Former Oscar Smith DT lands at USC
href="viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=148046">Michael Wyche
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was not playing organized football. Yesterday, he committed
to
playing his college football for the USC Trojans after he was offered a
scholarship by Coach Lane Kiffin.
How
did it happen? Simply put, Wyche believed in himself when
no one else did and persevered when few others would.
"He
had some Division 2 scholarship offers coming out of high school," said
Oscar Smith head coach Rich Morgan, "but, he decided to go
junior college because he felt that he could play Division I football.
Everybody told him that he wasn't a DI player. We
had a
number of
Division I players on the team the year that he came out and none of
the colleges were interested in him."
A backup on the 2008
Oscar Smith state championship squad as a sophomore, Wyche moved into
the starting lineup for the Tigers as a junior and earned second team
all-district honors his senior campaign in 2010.
Heading out to
the West coast to play at the College of the Canyons, Wyche made a pit
stop at Mt. San Antonio College before finding a home at East Los Angeles
Junior College where he got his grades and life in order.
"He is a lot more serious now because he's just grown up. He
understands what
he needs to get done on his own and he has learned how to function at
the
college level."
Learning how to function from day-to-day has been a much bigger
struggle for Wyche than football has been.
He
grew up with his father incarcerated and his mother was paralyzed from
the neck down from a car accident when Wyche was a youngster leaving
him to be raised primarily by his grandmother and various aunts. At one
point, when staying with a sister, a makeshift bedroom
consisted of a mattress lying on the floor of a closet.
"Neither
his mom nor his dad have ever seen him play football," noted Morgan.
"His mom literally had to be wheeled into the state
championship
banquet in her bed to see him get his ring. That was the
first
time that she saw one of his accomplishments because she was never
really able to leave the house."
Just months ago, his mother passed away after suffering through a fight
with cancer.
Yet, he persevered.
"He
is a very personable and a very nice kid. To be quite honest
with
you, he has every reason to be mad at the world but, for whatever
reason, football kind of saved him."
So, what did the offer and subsequent commitment mean to the big man?
"He's happy because he realizes that the decision to go out there has
paid off. You could tell that he was smiling and laughing
like a
little kid filled with excitement. It's USC, that's a
different level. That name carries weight from coast to coast."
Along
with the offer from the Trojans, Wyche also held offers from Arkansas
State, Troy and Washington State. "There are eight to ten
college
programs that when people here those names, they recognize
them as the elite of college football and USC is one of those schools."
Can he play at that level? Morgan believes that he can.
"Every
college coach in America is searching for that big defensive lineman.
There is a need for d-lineman so Mike is coming up at the
right
time. He is every bit as big as Andrew Brown (Oscar Smith's
nationally-ranked Class of 2014 prospect) but he's also a 21-year old
man. Instead of playing against high school kids, he's been
playing against other grown men already."
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