Bakersfield (Calif.) Frontier punter Matt Darr had his first conversation with USC coaches last Monday.
A day later, Darr owned an offer from the Trojans.
“It was our Spring Break last week, so me and my football coach went down and watched an SC practice and met with Coach (Pete) Carroll and Coach (Brian) Schneider,” said Darr. “Then Coach Carroll said he was making me an offer.”
It happened so fast, that Darr was even caught off-guard.
“I was surprised because the first time I talked to them was the Monday before,” said Darr. “Coach Schneider was promoting me to the coaches and he thought I was a good punter. But he wasn’t sure what they were going to do. Even he said he was surprised that Coach Carroll offered. It wasn’t something I expected, but I was surprised and excited.”
Darr said the offer from the Trojans nearly landed his verbal, but he held off.
“I was tempted to commit but that was my first time down there, and my parents haven’t seen it yet and I had not seen the campus before then so I had to talk to my folks and let them see the school. So we’ll do that next Thursday.”
But Darr said his family was excited to hear about the offer.
“They were thrilled,” said Darr. “Living in Bakersfield, everyone here is an SC fan and all of my family watches SC football so we’ve sort of been fans of USC. So for them to think their son, or cousin or nephew could play there, it was pretty exciting for them.”
The offer from the Trojans was the ninth offer for the elite punter.
“I have offers now from USC, Arizona State, Oklahoma State, Northwestern, Purdue, LSU, Alabama, Baylor and UTEP,” said Darr.
And Darr said five schools are standing out.
“My top five is USC, Arizona State, Alabama, LSU and Purdue,” said Darr.
Darr said he’s got a pretty set timeline for his decision.
“I’m positive I’ll probably be decided before the fall,” said Darr. “I’d like to look at a couple of the campuses that I haven’t seen before. Until I get to do that, I’m going to wait. I’m going out to Arizona State and then we’re going to the Midwest, take a look around and do a road trip out there.”