Dickerson lands USC offer

Matt Dickerson admits the USC offer he received on Tuesday is a major one but the San Mateo (Calif.) Junipero Serra defensive end is sticking to his plan of taking things really slowly.

"I called them," Dickerson said. "My head coach told me to call them so I did and they offered me through the phone."

The 6-foot-5, 260-pound prospect, who talked to USC assistant coach Clay Helton, has been on a tear of offers recently as Dickerson has added Arizona, Arkansas, Cal, Colorado, Colorado State, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, San Diego State, San Jose State, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington and Washington State recently.

The USC coaches stopped by San Mateo Serra to check in on Dickerson during spring practice and they were clearly impressed since an offer came a couple weeks later.

"I wasn't really allowed to talk with them when they visited," Dickerson said. "They were here but they said they had regulations so I wasn't able to talk with them. I saw them in the coach's office. They talked to my coach and watched my film. Other than that, it took about two weeks for them to offer.

"It's a huge offer. Every offer I take as a really humbling experience and blessing but USC is a big one. I went down to UCLA, I didn't have an offer from USC, but I drove around the campus and I really like the campus. I never really walked around and saw the campus but it's a big offer."

Dickerson plans to still take things slowly.

New programs seem to get involved all the time so the standout defensive end wants to talk more with his coach and family, discuss things with the USC coaches and then start narrowing down his list later on.

The USC offer is big but he's not ready to make any decisions yet. Still, the Trojans should be expected to stick around for a long time in his decision-making process.

"I'm not going to say my recruiting is over so I'm still open to schools," Dickerson said. "If a school is interested in me I'm going to do a lot of research about the school, about the coaching staff, about the program, the academics and everything like that and what I want to study.

"I want to talk with my head coach, my parents, get to know the USC coaches a little better. Getting down to USC is not that big of a problem. I can get down there over a weekend and drive down there. I don't have a specific date. I might be going to the camp but I'm not sure.

"It's still wide open right now. I don't have any particular favorites right now."