USC is in the heart of LA and has two primary campuses situated on 249 acres. The second campus was just a couple of miles away. It was where they had their Health Sciences campus, home to the Keck School of Medicine of USC, the School of Pharmacy, and three major teaching hospitals. If you didn’t know you were in the middle of LA, you wouldn’t even sense it. It was like the other campuses I’d been on: large green areas and students either going about their business or goofing off.
Bill said that some areas close to campus were a little sketchy, but if you paid attention and didn’t do anything stupid, you should be okay. He liked that you could find just about anything you wanted without having to travel for miles to get it.
After the tour, he had to go get ready for the game. USC was playing Colorado today, a team they hadn’t lost to in the last ten years. Today might be a different story, though. Colorado came in ranked number 21, and USC was 2–3. The Trojans had started the year with a game against Alabama (number 1) and gotten the stuffing kicked out of them 52–6. They also lost to Stanford (number 7) and Utah (number 24). So, all three of their losses had been to ranked teams.
Last week, they’d played Arizona State. In many ways, it had been Ridge’s coming-out party. He finally looked comfortable in the offense, and they had won a game most people hadn’t expected they would. They’d done so in convincing fashion on national TV, winning 41–20. Today’s game was big for them. A win would bring them to .500, and they needed a win against a ranked team.
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The neighborhoods around the stadium were on the rougher side, so Fritz made a run for sandwiches while I took everyone to the Exposition Park Rose Gardens. It looked like a lot of people had the same idea, and for good reason. It was a beautiful afternoon, and I couldn’t think of anywhere else you could see so many varieties of roses. I’m not big on formal gardens, but this was nice. Fritz found us with the food, and we all took a break sitting around the humongous fountain in the center of the park.
“What do you think so far?” Mom asked.
“I’ve always thought that USC might be a good place to go, especially if I wanted to focus on acting. As far as football goes, there’s a clear path to playing time. Last year, Ridge played behind Cody Kessler, who was drafted in the third round. He’ll probably play this year and next and then enter the draft early. That would set things up for me playing right away.
“USC is one of those schools that seem to get quarterbacks to the NFL. Their alumni include Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, John Booty, Mark Sanchez, Aaron Corp, Matt Barkley, and finally, Cody Kessler,” I ticked off.
“I believe that’s every quarterback that’s played in a game at USC, except a couple of spot starters, since you’ve been born,” Dad said, surprising me with his knowledge.
You have to understand, my parents were never really sports nuts and hadn’t followed football until I began to play. Dad’s focus was more on golf. Yes, we followed the Cubs and Bears, but that was just a way of killing time, for them at least. Dad recognizing that almost every starting quarterback who’d played for USC had at least had a cup of coffee in the NFL showed that he had done his homework.
None of the other schools I was looking at had USC’s track record in that regard.
“Back to your mom’s question. What do you think?” Wolf asked.
“I wanted you guys to see it for yourselves. I would be comfortable picking USC. But I would also be fine with Michigan. They’ve shown us a ton of love. Clemson surprised me. I like what they’re doing there, and I expect the small-town atmosphere would be comfortable for us. I’d hate to decide before we visit Alabama, though. You might recall I’ve been there. I think you’ll like it,” I said.
“Yes, I remember that you’ve been to Alabama for camp,” Tim said. “If it were just up to you, where would you pick?”
I pondered that question for a moment. Where I would probably go was Ohio State, but OSU didn’t want all of us. I had a feeling that would be the same at Alabama. For me, that really left USC and Michigan. While I would love to go to USC, Michigan was closer for my family to come for games, which was important to me.
“Michigan,” I announced.
Both Tim and Wolf seemed relieved. I would have to get them alone and talk with them about it. Stating my preference now, in early October, was no guarantee as to who I would pick come February, on signing day.
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