USC commit Jason Rodriguez visits Colorado

Hesperia (Calif.) Oak Hills offensive tackle Jason Rodriguez has been committed to USC since the spring, and he's very firm in his pledge to the Trojans.

However, the recruiting process is a once in a lifetime process and his parents, Scott and Angela Rodriguez, want their son to weigh all of his options before signing a letter of intent.

"We told Jason that this is one of the most important decisions of his life," Scott Rodriguez said. "He committed to USC without taking an official visit there. My wife and I want to teach him that there's value to be had in looking at all of the options before making a decision because he's going to have to do that later in life.

"It's okay to buy the first car you fall in love with, but do your due diligence in looking at least two others. We want to instill that value in him. That's how my wife and I look at it."

So the four-star Rivals250 recruit is giving a look to some other schools. He officially visited Colorado last weekend, and Mr. Rodriguez broke down their interest in CU with Rivals.com

"Colorado has two of the top paid tackles in the NFL right now," Rodriguez said. "Nate Solder and the guy from Green Bay [David Bakhtiari] came from Colorado. The campus was beautiful. The coaching staff is young and energetic. They have an up-tempo offense; Jason really appreciated that. The location -- he fell in love with it. It's pretty cool. They have a little different take offensively."

The Rodriguez family left Boulder with high regards of the University.

"It's a beautiful place. Coach [Darrin] Chiaverini and Coach Klayton [Adams], they treated us like family, so did Coach [Mike] MacIntyre."

In all honesty though, the nation's No. 16 offensive tackle needed a push from his parents to even go to CU. Rodriguez wanted to see Colorado but didn't want to upset the USC coaches.

"He didn't want to go [to Colorado] -- well, he did, but he didn't want to make USC mad," the elder Rodriguez said. "My wife and I kind of made him do it so he could gather that data."

Colorado is one of a handful of schools that have kept in touch with Rodriguez since he committed to the Trojans.

"A lot of schools have. Washington, Washington State, UCLA, Utah, there's a bunch," Rodriguez said. "He committed, and then I'd say about 60-65% of the schools that offered him faded away, but there's still a group that's trying to get him to flip and are pursuing him."

The Rodriguez family may check out some more schools moving forward but nothing is set in stone at the moment.

"I'm not positive. I think we're going to check out UCLA potentially. Washington State, Washington maybe."

As far as USC goes, Jason Rodriguez is fired up about USC's biomedical engineering program, which is what he wants to major in. And on the football side, he has a great relationship with head coach Clay Helton.

"He has full faith in Coach Helton," Scott Rodriguez said. "We feel like USC could be a special place for him, but at the same time, we want to make sure he looks at the full buffet table himself. It's his decision and we want him to be comfortable in the knowledge of all of his offers."

Rodriguez already used his official visit to USC during the spring. He will be at USC this Friday for their huge home tilt against Washington State.

"Him and Coach Helton really connected on his official visit," Rodriguez said. "Unless anything drastically changes, he's going to go to USC. But things can drastically change."