I'll never forget being at the Fox Sports studio when Desean Jackson of Long Beach Poly fame shocked everyone, myself included, when he announced live on air for the California Golden Bears over USC, the school he had been a silent commit to for the previous months.

Ventura (Calif.) St. Bonaventure legend Lorenzo Booker's recruitment is another top five memory for me when he literally changed his mind as he walked to the podium and announced for the Florida State Seminoles over Notre Dame.

Still for me, De'Anthony Thomas' Signing Day flip from USC to Oregon back in 2010 stands out for me on so many levels. It wasn't just that fact that Thomas was a local prep legend who grew up playing in the Snoop League's and always seemed destined to run out of the Coliseum tunnel.

Players from Southern California had spurned USC before but Thomas' story was different. This was a player who had committed to the Trojans early in the process, May of his junior year, at a time when USC was a recruiting machine. Pete Carroll had just left to take the Seattle Seahawks job but new head coach Lane Kiffin and recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron were very well respected in recruiting circles and rarely lost a player, especially a local player, they really wanted.

The story's that came out of Thomas' decision to leave home bordered on the absurd as well with everyone having their own conspiracy theory on 'the real reason' he chose the Ducks.

At face value, this one may have looked like a quick decision for Thomas after taking a 'last minute' trip to Eugene the weekend before Signing Day, but it had actually been in the works for months.

As mentioned, Thomas first committed to the Trojans in May, which surprised some at the time as he said multiple times he wanted to go through the recruiting process and wasn't planning to make an early decision. However, we heard the recruiting process was already becoming a little overwhelming for him and those close to Thomas had advised him to commit early, just to get everyone off his back, with the idea that he could still take his visits and look around later in the year.

Thomas actually had a September visit set with the Washington Huskies and was planning to also visit the Florida Gators and California Golden Bears during the season as well. Those plans fell through but it did give some credence to the talk that Thomas wasn't 100% locked in with USC. In fact, there was talk at different times of the year that UCLA even had a chance to come in and steal Thomas at some point. Thomas always denied those rumors repeatedly, but behind the scenes, there continued to be more and more talk saying the athlete was seriously considering other options and could actually leave Los Angeles.

From an outsiders perspective, it did appear Thomas was rock solid to USC and then out of the blue decided to take a random trip to Oregon the weekend before signing day. The truth is, Thomas and Oregon had been talking since the beginning of the season, back in September. As the season progressed and the Ducks offense exploded, that interest picked up dramatically. Thomas loved USC, no doubt about that. He was very close with his family and loved the city of Los Angeles. He openly recruited for USC all season long and talked up the school to his fellow recruits at every opportunity.

At the same time, Thomas started to envision how well he would fit in with USC's pro style offense versus Oregon's spread. He said many times he would be open to playing corner in college but his heart was always at running back.

The problem was, at just 5-8 and 160 pounds without a lot of growth potential, it was always tough to envision Thomas as an every down running back, especially in a pro style offense. Some close to Thomas began to advise him of this fact and talked up what a great fit he would be playing in the Ducks' offense, where he would be playing out in space a lot more than he would in any other offense in the country.

Thomas' interest in Oregon continued to grow and one Crenshaw coach even told us at the time, that when the Ducks (ranked No. 2 in the country at the time) visited the Coliseum to play USC in October (a 53-32 win for the Ducks), he was paying more attention to Oregon's offense than USC's. It was right around this time when Thomas decided he would definitely visit Eugene on an official visit.

Here is where some strategy between the two parties came in to play. Oregon continued to roll and Thomas began to feel the Ducks offense was just a better fit for him. There was also some close to Thomas advising him that it might be better for him to leave the city and grow as a person without all the hangers on that he already had around him. Another key point was Thomas had the blessing of his mother, the decision maker in the family, to leave the state, which is rare in many Los Angeles homes.

Thomas had to first take a visit to Oregon before the thought of switching his commitment could be a reality. He was already sold on the football aspects of Oregon but needed to see if he was comfortable with the city of Eugene and the overall environment. The trick was scheduling the visit and figuring out the best time to do it.

Few schools could close like USC at that time, they simply never lost a kid it seemed. Since the Pete Carroll era started, USC as a staff was always known as one of the most relentless and aggressive in the country. They could have relied on the old moniker, 'USC recruits itself' and gotten away with it most of the time but they didn't. They were grinders and known for being able to quickly squash any doubts a committed player may have had about de-committing and the Ducks' staff was well aware of this.

That's why the timing of Thomas' visit to Eugene was so key in this. Oregon made the decision to trip in Thomas the last weekend before Signing Day, which led right in to a dead period. That meant no more in-home visits or off campus visits. If Thomas visited a month or even a few weeks later, there's a good chance the Trojans could have gone in to the home and reeled him back in.

"We knew if Ed (Orgeron) got back in to the home, De'Anthony would never leave," an Oregon assistant who oversaw Thomas' recruitment and asked to remain anonymous said. "It was impossible to get anyone out of L.A at that time and this recruitment was so high profile, I didn't even tell my wife about it. We didn't want anyone to know what was going on or how involved we were but deep down inside, I thought we had a great chance to get him if we could get him to visit without USC finding out about it."

Thomas took his visit as planned, fell in love with the school and told the Duck coaches on his trip that he would be signing with them. Monday night, two days before Signing Day, Thomas informed the Trojans staff of his decision after earlier texting a few Trojans commitments that he would be going to Oregon. The next 48 hours were absolute chaos as everyone tried to get confirmation from Thomas while the Trojan staff worked feverishly to try and change his mind.

A 7 P.M. (PST) press conference was set for Wednesday night at Crenshaw High School and you could literally cut the tension with a knife.

"De'Anthony looked agonized and it started an hour later than expected," national recruiting analyst Brandon Huffman, who attended the presser, said. "A bunch of people were there from local media because nothing had been officially announced by Oregon or USC and people were waiting for the final word.

"When he walked in with Oregon gear head to toe, he didn't event need to announce it. His outfit told the story. I remember Marcus Martin was also signing that day and was at the press conference to be recognized. He was hanging out in the auditorium beforehand and wearing all SC gear but wouldn't answer anyone when they asked what Thomas would do." [[{"fid":"210273","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Cake at DeAnthony Thomas Announcement","field_folder[und]":"1"},"type":"media","attributes":{"title":"Cake at DeAnthony Thomas Announcement","height":"545","width":"641","class":"media-element file-default"}}]]

At the end of the day, Thomas took a huge leap of faith leaving behind friends, family and his dream school to play for a college that he felt was a better overall fit. The supposed 'last-minute decision' had actually been in the works for months and definitely sent a shockwave through college football.

For the Ducks, it was a huge coup and arguably their biggest signee in program history, not just for the on-the-field impact but the buzz it created for the program off of it. For years, it was almost a running joke how many players Oregon came in second for. So many times it seemed they were on the verge of pulling of a shocker late only to have that player decide at the last minute to stay home. Thomas' commitment and signature helped launch the program to new heights. They were already on their way to becoming a national power but the impact of Thomas took them to a different level.