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There was no NFL team in Los Angeles at the time, and Carroll’s sidelines were always a who’s who of the entertainment industry.

It’s a different side to Carroll, whom NFL fans might better recognize bouncing down the sidelines for the Seattle Seahawks, or hunched over with hands on knees, chomping gum and laser focused on his players.

Carroll is still squarely positioned in that NFL world — he’s preparing for his first team meeting with the Raiders this week — but he wouldn’t think of stepping away from his once-a-week USC class, which has three more sessions.

One of the perks of hanging around an NFL locker room was meeting the players.

“He would come up to you as a young kid that looked up to all these NFL players, that was having all the success, and would take the time to be able to talk to you, spend time with you and was really, really genuine,” Sunseri said Saturday, more than two decades after first crossing paths with Foster during the 2002 season.