Written by Lindsay Schnell at USA Today.com
Before Chase McGrath and his father, Greg, walked into the Southern California football offices in the spring of 2017, they made a plan. On the off chance that coaches offered him a spot on the roster, McGrath planned to accept. It did not matter that he had a scholarship offer from Army and a handful of walk-on spots at other Power Five schools. McGrath had to be a Trojan.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, McGrath grew up an avid USC fan. He attended Mater Dei High, a football factory in Santa Ana, Calif., that doubles as a pipeline to USC football, known best for sending major quarterback prospects like Matt Leinart and Matt Barkley on to the Trojans.
So when head coach Clay Helton wandered into the room 45 minutes after Chase and Greg had sat down with special teams coach John Baxter to discuss McGrath’s future, and Helton mentioned they had a spot for him, McGrath didn’t hesitate.
“This is a kid that had USC on his heart,” Helton said. “I’m giving my best recruiting sales pitch, telling him he’d have a home here and he goes, ‘Coach, I’m in!’ ”
“Gosh,” Helton laughed, “I wish they were all that easy.”
McGrath never doubted USC was where he was supposed to be, even though walking on brings some uncertainty. “I thought of it like this: You go to USC to be great,” McGrath said. “So if I could go there and compete to be great, I was going to.”
