Katella’s Bob Erbst Says He Will Attend USC

Bob Erbst, a 6-foot 7-inch forward from Katella High School, has made a verbal commitment to USC, and is expected to sign with the Trojans on Nov. 13.

Erbst averaged 19 points, 8.8 rebounds and shot 59% from the field as a junior.

Erbst had narrowed his choices to UCLA, Arizona, Syracuse, Washington and USC. He has maintained a 3.0 grade point average at Katella and plans to major in communications at USC.

“All of the colleges that I considered are all great schools,” Erbst said. “I felt that every school had one minus, and the minus at USC was that they had six freshmen in their program. I wondered if I could get some playing time.

“Last week, I drove up to USC and watched them practice. I decided it was the perfect situation for me. I’ve always wanted to be a student at USC, and when you combine that with their basketball program, it makes a perfect situation.”

Erbst said he made his decision on Wednesday night after he had received 15 telephone calls. He admitted he had spent most of his evenings at the library or at shooting expert Des Flood’s home to avoid college recruiters.

“I’m glad it’s over,” Erbst said. “I feel a lot of pressure is off me. Two weeks ago, I had USC and Syracuse in the front of my mind and put the other three in the back of my mind. It was a tough decision.”

Erbst was accorded prep All-American honorable mention honors by Street & Smith magazine in its lastest issue. He became the third county player to commit to a Pacific-10 school, joining Kevin Walker (UCLA) and Bryant Walton (Cal).

Mater Dei forward Stuart Thomas is the last of four returning standout players in the county to make his college choice. Gary McKnight, Mater Dei coach, said that Thomas would announce his decision on Sunday at a team party. Thomas is considering UCLA, UC Irvine, Stanford and Arizona.