USC's Taylor Mays doesn't second-guess decision to return

As Taylor Mays lay on the turf Saturday at Ohio State, trainers working on his right knee, anyone who had followed his story surely had trouble resisting a thought.

Maybe he should have left for the NFL.

Mays, though, insists the scare in Columbus — he missed a couple of series before returning to help USC beat Ohio State 18-15 — didn't inspire any internal second-guessing.

"It could happen in the NFL," the graduate of O'Dea High School in Seattle said. "It happened here. But I'm still happy I'm here."

The knee sprain, however, could have an impact Saturday.

Though he returned to the game against Ohio State, the 6-foot-3, 230-pound senior said in a Wednesday afternoon phone interview he was still unsure of his status for this week's game at Husky Stadium, which would be the final homecoming of his college career.

"I'm going to try," said Mays, one of the top high-school players in the state in 2005. "I don't know if I'm going to practice, but I'll try to play. We'll see how it feels."

He said the warm weather in Columbus helped him return to the field Saturday night but that "it got cold over night and got real tight. That's what's put me at the point I'm at now."

Mays, though, says he won't risk life and limb just to play another game at Husky Stadium, where he attended many games as a youth alongside his father, Stafford, a former Huskies lineman.

"This whole Seattle thing, it's not that big of a deal to me," he said. "It's more just wanting to play. I've never missed a game."

That's a streak that includes 40 straight starts at USC and every game at O'Dea.

Spending another year in the college environment is what he says ultimately drew him back to USC for one more year, though he took out a reported $5 million insurance policy.

Mays was widely projected to be a high first-round draft pick if he had decided to leave — maybe even by the Seahawks with the No. 4 pick. He admits most people were surprised he returned. "A lot of people were expecting me [to leave] except for the people who were close to me," he said.

"I just didn't feel like I was done. I felt like there was still some stuff I wanted to do and I enjoyed playing college football. I wanted to put an exclamation point on what I was trying to do as a football player here."

Notes

• Washington defensive coordinator Nick Holt, who spent six years at USC before coming to Seattle with Sarkisian, met with the media for the only time this week and reiterated past statements that he doesn't feel there are any hard feelings over his departure. He said "it was hard to tell" USC coach Pete Carroll that he was leaving.

"But it was a good opportunity, and I think in the long run he understands," Holt said. "You look at all the coaches that end up leaving there and moving on, that's part of the business. He's the first one to tell you you've got to make opportunities for yourself, and if that's what you believe in, go for it."

Echoing Sarkisian, he downplayed the reunion.

"I haven't really thought about that sort of stuff because I've really been busy preparing the kids," Holt said. "I'm sure as it gets closer you maybe start feeling some things. But it doesn't feel any different from LSU or Idaho, quite honestly."

• USC quarterback Matt Barkley missed his third consecutive practice because of a bruised throwing shoulder.

• The Huskies received a commitment from tailback Deontae Cooper of Citrus Hill High School in Perris, Calif. The 5-foot-11, 175-pound Cooper led the state of California with 2,953 yards rushing last year and was second in touchdowns with 47.