Byron Velega: Back From Oregon

Long Beach Poly (Calif.) defensive back Byron Velega has taken visits to Cal and UCLA and following each visit, that school became his new leader. Velega visited Oregon this past weekend and guess who his new leader is now.

“Oh man, it was an incredible visit,” Velega said. “I took an unofficial visit there last year but it was before they had redone everything. It was nice, the locker rooms, the weight room, the players lounge, everything. It was funny, when I left here, I was wearing shorts so when I got to Oregon, it was like in the 30s and I was freezing my tail off. It was cool though, I adjusted to the weather pretty quickly.

“I really hit it off with their DB coach, John Neal. He’s what kind of put them over the top for me. Just talking to him and listening to how they play their defense and specifically their corners was eye opening for me. I also really liked Coach Belotti. I always thought he was a real serious guy but he was hilarious. He’s the kind of guy I think I would like to play for. One of the highlites was when he showed me an image on a computer of me on a giant billboard at the Staples Center. It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.

“Cal and UCLA are still in it and I’m also planning to visit Washington State this weekend. Coach Tedford at Cal is coming in for a home visit tomorrow night and Washington State will be by on Wednesday. Utah is also talking about coming by but I think I’ll be ready to make my decision after my visit to Washington State this weekend.”