There's usually a common motivation for most players who filter through the transfer portal and leave one college football program for another -- they're looking for a better opportunity, more playing time, etc.
That wasn't the situation for new USC running back Travis Dye at all.
Dye couldn't have found a larger workload than what he had at Oregon last season, where he rushed for 1,271 yards and 16 touchdowns and caught 46 passes for 402 yards and 2 TDs.
Sure, the Ducks went through a coaching change, there was going to be a new offense, other backs pushing for opportunities, etc., but as the fans up there were waiting to see whether Dye would leave for the NFL or return to Eugene, Ore., he surprised most everybody by hopping in the transfer portal and eventually moving across the Pac-12 to USC.
Again, though, Dye's decision and process weren't like that of most transfers.
"It was one of those grown-man decisions, for sure," he said.
Dye proposed to his fiancé Erin Hemerson on Dec. 23, and with her family and his both in Southern California, considering the next chapter of his life ultimately influenced his decision on where to spend the final chapter of his college football career.
"Coming back home and being with my family, you can't beat that for the last year of your college career -- you really can't," Dye said. "I haven't seen my family [much] really over four years and so just coming back and seeing them every single day, it's different.
"My fiancé is a huge part of my life and her family is down here too, so it's really nice just to come back home with her and play out my dream and do it with her at the same time. It's all just right."
Dye will be one of the most intriguing players to watch Saturday during the Trojans' spring game in the Coliseum, as he figures to be a major part of the offense as a redshirt senior and a key to a rebuilt rushing attack that lost three of its four backs from last season.
To that point, the new USC coaching staff was one of the first to reach out to him once he landed in the portal, making it clear he was a top priority for them, which highlights another element that makes Dye's Trojans story especially compelling.
He wasn't recruited by USC back when he was a 5-foot-11, 190-pound three-star prospect from Norco High School in the 2018 class. For that matter, he wasn't recruited by really anyone, aside from Oregon -- where his brother played -- and New Mexico State.
Now, 3,111 career rushing yards, 869 receiving yards and 29 combined TDs later, Dye has more than proven himself as a big-time college football player -- and proven a whole bunch of west coast recruiters very wrong.
But the motivation he carried with him on that journey remains strong as ever, he says.
"I took a lot of pride in it," Dye said of going from overlooked recruit to Pac-12 standout. "But I know I haven't really done anything yet. That's what I feel like. I know I've had a big kind of career up to this point, but I just still feel like deep down I haven't done anything yet."
