delighted in flattening linebackers with fierce blocks. Now his son Lofa plays for the Trojans – at middle linebacker.

“It’s kind of ironic, but I thought maybe he’d wind up on the opposite side of the line. He was a quarterback and middle linebacker in high school,” said the elder Tatupu, who coached his son in high school. “He has that aggressiveness as a linebacker, like guys that I used to take on.”

Lofa Tatupu (pronounced LOW-fuh ta-TOO-poo) believes he knows where he gets his football ferocity.

“I hate to be beat. I guess I inherited that from my father,” the 6-foot, 225-pound sophomore said. “Since I’m a bit undersized, I’ve got to make up for it somehow, so I have no choice but to be physical.”

He has been plenty physical and figures to be a key for the second-ranked Trojans when they play UCLA on Saturday.

He’s tied for the team lead with 67 tackles despite missing one game and part of another because of a sprained ankle that still isn’t completely healed. He hurt it late in the Trojans’ lone loss, a 34-31 triple-overtime defeat at California on Sept. 27.

Tatupu, who sat out last season after transferring from Maine, has 91/2 tackles for losses, three sacks and eight pass deflections, and he returned an interception for a touchdown.

“He’s all over the field,” USC linebackers coach Nick Holt said. “He’s really unique in that there aren’t a lot of inside linebackers that do everything, and he does. Most inside linebackers are good against the run, but average in coverage and blitzing. He does all three extremely well.”

Mosi Tatupu, who spent 14 years in the NFL with the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams, also was listed at 6-0, 225 when he played at USC for coach John McKay from 1974-75, and for John Robinson the next two seasons. The Trojans finished second in the national rankings in both 1974 and 1976.

He was used more as a blocker – first for Ricky Bell, then for Charles White – than a runner during his college career.

In the NFL, he was a special teams All-Pro, and now there is a Mosi Tatupu Award presented annually to college football’s best special teams player.

His most vivid memories, however, still have to do with linebackers.

“I really liked to pancake those guys,” Mosi said in a telephone interview from Massachusetts, where he’s a coach at Curry College in the Boston suburbs.

His son doesn’t get flattened very often.

“He’s got great instincts,” Holt said. “We’re so much better when Lofa’s in there. He’s kind of the glue that holds it together.”

Tatupu said he owes a lot to his father’s coaching when he was in high school at King Philip Regional in Massachusetts

“He’s a great coach. He’s been to the highest level of competition, so you take everything he says to heart,” Lofa said. “He had some good points for me about taking on fullbacks, because he was one.”

USC coach Pete Carroll appreciates the linebacker’s background.

“He’s a great kid, a leader. He’s perfect. You can’t find a better guy to work with as a coach,” Carroll said. “His father obviously did a marvelous job with him.”

Lofa took a chance when he decided to transfer from Division I-AA Maine, where he starred as a freshman in 2001. He was interested in coming to USC when he graduated from high school, but was not offered a scholarship. So he went to Maine, which he said was about the only school that did offer him a scholarship.

“Then I just decided I want to try the next level, that was my dream, to play Division I football,” he recalled.

Mosi was on hand to see his son make 10 tackles in the Trojans’ 45-14 victory at Notre Dame last month, and is pleased Lofa gets to experience the rivalries against the Irish and Bruins.

“Those are big, big games, really fun to play,” he said. “And you can’t have a good season without beating both of them, which we did a couple of times in my days.”

AP-ES-11-20-03 1503EST