Cali DB excited about latest offer

Back in the summer, Long Beach Poly (Calif.) defensive back Vaughn Telemaque did all he could to earn a scholarship offer from his dream school, the USC Trojans. Well, the wait is now over as the talented safety received the news he had been waiting for earlier tonight.

Telemaque, 6-2, 180 pounds is one of the elite safety prospects in the West region. He's a big, physical kid with good ball skills and is always around the football. He has prototype size for the college level and has as much upside as just about any safety in the region.

On the recruiting front, Telemaque picked up offers from Michigan, North Carolina, Oregon, Rutgers, Ole Miss and Boise State but surprisingly, was still waiting for his first offer from an in-state school. That changed tonight.

"Right around 8:00, Coach Norton called me and told me I had a scholarship from USC," Telemaque said. "I talked to Coach Carroll and Coach Seto and they all told me how much they liked me and how they thought I was a great fit for their team.

"They said they were recruiting me old school style. In the old days, schools would wait to offer a player until after seeing him play on the field his senior year. Now a days, everyone gets offered based on junior film and summer camps but they wanted to see how I performed on the field before offering and I respect that.

"In our game last week against Carson, I had three picks in the first half and I know they saw that film. I think that kind of sealed the deal for them in terms of offering. I really didn't see this coming, they had been recruiting me for awhile but when they offered, I really shocked.

"Although I'm excited right now, I'm not ready to call USC my leader or anything. Back in the summer, they were definitely my top school but right now, I like them pretty equally with Oregon, Michigan and North Carolina.

"I was supposed to visit Oregon this coming weekend but I have to re-schedule it now. I'm going to visit North Carolina in two weeks when they play Miami and definitely plan to visit Michigan as well.

"As for USC, I'm sure I'll visit there. I know a lot of people will think I'm going to commit there but I'm really going to try and keep things open. USC is a great school obviously and being close to home is big but I want to take my time, do my trips and really evaluate everything before I make my decision."