Former USC cornerback Daylon McCutcheon knows what it's like to follow in the footsteps of an accomplished parent. His dad, Lawrence McCutcheon, was a five-time Pro Bowl running back for the Los Angeles Rams in the 1970s.
He had the pressure of living up to that standard as he launched his own successful football career, starring with the Trojans in the late 1990s and later playing more than 100 games in the NFL himself.
So he knew similar expectations would inevitably follow his son Dyson as he too showed an early passion for football, and he always wanted to be mindful of that.
"I didn't want to push him too hard because I know that with myself and my dad was a lot of pressure -- people, that's all they constantly talked about. So it kind of comes with the name," Daylon McCutcheon said. "At the same time, I didn't want to put that extra pressure on him. But as he grew older, he just had a passion for it and it's something that's special between us because we share that common passion."
That connection made it all the more special Friday when USC offered Dyson McCutcheon, a 2021 cornerback from nearby Bishop Amat High School.
"This offer means a lot to me. … When I was younger I would dream of playing at USC and now that the stuff is coming true it’s kind of unbelievable," the younger McCutcheon told TrojanSports.com on Friday after receiving that offer. ...
"[My dad has] taught me everything I know and he has always put me in the best position to be successful, and I’m real thankful for him. He’s proud just like all the other offers I get, but I bet this one feels more special to him."
Indeed.
"Obviously, this one hit me hard just because that's a school that I have a lot of love for, a lot of respect for, and he's grown up watching them, watching videos of me and just a long tradition," Daylon McCutcheon said a day later.
As a 2021 prospect, the younger McCutcheon has plenty of time to make a college decision, and he'll have ample options. He already has 12 offers, including Notre Dame and fellow Pac-12 programs Washington State, Arizona and Oregon State.
Daylon McCutcheon said his son had been hearing from many of the Pac-12 schools, more so than USC, so he was a bit surprised when the offer came Friday after Dyson talked to Trojans DBs coach Greg Burns.
"He said he wants to get to know more about me and he wants me to get down to the campus," Dyson McCutcheon said of that conversation.
Again, it's early in the process and a legacy connection doesn't always mean the son will follow the father's path. For example, Jack Yary, a 2020 tight end and the son of Trojans legend Ron Yary, decommitted from USC last month and is still weighing his options. Ayden Hector, a 2020 cornerback and son of former Trojan Zuri Hector, wasn't pursued by USC as aggressively as other schools and ended up committing to Stanford.
As for Dyson McCutcheon and his early thoughts on his latest offer: "'SC is [a school] I definitely hold in high regards and I look forward to getting to know the staff better," he said.
As he goes through that process, his father won't be trying to sway him, though Daylon McCutcheon acknowledged that USC football has already been such a big part of his son's life to this point.
"It's been a huge presence just because he's really close with my college roommates. He considers all of them family, they're like uncles to him. So he spends a lot of time around those guys and we're always talking about USC football and just the memories that we had," he said. "And just around here, we're a big football family, so when we do watch football a lot of time it is 'SC. He's just grown up loving them. He loves football period, but he's always watched the Trojans. ...
"At the end of the day it's going to be his call. I can share with him what I feel like the pros and cons are of any of the universities that he's considering. Obviously, I've got a little more insight into 'SC, but I'll be honest with him. At the end of the day I want him to be happy with where he's going, so it's going to be his choice."
While he's never wanted to pressure his son to follow in his path -- either with football in general, or perhaps eventually to USC -- Daylon McCutcheon has worked closely with Dyson in his development once he expressed his own desire to be great in the sport.
Father started coaching son during his first season of tackle football when he was 8 years old, and later after a three-year stint coaching the cornerbacks for the New York Jets from 2015-17, the elder McCutcheon joined the Bishop Amat coaching staff.
"I've coached him from Day 1 and I've enjoyed it, I think it's been a great relationship. I'm not sure he would think that all the time," Daylon McCutcheon joked. "I've always challenged him, I've always demanded a lot of him. ... He'll say himself that he wants to be great, so I've just always said, 'When you say those words, there's something that comes with that. There's expectations that come with that. You can't just say it.'"
Said Dyson: "Ever since I was little just seeing his highlights just made me want to get where he was. He’s my role model and I respect him very much, and I think all the success he has had will motivate me to be work harder to be better than him."
Maybe, just maybe he'll get the chance to chase those goals while playing the same position in the same home stadium for the same school as his father, who like his father before him set the bar pretty high.
Daylon McCutcheon was a first-team all-conference (Pac-10 at the time) selection in 1996 and 1998, ranks top-20 in program history with 10 interceptions and was a third-round pick in the NFL draft.
He reiterated that he'll be happy wherever his son chooses to go to school, but yeah, he's certainly considered what it would be like to see him coming out of the tunnel in the Coliseum.
"Of course," Daylon McCutcheon said. "As a youngster, he'd run around the house in an 'SC jersey. So I'd be lying to say it wouldn't be extra special to see him out there playing in the same stadium or wearing that uniform. It definitely would be extra special, but like I said, at this point I just feel like it's about him and whatever's going to make him happy. If he's happy being a Trojan, I'm going to support him and push him 100 percent, and if it ended up being somewhere else I'm going to show him the same amount of love."
