But his path from slumming it in Santa Monica to playing in the NFL is never too far in the linebacker's rearview mirror.
"Last year when we played the Rams I went around the old stomping grounds and checked it out," Mayo said this week when asked about the 10-foot-by-15-foot dwelling he once called home.
"We just kind of drove around. I didn't want to bother anyone or knock. I don't know who's living there now."
Shunned by big-school programs, Mayo paid $450 a month to live in the shed behind a Santa Monica home while he played junior college football in the fall of 2011.