Trojans land nations hottest receiver
Mesquite (Texas) four-star wide receiver Eldridge Massington woke up to a scholarship offer from Alabama Wednesday, already eagerly awaiting the arrival of USC assistant coach Tee Martin at West Mesquite.
While Martin wasn't able to talk to Massington on campus, the two did speak shortly after the evaluation visit by phone.
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"Coach Martin said he talked to Lane Kiffin and he got me my offer," said Massington. "That was the offer I was waiting for."
After being offered a scholarship by USC Wednesday night, Massington said he wanted to wait before making a decision on a college. Thursday, Oklahoma came forth with their own scholarship offer, giving him 26 scholarship offers in total.
By Friday morning, the wait was over.
"I gave Coach Kiffin a call to and let him know I was ready to be a Trojan," said Massington. "He said they wanted me, but that they weren't going to pressure me to commit.
"I knew that if I got that offer I was ready to commit. I just wanted to sleep on it and think about all of my offers. I already know a lot about USC, and I have family in Bakersfield (Calif.), so it's like a home away from home.
"There was a point when I was thinking of going back to California with my family. Now I'm going back for sure. My mom, she already knew that if USC offered, I was committing.
"She knows I've always wanted to go USC. I just feel like they always have the best receivers and it's a program that produces a lot of NFL talent. I know they will prepare me for the next level"
Last week at the 4A Regional track meet in Arlington (Texas), the 6-foot-3, 200-pound receiver ran a 10.52 100-meters pre w(4.1). As a junior, Massington caught 39 passes for 663 yards and six touchdowns in six games, averaging 17-yards a catch.
"He ran 10.80 as a sophomore," said West Mesquite assistant coach Kyle Ward. "We couldn't figure out why more schools didn't see that and start recruiting him. Once he ran 10.6 earlier this spring, that's when I knew he was going to be able to go anywhere he wanted to for college."
While Massington knew months ago he would commit if USC offered him a scholarship, he hasn't committed to shutting down the recruiting process completely.
"I might still talk to a few schools like Alabama, but I think I want to shut it down as far as visits go," said Massington. "I know I want to go to USC, so I'm pretty set."
Massington has 26 scholarship offers, and as the May Evaluation Period continues for another four weeks, he could end up with more.
Massington becomes commitment No. 5 for USC in the class of 2013, and is the first pledge for Texas the Trojans have landed since 2008.
USCFootball.com will more on the commitment of Eldridge Massington later.