His back against a wall decorated with USC’s logo, Clay Helton smiled at the memory. One Friday night last season, the USC coach blended into the crowd watching a Narbonne High football game. .
Jefferson received a couple of postcards and a phone call from USC coaches, and he told his uncle he wanted to play for USC. But the Trojans pursued other players as Jefferson set his sights on Oregon State, a school that sold him the second he stepped on campus.
Jefferson’s mother attended USC, and he grew up going to school blocks from the campus.