Campbell commits
Norco (Calif.) three-star prospect Jordan Campbell has dreamed about playing for USC since he was in grade school.
But instead of resting his head in the clouds, Campbell hit the camp circuit determined to make those dreams a reality. He attended two camps at USC, playing four different positions at each. Hungry for a scholarship offer from the Trojans, Campbell compromised on his position of preference.
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The first-team All-CIF selection just wanted an opportunity, and Wednesday night, he got that opportunity.
"Coach Carroll left him a text message this afternoon at school asking me to call him back 'asap'," said Mark Collier, Jordan's uncle and coach.
"When he called, coach Carroll was really excited about the highlight tape Jordan gave him over the weekend. He said that he hasn't seen a highlight tape like that in a long time. I guess they were going nuts over it.
"He said that with the way he's playing, Jordan could start on special teams and see a lot of playing time fullback next year. He also didn't rule out getting time at linebacker either.
"After that, he asked if Jordan would consider committing to USC today.
"Jordan said he still had to talk about it with Titus (Jordan's father). I'm sure he was also a little disappointed because he wanted to hear that USC wanted him to play linebacker, period. But he was still totally stoked with what coach Carroll had to say."
The decision to commit didn't take long.
"I talked to my dad at practice and told him I wanted to do it," said Campbell. "This is what I've always wanted, so there was no reason to wait. I called coach Watson and told him that I was ready to become a Trojan."
While the Trojans' coaching staff may have gone crazy after watching Jordan's latest highlight reels, David Watson, who's in charge of recruiting Campbell, brought nuts to a whole new level after the Inland Valley standout committed.
"I'm the first recruit that coach Watson has ever recruited at USC," said Campbell. "He's just an intense guy, so when I called him, he started yelling and all kinds of stuff. I think he was more excited than I was."
Campbell, who becomes the Trojans 10th commitment for 2007, selected USC over Oregon, Washington, Fresno State, Arizona State and Minnesota.
However, the 5-foot-11, 230 linebacker will first suit up in Cardinal & Gold as a fullback. It's a switch that the Inland Valley standout has gotten a head start on.
"Yeah, I'm playing fullback at Norco now," said Campbell, after attending the Servite, Orange Lutheran game last Thursday night.
"The coaches want to involve me more in the offense because we're not scoring a lot of points. I don't care, as long as we win games, I'm happy."
Last week, Campbell scored on consecutive two-point conversion tries and also ran back a 42-yard punt. On defense, he has approximately 100 tackles as a linebacker, which is only 35 short of his total for last season.
Campbell, who was suffering from a groin tear, ran a 4.44 shuttle time and 4.9 40-yard dash at the NIKE Camp in May. While his times were hurt by the injury, he still impressed onlookers with 41 reps on bench press and a 32-inch vertical leap.
More on Jordan Campbell's commitment later!