Oregon wide receiver Casey Eugenio didn’t have any trouble picking a school when he made the decision to come to Oregon. His older brother was a Duck, and Eugenio said Eugene was “the best opportunity” for college.
However, Eugenio also grew up in San Clemente, California, just a 90 minute drive from the USC campus, and had a perfectly good reason to cheer for the Trojans throughout his childhood.
“My mom was actually a cheerleader for USC,” Eugenio said following Tuesday’s practice. “So we had season tickets from before I was born. I’ve been to the [Los Angeles Memorial] Coliseum hundreds of times. … I went to every home game, basically.”
Eugenio had an up-close view of one of the most dominant stretches in college football history; the Trojans won 11 or more games each year from 2002-2008. USC spent the grand majority of that decade outperforming the rest of the conference both on the field and in the recruiting ranks. Superstar players such as Reggie Bush and Dwayne Jarrett ensured that the Trojans were on national television almost every week. On Saturday, Eugenio will take his first trip back to the Coliseum as a player to face the team he grew up supporting.
“It’s gonna be cool, just really cool to be in there,” Eugenio said. “I grew up sitting in the stands and now to be on the field is just gonna be really cool.”
Eugenio will be far from the only player making a return home when Oregon travels to USC this weekend. Freshman standout Troy Dye grew up in Norco, California, an hour away from the Coliseum, while Cameron Hunt, Jihree Stewart and Austin Maloata all grew up in Corona, less than an hour away.
“It’s always kind of fun to go into hostile territory and be able to go compete and win games,” Hunt said. “Being from Southern California myself, we’ve got a lot of guys on our team who are gonna be really juiced to get out there and play the Trojans.”
While Eugenio’s family no longer holds Trojan season tickets like they did while he was growing up, they will be in attendance to see him suit up on Saturday. He didn’t go above and beyond to try to get friends tickets, but one Oregon player will have quite the audience for his last game at the Coliseum.
“There’s going to be about 100 people there. … It’s my last go-around in Southern California,” Hunt said. “It’s special — my senior year being able to come back and play in front of all my friends and family.”
While USC isn’t the recruiting powerhouse that it was when Eugenio was growing up — the Trojans garnered the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation each year from 2004-06 — there remains an interst to play a team which dominated for many years. That doesn’t change the way Oregon will approach this weekend, however.
“We recruit all over the place, and it’s probably exciting for our kids to go back and play them,” linebackers coach Don Pellum said. “Being from Southern Cal and wanting to go back and play in front of your family and friends, I’m sure that’s a big deal for our kids.
“But it’s the next game for us, and everyone gets bigger.”
Follow Jarrid Denney on Twitter @jarrid_denney