Chris Steele goes in depth on how he found his way back to USC

As the dust started to settle -- again -- on one of the wildest recruiting processes for a top prospect, Chris Steele got on the other end of the phone Wednesday evening and went into detail on all the twists and turns that are now leading him back to USC.

The 5-star cornerback from nearby St. John Bosco High School, ranked the No. 19 overall prospect in the 2019 recruiting class, is in the process of finalizing his enrollment at USC and expects to move in on campus on Tuesday.

He was publicly committed to UCLA first, then the Trojans from last summer through October before de-committing. Then came the announcement during the nationally televised All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas, on Jan. 5 that he'd be attending Florida, which he did through the end of spring practice. He no longer felt comfortable about his situation there and entered the NCAA transfer portal in early May, publicly committing to Oregon soon thereafter.

Now he's about to be a Trojan after all.

"About time," he told TrojanSports.com about seemingly reaching an end point to his ever-eventful recruitment.

"Oh man, it's been real crazy to say the least," Steele said. "I went to Florida with high hopes and expectations for the football program. And I can say this, as far as football goes it did kind of meet my expectations. I went out there and competed with some of the top dudes in the country every day -- Van Jefferson, Freddie Swain, guys like that -- so that was a pretty good experience. But unfortunately, [I left] on crazy terms, unexpected terms really, and ending up back on the West Coast, I'm excited about that."

The Florida situation is complicated. The latest switch from his Oregon pledge to now finalizing paperwork with USC, meanwhile, is easy to explain but involved a difficult decision.

He knows what the reaction has been on social media -- from Florida fans, Oregon fans, even uninvested observers.

"It's been real tough because at the end of the day, I don't think fans realize sometimes, I don't know if they think us players -- and I don't consider myself a recruit anymore, but I see it a lot with recruits -- but they think that players and recruits are like super heroes, but we're human just like everybody else," Steele said. "We all deal with real-life situations.