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ANAHEIM — The college recruiting process already wasn’t one of Tetairoa McMillan’s favorite subjects.
The humble Servite wide receiver enjoys talking about his teammates or joking with his friends more than engaging the individual spotlight that recruiting can bring.
But when McMillan didn’t sign with Oregon as expected on Wednesday, he ended up fielding more questions about recruiting.
And like his acrobatic, one-handed catches in the Trinity League, the senior made the difficult task look easy, joking that he didn’t “want to talk to anybody.”
McMillan (6-4, 185) supported five teammates who signed with colleges from the bleachers in the Servite gym before explaining that he needs a few more days to make his decision.
He listed his finalists as Oregon, USC and Arizona, the latter of which was the vocal contender after the Friars’ ceremony.
“I was originally going to sign today but I don’t know, my gut feeling told me that it wasn’t a good day to sign for me,” McMillan said. “I’m definitely going to sign this week, and we’ll see what happens.”
Wednesday kicked off an early signing period that extends to Friday. The regular signing period returns Feb. 2 but McMillan graduated early so that date appears unlikely.
Three of McMillan’s teammates — quarterback Noah Fifita, tight end Keyan Burnett and linebacker Jacob Manu — signed with Arizona on Wednesday, joining defensive lineman Mason Graham (Michigan) and linebacker Zion Sims (Army).
McMillan continued to hear the Wildcats chatter on Wednesday but said he will make the decision based on what “feels right” to him.
He said the departure of Oregon coach Mario Cristobal for Miami gave him some feelings of uncertainty about the Ducks, who hired Dan Lanning, the defensive coordinator from Georgia.
USC now features coach Lincoln Riley, the former Oklahoma coach known for producing top quarterbacks.
“This is definitely a crazy process,” McMillan said. “You guys already knew that I don’t even like the recruiting process … All this chaos and hectic stuff going on just makes it that much worse.”
“These times,” he added, “(I) don’t know who to trust. Nothing is promised at this point.”
McMillan said he will lean on his mother Shawny and Servite coach Troy Thomas the next few days as he works toward a decision.
“He just wants to make a good decision,” Thomas said. “(With) some of the changes at Oregon, he going to take some extra time to make a good decision, which I think is really smart.
“I know that he’ll handle it. He’s just a great young man and got a great head on his shoulders.”
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