It's a windy, 65-degree November day, chilly for Los Angeles. Students struggle around USC's campus in puffer jackets, scarves and boots. Running back Stephen Carr, then a true freshman, walks into the team's media room in a cardinal and gold Trojans T-shirt, sweatpants and slides.
Carr isn't cold. He hails from the sleepy city of Fontana, about 55 miles east, where the cutting wind threatens to knock you over. Cars shake. Trash cans fly. Street lights sway.
This wind doesn't bother Carr, though. He has withstood things much worse—things that could have swept him up as a child and then a teen.