LOS ANGELES — All the coaches had to be here, and the conference’s new commissioner had to be here, and we had to be here, too.

But why, precisely, was Taylor Mays here, as opposed to being in training camp with, say, the New Orleans Saints?
“Because I wasn’t going to go to the NFL just because of the money,” the USC safety said Thursday at Pac-10 football media day. “In the end, I knew this would a better move for me.”
Trojans coach Pete Carroll said he knew it, too, but didn’t Carroll also urge Mark Sanchez to stay in school only to watch his former quarterback go No. 5 overall in the NFL draft and sign a contract that could be worth as much as $60 million?
Mays passed up an eight-figure payday for San Jose State on Sept. 5 in the Coliseum? He could have opted for “Monday Night Football” but instead choose Tuesday morning sociology?
What’s the guy majoring in, freak-onomics?
“He is,” Carroll trumpeted, “the epitome of maximizing the experience at USC.”
Of course Carroll wanted Mays to stay. The senior was decorated so completely after last season he could have appeared in the Rose Bowl parade, not just the Rose Bowl game.
Carroll’s Trojans would eventually lose eight defensive players in the draft, so clinging to Mays is what’s known as good college coaching, if not necessarily good college counseling.
In January, Carroll was part of a ham-handed news conference in which Sanchez joyfully announced his decision to leave USC early to realize his life’s dream of playing in the NFL.
It is still unclear whether Carroll genuinely smiled once that day. The occasion easily went down as his most uncomfortable moment at USC not involving an NCAA investigator.
Six months later, another successful season being forecast, Carroll was nothing but grins sitting at this news conference, this time with Mays at his side.
“Coach Carroll told me I should stay and I trust him,” Mays, 21, said. “I believe what he says. He told me there were some things I could work on and that he would help me get there.”
Rest easy, Trojans fans. Even with the Sanchez development, your football coach still packs plenty of power.
Mays said he 100-percent planned to leave USC after his junior year until roughly midseason last fall. He couldn’t pinpoint an exact day or reason but explained that “something just clicked” and he began to reconsider.
By the time he met with Carroll, Mays said he already was thinking that staying at USC would be best, despite being in possession of a magnificent NFL body and a set of absurd football skills.
“I just didn’t feel I was ready,” Mays said. “There’s a difference in being dominant at the top rather than just playing at the top. I started thinking, ’Man, I could stay one more year and get even better.’ I had to make the mature decision.”
So the NFL would have to wait and San Jose State would have to start making plans for how to protect its offensive players.
Mays is 6-foot-3, 235 pounds, making him larger than any of the 19 safeties taken in the past draft.
He also once ran 40 yards in 4.25 seconds, making him the fastest current Trojan, a group that includes all those swift tailbacks and a few speedy receivers.
Understand that moving 235 pounds 40 yards in 4.25 seconds normally would require something not found on most college campuses, by which we mean a Ferrari.
“There was a play last season that sums up Taylor,” Cal tailback Jahvid Best said. “He was on the opposite side of the field when I got the ball. I made one guy miss, and the next thing I know,
Taylor was right in my face. There are very few like him.”
USC conditioning coach Chris Carlisle has likened Mays’ combination of size and speed to that of a cheetah. Carroll said that during his time at USC there never has been a defensive back “more fit, faster or stronger.”
Along with those qualities, Mays returned this season having added something new: an insurance policy on himself. When you own something as valuable as his future, it’s normal to want to protect it.
“I know an injury could happen, but that’s just God,” Mays said. “I’m not worried about it. That’s just the game. I could have gotten hurt in the NFL, too.”
That league remains at least 12 games away for Mays, who already is being celebrated at USC by appearing alone on the football team’s information guide.
The last Trojan to be pictured solo on the cover was Matt Leinart, a Heisman Trophy winner. The last defender to appear by himself was Troy Polamalu, a Super Bowl champion.
Now there’s Taylor Mays, already an all-time Trojan back for one more time.