Clay Helton says door is open for LB Palaie Gaoteote to return from portal
USC coach Clay Helton addressed the news Monday of starting linebacker Palaie Gaoteote entering his name in the NCAA transfer portal while leaving the door open for Gaoteote to return to the program if he chooses.
"He's a great kid. When I have had the opportunity to visit with him, he comes from a great family, great player. He came in and said 'Coach, I'd like to look at all my options.' There's nothing that you can do as a coach other than tell him in situations, support him, and told him, 'The door's always open here,'" Helton said while appearing on the Trojans Live radio show on Monday night on KABC-790 AM. "We love EA. We hope that whatever his decision is that it's best for him, and so I hope it's here -- I really do. That door's open, but he wants to be able to explore every option and we'll give him the time to do that."
Gaoteote, who has tallied 105 tackles and 7.5 tackles for loss in his two-plus seasons at USC, has missed the last two games with Helton saying as recently as last Thursday that the linebacker remained in the concussion protocol from an injury dating back to the second game of the season at Arizona.
The timing of Gaoteote's transfer portal move was certainly a surprise with the Trojans 4-0 with just one regular-season game left and in control of their path to the Pac-12 championship game.
Helton was asked about the situation again on Tuesday morning in his regular Zoom session with reporters.
"EA's a great kid and a great family and has done a lot of service for our football team. He came in and basically said, 'Coach, I want to explore all my options.' You know, obviously as a head coach you can't really do anything to stop it. I've always looked at these situations in a manner of being supportive. Went through the pros of staying and left the door open," he reiterated. "So we'll support him through it and I hope he's back with us next semester, but that'll be a decision that he makes for himself.
"But we'll support him through those decisions. It's part of college football, especially over the last couple years I think all universities [deal with it], and my manner has been one of support and trying to let kids figure out what's best for them."