Logger Vainuku signs with USC

Soma Vainuku, a standout running back and linebacker with the Eureka High Loggers, signed with the USC Trojans Wednesday night  on national signing day.

Vainuku received his letter-of-intent from USC on Wednesday and said he contacted the coaches at 6 p.m. and then faxed the letter, according to a story on the USC scouts.com website.

 “I’m glad the process is over and I look forward (to) getting to USC,” Vainuku said in the story. “It’s ... been a dream of mine to go to USC since I was a little kid.”

The article stated that he had planned on taking an official visit to Oregon State this weekend, but he and his family had a talk about which school Vainuku really felt the strongest about. In the end it was decided that that school had always been USC.

Vainuku had 252 carries and rushed for 2,202 yards and 38 touchdowns and helped  Eureka  earn a Northcoast Section Division II title last fall. He was named the Big 4 Conference offensive player of the year.

Although Lane Kiffin had a late start on his first recruiting class at Southern California, he showed off a closing speed to match any of the talented players he kept committed to the Trojans.

The Trojans added an impressive array of offensive skill players in their recruiting class, and coveted offensive tackle Seantrel Henderson announced he had chosen USC as well — although the school still didn’t have a signed letter of intent from him by Wednesday night.

“I can’t imagine there being as many star players in any class around the country as there will be here by the end of the day,” Kiffin said at Heritage Hall.

With just three weeks to keep together outgoing coach Pete Carroll’s class, Kiffin and recruiting guru Ed Orgeron say they retained every Carroll recruit they wanted — and apparently added the nation’s consensus top offensive lineman as well.

Henderson was just the biggest name in another deep, balanced USC class that earned a top-10 ranking from most major recruiting services.

“We did have a background with a number of these kids and some knowledge about them,” Kiffin said. “They had the sense that things were the same on a lot of fronts here. They weren’t going to come in with brand-new offense and defense systems, and it’s why I think this class really stayed together. The stars that were in this class are still here today that were here three weeks ago.”