HAMBRICK IN THE RIGHT PLACE

IRVING, Tex. - Glancing over his right shoulder at the locker of future
Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith, Troy Hambrick began talking about
how he'd spent much of his life putting himself in the wrong place at the
wrong time. He recalled the time during his freshman season at South
Carolina when he was arrested while riding with a hometown friend who had
drugs in his car. He recalled the time following his junior season when he
cracked a joke that wasn't received well by USC coach Lou Holtz, who was
addressing the team for the first time.

He recalled the times he hung out with friends instead of going to study
hall or class, where he could have worked to improve his 1.9 grade-point
average. He recalled the time before his senior season at South Carolina
when he was accused of tampering with a drug test that led to him being
kicked off the team and transferring to Savannah State.

Now, as he looked back at Smith's locker in the Dallas Cowboys' Valley
Ranch practice facility, Hambrick talked about putting himself in the right
place at the right time. He had every right to.

The second-year player from Pasco, Fla., has emerged as the heir apparent
to replace Smith, who is 909 yards shy of Walter Payton's NFL career
rushing record of 16,726 yards. As a backup tailback and starting fullback,
Hambrick has rushed 102 times for 534 yards, including a career-best 127
yards on 20 carries in a 20-13 loss to Atlanta on Nov. 11, when he started
for the injured Smith.

His combination of speed, power and size (6-foot-1, 250 pounds) are so rare
that even Smith is impressed. He's such a prominent part of Dallas' future
that, in an attempt to avoid hard feelings, owner Jerry Jones called him
first after deciding two months ago to release his older brother,
linebacker Darren.

It's a most unlikely situation for someone who grew up around crime and
poverty, who spent much of his college career in trouble and who last
season was on the Cowboys' practice squad after being signed as an
undrafted free agent.

"If you want to know the truth, we hesitated signing him as a free agent,"
said Larry Lacewell, Dallas' director of college and pro scouting. "The
character thing bothered you. Whether it was true or not true, you had to
listen to it.

"I hope he'll stay in better places around here, because he's a talent.
He's got a future. You've had to be blind not to recognize what he's
accomplished this year."

And Hambrick, 25, would have to be blind not to recognize what he has at stake.

"I got into a couple of altercations at South Carolina that almost cost me
my career," he said. "I know that I probably would have gotten a lot of
free money if I had done things the right way. I might have gotten drafted
high, and when you get drafted high you get the bonuses and all. "I
wouldn't have had to grind it. But we've been grinding it all my life, so
when I do receive whatever I get I'll appreciate it more."

A Confrontational Beginning

Hambrick laughed as he recalled Holtz's first team meeting at USC. That, he
said, set the tone for their relationship.

"He talked to the guys about how everybody projects him as a
disciplinarian," Hambrick said. "Then he turned around and said, 'If you
need anything, ask one of the coaches and we'll see.'

"I'm trying to break the ice. I raise my hand and say, 'Can I have $20?'
"He ripped me. Oh, Lord, he ripped me."

The story doesn't surprise Dallas quarterback Anthony Wright, who departed
USC the year before Holtz arrived.

"Troy is very outspoken," he said. "He's going to say what's on his mind."

Hambrick's mother, Juanita, said that is part of her son's charm, the
reason he gets along with so many people. She said it's also what gets him
in trouble sometimes.

"Troy's got a mind of his own," she said. "Troy's also very spoiled. What
Troy wanted, Troy got. Pretty much everybody spoiled Troy, so he thought he
could get away with pretty much anything."

Hambrick didn't get what he wanted when USC athletics director Mike McGee
fired coach Brad Scott following the 1998 season. He liked Scott, even
though Scott suspended him twice, and didn't want to see him go. He was
outspoken about the firing and figures some of what he said must have
gotten back to Holtz.

"Brad is my diet," Hambrick said. "I wish I could see coach Scott right now."

He has no desire to see Holtz.

"I don't have any grudges or animosity toward him," he said. "He's just
from a different era than I am and a different area. When a guy is not your
type of Kool-Aid, that's how it is."

Hambrick said Holtz did not give him a fair chance. He said Holtz made an
example of him the way he claimed coach Steve Spurrier did his brother at
the University of Florida.

Spurrier dismissed Darren two days before the 1995 Sugar Bowl. A sophomore,
Darren broke a glass at a team dinner and used it on teammate Anthony
Riggins, who needed 50 stitches to repair the 5-inch cut. To this day
Darren, now with the Carolina Panthers, insists he was simply defending
himself as he was taught growing up in the projects.

Troy insists he never tampered with a drug test as Holtz accused him.

"I just felt like Lou Holtz came in and didn't have no idea what went on
those first couple of years," Hambrick said. "Me and him had a big
incident, and he just washed his hands of the situation."

Holtz acknowledge he and Hambrick weren't on the same page, but he's happy
to see Hambrick doing well now.

"He's a very talented individual," Holtz said. "I just felt there were
certain ways you do things. If you conform and do things a certain way, you
have a chance to be successful.

"Sometimes in college you take it for granted you can do anything you want.
In the pros, you see guys getting cut all the time. All of a sudden, you
become more focused."

