Thursday, Sept. 2, 2004 | 9:57 a.m.
UNLV offensive line coach Jonathan Himebauch remembers well the first time he met University of Tennessee offensive tackle Michael Munoz.
The year was 1995 and the site was the Holiday Inn in Benton Harbor, Mich. Himebauch, a backup center on a USC football team coached by John Robinson, and his teammates were getting ready to board a bus for the 45-minute drive to South Bend, Ind., to play Notre Dame that afternoon when former Trojans star Anthony Munoz dropped by to wish his alma mater well.
"I remember thinking, 'Who does that college kid play for?' " Himebauch recalls. "Then I found out he was Anthony's son."
Michael Munoz was already almost as big as his Hall of Fame father, standing 6-foot-4 and weighing 275 pounds, despite the fact he still was in the eighth grade at the time.
He'll be even bigger when he lines up at left tackle for 14th-ranked Tennessee against Robinson's UNLV Rebels on Sunday night at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville. These days he's listed at 6-foot-6 and tips the scales at 315 pounds.
"I remember going to that game with my dad," Michael Munoz said. "I was kind of upset at the time because we had to stand on the SC sidelines. At the time I was a Notre Dame fan. It's funny how things have changed."
Anthony Munoz said: "That was Michael's first exposure to an SC game. He and I drove up there (from Cincinnati) for the game. Unfortunately it wasn't a very good outcome (Notre Dame won, 38-10). I remember it was a cold and rainy day."
Still, Michael Munoz got to meet and hang out with Robinson, the man who coached his father on the 1978 national championship team at USC.
"I've seen some of the old SC games on film," Michael Munoz said. "So I knew of Coach Robinson from those days. My dad loved him as a coach and always talked about what a great guy he was."
Anthony Munoz, who will be at Sunday night's game, said nothing has changed in that regard.
"I haven't seen John in about two years," he said. "We were in Canton when Marcus (Allen) was inducted into the Hall of Fame. I remember at the time he highly recommended to me that Michael should come out (for the NFL draft) last year.
"I just think the world of John, not just as a coach but for the way he cared about his players. It was not just the star players, either. He cared about every one of them. I think that's one of the things I remember the most about those days playing at USC, the way he cared about you and treated you."
It was that caring attitude that caused the two to bump heads just a little bit before Munoz's last game as a Trojan.
"I injured my knee on the second or third series of our season opener that year at Texas Tech," Anthony Munoz said. "I was determined to get back and play in the Rose Bowl that year with guys I came up with like Charlie White and Brad Budde. I worked very hard to rehab that injury but John was thinking I should maybe redshirt because I had already had three knee injuries. Finally I got the doctor to tell him there was no reason for me not to play and that helped convince him to let me play."
Munoz not only played at weak tackle in the 1980 Rose Bowl but also was a key figure in one of the most famous drives in USC football history.
With 5:21 to play, the Buckeyes led 16-10 and the Trojans appeared to be in deep trouble pinned back at their own 17-yard line. Running almost strictly behind Munoz and weak guard Roy Foster, the Trojans then drove 83 yards in eight plays, all on the ground, with White plunging in from 1 yard out with 1:32 left to give USC a 17-16 victory.
"We just ran behind Anthony almost every play," Robinson said. "It really got to where you began to feel sorry for the poor defensive end from Ohio State."
Anthony Munoz said: "I'll never forget that. That showed a lot of faith by Coach to do that after I hadn't played all season. We had great players like Brad Budde and Keith Van Horne on the other side of that line. It was flattering and a great way to go out."
Some football historians regard Munoz as the greatest offensive tackle to play in the NFL. But he says he believes his son is an even better player at this stage of his career.
"The unfair thing about it is when people compare us they're dealing with a guy who is already in the Hall of Fame and they expect the son to be playing at that level in college," Munoz said. "They should be comparing where I was as a junior in college to where Michael is now. And as far as size and strength goes, he's way ahead of me.
"I remember when I went to SC I weighed 282 pounds and I didn't really start lifting weights until the end of my sophomore year or early in my junior year. If you got to 300 pounds they wanted you to lose weight. Michael is already 315 pounds and has been lifting since he was 14. He's benching close to 500 pounds. I was probably at about 420. And he's allowed just one sack in three years in a conference like the SEC, which says a lot about his blocking ability. He's bigger and stronger than I was at that stage of my career."
Michael Munoz says he doesn't feel any pressure trying to measure up to his father's very high standard.
"Nah, there could be a lot of pressure, but my parents always raised me to be the best player that I can be and to also just go out there and have fun," he said. "And that's what I'm doing."
He says he has a lot of respect for UNLV's defense, which he will face on Sunday night.
"I've been watching a lot of film of them," he said. "I always have respect for my opponent. They have a great defense. Their corps of linebackers like to fly around to the ball. We definitely know that we've got a big challenge ahead of us."
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