It's a what-if worth considering this week as USC visits Arizona State on Saturday.

Star freshman defensive end Drake Jackson -- and the star tag is not applied lightly, it fits -- went down to the wire deciding between those two schools last December during the NCAA's early signing period.

He was so conflicted he wasn't able to let the FOX Sports West producers know which of the two commitment spots he had pre-filmed to use, so it didn't air during the show that day. He was so conflicted his father Dennis Jackson changed out of the USC shirt he planned to wear to his son's signing ceremony at Corona Centennial High School just in case he chose Arizona State instead.

Drake Jackson reflected on all of that this week while preparing to play against the team he almost chose to play for 11 months ago.

"That was a bad ... it wasn't a bad day, I wouldn't say, but it was kind of like a bad day because I didn't make my decision until probably 15 minutes before I signed. Just leading up to it, it was nerve-racking," he recalled. "I couldn't really think about anything -- just about really committing, that's all I could think of. I had tests that day, couldn't even think about the tests."

As the family has told the story often, when Jackson did announce USC, his father leaned forward and glanced over at his son to make sure he had said the right thing -- that he was indeed wearing a Trojans shirt.

"When he said it, I had to literally see if he messed up," the elder Jackson told TrojanSports.com a couple weeks after that day. "I turned around and looked at his shirt and I saw it and [it] said SC and tears just started flowing."

Jackson, who is expected to return to action Saturday after missing the last two games with a sprained ankle, emphasized he's had no second thoughts about that tough decision.

"Sometimes I do go back and I'm like, 'Wow, I really had two choices.' Now, it's just a no-brainer. I would have committed like way earlier now that I know what's really going on around here," he said. "... I really like it here, and I really couldn't see myself anywhere else now."

USC fans certainly aren't looking back, but Arizona State supporters may think about it today and wonder what the alternate reality might have looked like.

Jackson, despite missing those last two games, leads USC with 8.5 tackles for loss and is tied for the team lead with 3.5 sacks as a true freshman.

"He brings a different versatility to the front. I think the guys did a nice job of stepping up when he wasn't there ... just the difference between Drake and Caleb [Tremblay] is that Drake has this athleticism that none of my guys have," defensive line coach Chad Kauha'aha'a said. "So that allows him to make plays, and not having him obviously kind of affected our numbers. Our tackle for losses probably was down a little bit. He's kind of accounted for a lot of that, so it's good to have him back."

When asked on Tuesday what kind of role he expected to play in his return, Jackson didn't hesitate: "all the snaps, just like normal."

While his freshman stats are impressive, Jackson has also had a number of potential sacks go unfinished -- which should only give USC fans more excitement about his potential for the future as he refines his craft.

Some people feel recruiting hype and the attention paid to prospects' decision announcements is overblown, but Jackson is a prime example of how immediately pivotal those decisions can be in some cases. No USC fan wants to imagine where this already erratic Trojans defense would have been this season without its best pass rusher.

Fortunately, they don't have to -- but it was as close a decision as could be as Jackson reiterates he changed his mind "many of times, many of times" in the leadup to that announcement.

"Anything could have happened that day," he said.

Fortunately for the Trojans, it's merely an interesting footnote to his story now.

"We've had a few like that. I remember Adoree' [Jackson] we were on edge, JuJu [Smith-Schuster] we were on edge, Drake was one of those," coach Clay Helton recalled of that day. "Usually you know -- about 95 percent of all of them the world doesn't know but you know. And then there's some that get your blood pressure up and you celebrate. …

"We knew what we had. When you acquire that type of talent, you knew you had not only a special player but you knew you had a special person and a special family."