In the fall of 2006, USC head coach Pete Carroll and assistant Steve Sarkisian learned of a senior wide receiver and cornerback at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California who went by Mike Stanton.
This senior, whose given name was Giancarlo Cruz Michael Stanton, was athletically blessed well beyond most 17-year-olds and just so happened to excel at three sports. His assumed craft was baseball, the sport many believed would win the eventual tug of war. He had a heck of a jump shot, too.
But his 6'5", 215-pound build—a frame begging for more weight—craved one thing: football.