In His Brother's Footsteps

Had Troy had his way, this wouldn't be the first time he followed in
Smith's footsteps. As one of the top high school running backs in Florida,
it was his dream to star for the Gators, who played an hour and a half from
his home.

He went to several games at The Swamp to watch his brother play. But
because of what happened to his brother and because his grades were
marginal, Florida wasn't a real option.

"I felt like I knew my brother well enough to know he wouldn't just start a
fight like that," Troy said. "I felt like the system was railroading him. I
just felt like Steve Spurrier was being an (expletive) about it.

"I was, 'What if this happened to me?' Or when I go there I'm Darren's
little brother and the road is going to be bumpier for me. I just wasn't
going to go through that."

So he followed his brother, who had transferred to South Carolina. It
didn't take him long to get into trouble. In January 1997, one of
Hambrick's so-called "homeboys" from Florida was killed in a drowning
incident. He said another friend, James Henry, drove to Columbia to take
him and Darren home for the funeral.

"We didn't have a car then," Troy said. "We were going to just drive back
with him. He ended up bringing a lot of his business with him."

Troy said he and his friend were stopped by police on the way to pick up
Darren. He said the friend panicked and ran, and in an ensuing search of
the car marijuana was discovered. Troy insisted the marijuana wasn't his.

"When he ran, he really told on himself," Troy said of Henry. "I stand
there ????'m like, 'What's all this?' I talked to coach Scott. He got the
paperwork, found out what it was and I went to court."

"When you own up to it, that means you know you did wrong," she said.
Juanita said Troy never really discussed with her what happened at USC.

"Whatever went on, it hurt me," she said. "I told him what you mess up, you
clean it up. That's the only way you're going to learn."

Darren always criticized his mother for spoiling Troy. Although the
brothers talk at least once a week by phone, Darren doesn't offer any more
advice now that everything is going well for his brother than he did when
things were going bad. They're close, but not too close.

"Darren always wanted me to learn by his example, the things he's done
wrong," Troy said. "But I'm an old hard head, and I always try to go off on
my own and learn the hard way."

No. 42 Will Have To Do

Hambrick pointed at the white No. 22 jersey hanging inside Smith's locker.
It's the same number he played behind when he arrived at USC, where Duce
Staley wore No. 22.

"And I was 22 in high school," Hambrick said. "I won't ever get to wear 22
again, at least here. They're going to hang 22 so high up here I'll never
get to see it again. Forty-two will be all right."

Hambrick is getting comfortable in his role at Dallas. He recently changed
his facemask to one that covers most of his face, the type of cage
typically worn by a fullback and not a tailback.

"If I'm going to play the part, I've got to look the part," he said. "It
doesn't do no good to get mad that I can't get the football when I know the
circumstances, that this is Emmitt's offense and Emmitt's team.

"I'll be a better player if I accept that and move on."

Hambrick will play fullback until starter Robert Thomas returns from an
injury. Then he'll likely return to backup tailback, where he expects to
remain for at least another season. That's how long it should take Smith to
break Payton's record.

"He's going to have to wait a while (for my job)," Smith said with a laugh.
"I don't plan on giving it up that easy."

But one day Smith can see Hambrick filling his shoes.

"He has the potential to be a starting running back not only here, but any
place he choose to go," he said.

Cowboys running backs coach Clarence Shelmon agreed.

"I don't know when Emmitt is going to retire, but there's no reason why
Troy can't be the heir apparent," he said. "He has all the tools - size,
speed and power - and he can catch the football."

Smith can't begin to imagine how tough it has been for Hambrick to play two
positions, as well as special teams. He's certain his body couldn't take it.

"Being a fullback, you have to have a different mindset," he said. "I've
seen guys like Marcus Allen and Charles White start out playing fullback in
college and then converted to running back their junior and senior years
and just excel.

"He has that kind of potential."

Part of that comes from good breeding. Hambrick's uncle is former major
league pitcher Jim "Mudcat" Grant. He had two cousins who played college
football. Darren, who was Dallas' leading tackler last season, said Troy
might prove to be the best yet.

"Emmitt is a great back," he said. "You can't just put him to pasture. But
a big, young back like that, who can run a 4.48 - give him the ball 30 to
35 times a game and you'll be winning."

Hambrick is doing his best to remain patient, something you learn growing
up in a small apartment with five sisters and a brother. He said it's an
honor to play behind somebody he idolized growing up.

"You always heard Emmitt Smith when he was in college," Hambrick said.
"Then he comes to the pros and blows it up. Then you come and meet him and
you're in awe. Now you're playing with him and you're still in awe.

"Some of the cuts he makes on the field I'll never be able to do. I'm
watching him all the time - always watching his feet. You rarely see him
slip and fall. I always have that problems sometimes where when I get into
my cut or my shake and slip and fall."

Hambrick doesn't mind the slips on the field every once in a while. What he
wants to avoid most are the slips off the field.

"If you dig under everybody's rock you'll find a little flaw, a little
mold, where things went wrong," he said. "What I want people to say one day
is the Hambrick brothers were great athletes that bounced back from a lot
of trials and tribulations in life.

"I haven't arrived yet. I'm just pulling up. But I look forward to the
years ahead. I can't wait to see what happens down the line."