Clay Helton shares first comments on Bru McCoy, Chris Steele situations

It's now been over a month and a half since 5-star prospects Bru McCoy and Chris Steele stunned college football with their back-to-back transfers to USC in early June.

McCoy, of course, had signed with the Trojans and moved on campus in the winter before quickly transferring to Texas. Steele had de-committed from the Trojans back in the fall before signing with Florida and going through spring practice with the Gators, then entering the transfer portal and initially committing to Oregon.

Their decisions less than a week apart to end up back at USC after all that gave a double jolt to a program that didn't have much in the way of recruiting momentum coming off the last cycle and suddenly added the two highest-ranked players in its final 2019 haul.

Head coach Clay Helton had not been available to reporters since those additions until his appearance at Pac-12 Media Day on Wednesday in Hollywood, and it took but three questions into his news conference for the conversation to steer that direction.

"I think one of the most important things and one of the things my dad has always taught me is how important relationships are and to never burn bridges," Helton said. "Gentlemen make decisions and people make decisions in life, and you honor that decision and you support that decision, and know you're always there for him. We're very fortunate to have great relationships with Bru and with Chris, and they have a special place in their heart for USC and what it can -- what they can do for our team and what USC can do for them.

"And [to] have the opportunity to welcome both those men into our program and them be -- and they will be major contributors for us in the future -- is a special thing. Probably the biggest thing I learned from it is how important relationships are and trust is."

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Helton was outwardly supportive of McCoy's decision to leave for Texas after Kliff Kingsbury ended his short tenure as USC offensive coordinator to become the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals in January. Helton talked then about having a continued and lasting relationship with the 5-star athlete from Mater Dei High School and his family.

Helton said far more than most any other coach would in that situation, and it has to be acknowledged that his response in that moment at the least eased the awkwardness of McCoy's transfer reversal this summer.

"I've known Bru and his family for a long time. Heck, we live about three miles apart, to be honest with you. What a fabulous gentleman and what a fabulous family," Helton said Wednesday. "Everybody's story is different, and this transfer portal that we've had, that's the one thing that going into it I realized that each story and each case is going to be different. You're dealing with 18- to 21-year-olds that have situations in their life that they need to figure out for themselves what's best for them. And that takes time.

"The greatest gift we can give somebody is our time, and to help them through the process, to guide them and to support them. And if you do that, if you do that, that relationship stays intact. ... I welcomed him back with open arms and glad he's with us."

McCoy, who was ranked the No. 1 athlete and No. 12 overall prospect in the 2019 recruiting class, has mostly been inactive so far in his return to USC while dealing with a lingering illness this summer. It's not considered a big concern for the talented wide receiver.

He's kept a low profile in general, though, not doing any interviews or really commenting publicly since his return to campus.

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Along with Helton, a couple of USC veteran players also gave their input on his unique double-transfer.

"Open arms. I never thought anything of him leaving. I actually told him that I wish him the best luck, and I would message him every now and then to check on him," senior wide receiver Michael Pittman said Wednesday. "I felt like that paid off because he knew that we didn't harbor any like hatred or any negative feeling toward him, which kind of opened the door for him to come back. Because we never cut him off -- we just don't feel that way about young men. People are going to make mistakes, everybody has, and he felt like he made a wrong choice and then he came back and we said, 'Come on in.'"

Said redshirt senior defensive end Christian Rector: "He's a young kid and I think he made a quick decision, and there was a lot of chaos in that January. We were losing a lot of coaches … so it's great to have him back."

As for Steele, his situation was much different. He had been committed to USC from the summer into October before backing off that pledge, expressing concern about whether he'd be properly developed within the program. That continued a wild recruitment for the No. 3-ranked cornerback, who had also been publicly committed to UCLA at one point, silently committed to at least one other school during the process as well before landing at Florida, and then briefly committed to Oregon after his Gators departure.

Unlike McCoy, Steele talked to TrojanSports.com at length about his complex reasons for leaving the Gators and why he initially committed to Oregon before family reasons steered him back to USC after all.

Helton shared what his message was to Steele once the 5-star corner was considering the Trojans again in the end.

"That we had a unique opportunity for him. And once that opportunity came to fruition that we had an opening, that I truly believed it was a great opportunity for him, not only on the field but off," he said. "Chris is a great student-athlete, and I know how important education was to him. And I also thought the timing was great for him, especially when you look at the players that we were losing off of last year's team, the opportunity to compete in a hurry and see where he's at. I thought it would be unique to him and a great timing for him, and he saw the same thing. ...

"Obviously his family is right from here, mom and dad is right here, and he's always been ultra respectful to myself, our staff. And when he came back, it was just -- it felt natural and comfortable to him that it was the right time and the right place for him. I'm glad for him."

Now the question becomes, will either be eligible to play this season for USC? That process is in the hands of the NCAA at this point as the Trojans have filed waiver petitions on behalf of both McCoy and Steele.

Helton was asked about that process Wednesday, but as expected, there wasn't much light he could shed on where things stand.

"Right now we're going through the waiver process with the NCAA as far as whether they'll be eligible to play or not. It's not been finalized. I don't have a timetable for it because it's not on -- it's an NCAA decision," he said. "Hopefully we'll know something before Game 1. I anticipate that. But we're in that process right now."

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