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My dream school was USC. So I was like, alright, I'm going to apply to USC, and If I don't get in - I'm dropping out of school, and I'm pursuing music. So I applied, and I got in. I was like alright, I'm at the number one communications school in the country, and that was my major.
I had no interest or intention of ever writing music. I was a professional violinist in my 20s. I was obsessed with conducting, and I was conducting as much as I could, and I was studying as much as I could. I went to USC; I got an undergrad degree in violin and a master's degree in conducting.
Now we're here in 2009. My boys are 16 and 18, one's going to USC film school, and the other seems to be a natural comedian. So now I have to go back into show business as a senior comedian. So I hope to get Walter Brennan-type roles, Gabby Hayes kind of stuff, be the old-timer. We'll see what happens.
I went to USC where there's a huge Greek system. The school is in a pretty seedy area, so the only social life is at these fraternities. I never joined one myself, but I had a lot of friends who were in frats and I would go to those parties. I had a healthy dose of being around frat life while I was in school.
I think a lot of L.A. is something like USC - this incredible white culture living in the midst of color, and no obvious reaction to it at all. I mean, they have guards at the gate at USC - guards at the gate of a major university! And the guards chase young black boys away - I've seen it, chasing 8-year-old boys.
Every inch of my writing career has been influenced by my screenwriting education. I was lucky enough to go to film school at USC, and I got a crash course in how to tell a story efficiently. I learned structure, pace, my style, how to know your audience, and most importantly, how to take criticism and edits properly.
I'm in the NFL now, and it's nothing like what we did at USC. Not at all. The only difference between my college and other colleges is the games we won and the attention we got because of it. Obviously being in Los Angeles plays a huge role in the publicity. We don't have a football team in L.A., so we kind of are like the pro team.
My dad wanted me to be a professional person, which I was - I was a civil engineer. I graduated from civil engineering at USC in California. I became an engineer, and I helped design the roads for the L.A. County Roads Department. And I did that for about one and a half years in a sense to please my parents - to be a 'respectable' person.
If you would have told me when I was 24 years old, right before I went with Coach Carroll to USC, you're going to get to be the offensive coordinator for Pete Carroll and then offensive coordinator for Nick Saban, arguably maybe the two best coaches in all of football by the time you're 40 years old, I would have said, 'Where do I sign up?'
I remember after that, when it was announced I was going to the Heisman ceremony, I didn't think I was going to win it because everybody was saying there was a bias against West Coast teams. I really hadn't paid attention to it. Winning the Heisman wasn't really a goal when I was younger. My goal was to go to USC and win a national championship.
