The shift happened almost overnight.
One day, USC was the Pac-10’s media darling, kings of the conference and perennial BCS heavyweights. And the next, they just … weren’t. Head coach Pete Carroll’s sun-soaked dynasty, glittered with Heisman Trophies, became buried under NCAA sanctions, and not even future NFLer and All-American golden boy Matt Barkley could save the Trojans from underachievement.
As the balance of the conference tipped north to Chip Kelly’s blitzkrieg Ducks, the national media — and potential recruits — began noticing the garish uniforms putting up absurd points per game. Two such recruits stood out as gems in the hotbed of Los Angeles high school football: Crenshaw’s five-star stud De’Anthony Thomas and Serra High’s lengthy Marqise Lee. Few knew the two seniors’ paths would intertwine for years to come.
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By early 2011, Thomas was wavering on his early commitment to USC — which, like many other suitors, wanted him in its secondary.
“(Thomas) clearly has a higher ceiling at the corner position,” ESPN wrote in 2010. “He has already shown what kind of hitter he is while playing safety.”
Lee, too, was projected to play defense at the collegiate level.
“A big-play threat on either side of the ball, Lee is a much more natural defensive back than receiver,” Scout.com wrote of Lee. “He plays a lot close to the line of scrimmage and is an aggressive, yet sure tackler. He has good hands and is outstanding at breaking on the ball.”
With offers to play safety pouring in from across the country, Lee narrowed his list to three schools: Miami, Oregon and USC.
USC would strike first in the recruiting war when Lee chose USC in January during a live commitment ceremony on television. Even though Lee said the Ducks “were always around” and offered him a shot at wide receiver, the Trojans’ tradition was too irresistible.
Less than a month later, Thomas would stun the college football recruiting scene by choosing to play offense at Oregon over his hometown.
“I just had a change of heart,” Thomas said. Yet, it couldn’t hurt that Oregon wanted to use him exclusively on offense and special teams.
“I don’t have closure on the whole thing,” USC head coach Lane Kiffin said. “It was just shocking to everybody around here.”
For his part, Lee emphasized that Thomas’ decision had no effect on his own.
“I had pretty much made up my decision before I even figured out (Thomas) was going there,’’ Lee said.
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Both of them exploded onto the scene straight out of the gate, combining for 29 touchdowns and countless SportsCenter highlights in their debut seasons. Lee averaged nearly 16 yards per catch, and Thomas accumulated a mammoth 2,235 all-purpose yards.
In the teams’ much-hyped conference showdown in November, Lee hauled in eight passes for 187 and a touchdown while Thomas took a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown and added another receiving score. The Trojans shredded the Ducks’ title hopes with their upset that day, but Oregon got the upper hand by winning the Rose Bowl in USC’s hometown. Thomas’s stat line that day? Two carries, 155 yards, two touchdowns.
Few were surprised when Lee and Thomas split the conference’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award.
“When the ball’s in his hands, he’s as an exciting a player as there is in this country,” Oregon head coach Chip Kelly said of Lee. “He’s very difficult to tackle, he’s got great change of direction, a great vision, great knack for making people miss, especially the first guy. You know that usually one guy’s not going to bring him down. We’ve got to get a lot of guys around him.”
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This year, Lee and Thomas are dark-horse Heisman candidates and two of the most electrifying players in the country.
“We knew he was a really good player,” Kelly said of Lee’s recruitment. “But I don’t think anybody could’ve predicted as a sophomore he would have this type of impact.”
Against Arizona, Lee racked up 345 receiving yards (!) and two touchdowns on 16 catches in what Kelly called “a game for the ages.”
“He didn’t have to be that good, unless he came here,” defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti joked. “The guy’s been just incredible. I mean, a couple of those passes he caught last week against Arizona — the one skinny post, or the drag, or the dig — he catches, and he’s on the fly, and he just … whew, it’s like a whole ‘nother gear.”
Thomas started the year off explosively against Oregon’s nonconference foes, finding paydirt seven times in his first three games. As conference foes keyed in on him, Thomas’ numbers fell back to earth — until last week’s nuclear effort against Colorado: five carries for 97 yards and one touchdown. Oh, and that physics-defying 73-yard punt return for a touchdown.
At this point, both teams know what eluded them. The “What if…?” questions are hard to ignore. What if they wore the same uniform? What if Thomas played defense and covered Lee — or the other way around?
What if they both head to New York as Heisman candidates?
For now, fans will have to settle for the sublime. Oregon linebacker Michael Clay put it best when he was asked about evaluating the Ducks’ and Trojans’ offensive talent.
“It’s an art to watch it, all these athletes making plays you don’t see a lot of people make in your lifetime,” Clay said. “It’s definitely a privilege to watch.”