Hale has positive USC trip
Naijiel Hale had a good experience at the USC junior day last weekend especially talking with new defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast, who will also coach the defensive backs.
Their chat was especially important for the Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco cornerback because now he has a better understanding of what Pendergast will run at USC, what he's looking for and maybe how he can go about picking up an offer.
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"I was actually really impressed," Hale said. "They have a new defensive coordinator along with being the defensive backs coach and he went over how he runs the defense. I liked a couple things he was saying.
"It's actually a really good thing. The defense will be called from him and he would also be my position coach if I were to go there."
Hale, who already has offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, Cal, Nebraska and Washington State, said he and Pendergast got along well and that could be a factor moving forward in his recruitment.
"He was a really cool guy to talk to," Hale said.
"He wanted to know things about me and he talked about his defense. He's also new to the program so he brought a lot of things he ran at his old college to SC and it's the same defense we run at my high school so I think I'd fit in pretty well."
There was an expectation that an offer might be forthcoming, especially after Hale had a conversation about it with Dion Bailey, but the Trojans decided to hold off this past weekend.
That's fine with the St. John Bosco standout since his recruitment is just picking up. It's even more motivation as his recruitment continues.
"I was actually supposed to get offered but I ended up not getting it," Hale said.
"That's cool. My coach said it would be coming. I talked to Dion Bailey and he said if I was a legit 5-10 they would offer me and I was a legit 5-10. I'm not really mad about it because I know it will come."