LOS ANGELES -- USC junior wide receiver Marqise Lee will not make a decision on whether to enter the 2014 NFL Draft until after the Trojans' bowl game.
Lee said he has not given any thought about whether he would return for his senior season, apart from one conversation with his mother last month.
"I don't even know," Lee said after the 35-14 loss to crosstown rival UCLA. "I haven't really thought about it. I haven't thought about agents. I haven't thought about anything. At this point I'm just lost in the world. At this point I'm just thinking about this next game and getting back on point. After the bowl game, that's when I'll focus on this other stuff."
Lee had six receptions for 69 yards, both team-highs, but was never really a factor as the USC passing offense struggled throughout the game. Quarterback Cody Kessler was 17-of-28 passing for 174 yards and one touchdown and was sacked six times.
Lee said he aggravated the shin injury he suffered against Stanford, one of myriad ailments that kept him out of three games and limited him to 50 receptions for 673 yards and two touchdowns, well off his All-America and Biletnikoff Award-winning sophomore season.
But Lee said the team's progress after the midseason firing of head coach Lane Kiffin, finishing with a 6-2 record under interim coach Ed Orgeron, made it just as memorable as his "amazing" freshman season, when USC went 10-2 and ended the season with an upset win at Oregon and 50-0 thumping of the Bruins.
"I'm upset that we lost (to UCLA) to tell you the truth, but when I think about the overall view and the expectation ... a lot of people didn't expect us to make a bowl game," Lee said.
Should he declare, Lee (6-foot, 195 pounds) would probably be in the mix alongside other underclassmen such as Sammy Watkins of Clemson and Mike Evans of Texas A&M to be the first wide receiver drafted.
Follow Dan Greenspan on Twitter @DanGreenspan.
