2021 WR/TE Velltray Jefferson lands USC offer, commits on the spot
Velltray Jefferson, a 2021 prospect from Edison High School in Fresno, had long before decided that if he ever landed a USC offer his decision would be an easy one.
He did and it was.
Jefferson was invited to USC's elite camp Wednesday morning, was then called into tight ends coach John Baxter's office afterward, offered a scholarship, and he wasted no time committing to the Trojans.
"I've always wanted to go there," Jefferson told TrojanSports.com soon after his commitment. "I know some of our players from Edison went there, such as T.J. McDonald played there at USC, and I've just been a USC fan since I was in elementary school. That's just always been a school I've wanted to go to since then. …
"I let my parents know, my head coach, that if I get a USC offer I'm going to commit."
That said, he didn't necessarily go into Wednesday expecting it all to play out quite like that.
"I did. I'll be honest with you, he didn't have a clue. He had no idea," said Edison coach Atnaf Harris, who accompanied Jefferson to USC. "I think he thought we go out here to this camp, we get some work in and we come home. But I know the coaches pretty well, I've got a pretty good relationship with the coaches, and anytime the coaches want to see a kid in particular they have a special interest. So I knew if he'd go in and he'd fare well, we'd come out of there with an opportunity to go to USC."
Jefferson spent 10-15 minutes in Baxter's office afterward, going over his performance in the camp and how he would fit in with the Trojans offense, and with that he was sold.
Jefferson, who already stands 6-foot-4, 215 pounds entering his junior season at Edison, is being viewed as a potential tight end or receiver -- hence Baxter's involvement as his lead recruiter.
"They offered as a wide receiver/tight end -- inside and outside receiver. I have never played tight end," Jefferson said. "They just let me know that I'm the type of receiver that I could either play as an outside big wide receiver or an inside receiver going against linebackers and safeties."
He likes the big-play potential for inside receivers in USC's new Air Raid offense, and he considers his strengths to be his smooth route running, physicality and versatility.
Meanwhile, Harris, a former standout at Fresno State who went on to play briefly with the Houston Texans and Denver Broncos, said there's no need to decide right now what spot Jefferson best fits into at the next level.
"He's got two more years of high school. The unique thing about Velltray is at 6-4, 215, he really can … literally play 21 of the 22 positions, seriously, at his size. That's what makes him special," Harris said. "What position do we play? The kid is 6-4, 215 and he's got two more years of school, we'll figure it out when we get there. I'm going to tell you why USC offered him a scholarship today -- his upside is crazy."
Harris also wasn't surprised Jefferson committed on the spot upon receiving his USC offer. They had discussed this plenty.
"I wasn't surprised. We'd talked about this years ago. He's always wanted to go to USC. USC has been his dream school. And we talked about the possibilities long before today so it wasn't a [rash] decision -- it wasn't just 'I'm excited, I'm going to commit to USC' -- we talked about it," Harris said. "Nowadays kids kind of have an idea of where they want to go, but they like the chase, they like the attention. 'I'm going to go visit this school, I'm going to hold off and get all these offers so I can shine.' …
"He's always wanted to go there. We've had this conversation before, I said, hey, if USC was to offer you a scholarship, that's what we're working for, why not? What else are we entertaining? You're talking about a school that's very rich in academics, history, tradition, it don't get no better than USC. I was all on board. Now we can focus on school and ball."
It is truly an early decision for Jefferson, as his only other offer before Wednesday was from Nevada. He's expected back on USC's campus two Saturdays from now as his Edison team competes in the Trojans' next 7-on-7 tournament.
"It means a lot," he said of the early offer. "That they're really interested in me and want me to become a part of their program as a Trojan."
