South Bay’s Best Joining the Pac : Recruiting: Four of area’s top-rated prospects have given unwritten commitments to Pacific 10 Conference schools.

Four of the South Bay’s top college football prospects said they will sign letters of intent with Pacific 10 Conference schools Wednesday, the first day of the national signing period.

Inglewood High running back Na’il Benjamin gave an unwritten commitment to California during a home visit Tuesday night by Keith Gilbertson, the Golden Bears’ new coach. Benjamin chose Cal over Arizona, Washington State and Fresno State.

“They recruited me as a running back, but I’m more interested in playing receiver in college,” said the 5-foot-11, 175-pound Benjamin, who rushed for 925 yards and scored 22 touchdowns last season. “I know I’m not going to start at running back because they have Russell White, but I feel I can play wide receiver and do a little something.”

Carson running back/wide receiver Theron Hill will sign with co-national champion Washington, Banning defensive lineman Naeem Mills will sign with Oregon, and Redondo lineman Ryan Turner will sign with Stanford. Super Prep magazine rates Hill the 17th-best prospect in the Far West, with Mills 62nd and Turner 67th.

All three players made unwritten commitments weeks ago, but Mills changed his decision last weekend. The 6-4, 285-pound senior had given Washington an unwritten commitment during a recruiting visit Jan. 12, the same day that Hill committed to the Huskies.

However, Mills said he received a phone call Saturday from Dick Baird, Washington’s recruiting coordinator, informing him that the Huskies could not sign him Wednesday because Mills does not have a 2.0 grade-point average in college core curriculum, the NCAA requirement for freshman eligibility.

“(Baird) told me I wouldn’t be able to get in,” Mills said. “He said he was going to talk to (Washington Coach) Don James about signing me to a scholarship, but after my 12th-grade year is over. I didn’t want to take any chances and not end up going anywhere.”

After talking with Baird, Mills said he contacted Oregon, the first school he visited during the weekend of Jan. 3. Mills said Oregon called him back on Sunday with a scholarship offer, which he accepted.

Mills said he will have the required grade-point average in core classes with a solid report card this spring.

“Everything is fine, I’m not down or anything,” he said. “I just messed up in the 10th grade. I failed an English class. That made my core GPA under what it should be.”

Asked if it was possible he could become a Proposition 48 casualty, Mills replied: “There’s no chance of that. I’m nowhere near that.”

Mills, touted by recruiters because of his size and quickness, scored 830 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, well over the 700 required by the NCAA.

Grades have never been a problem for Redondo’s Turner. The 6-5, 250-pound senior lineman carries a 3.6 GPA and scored 1,140 on the SAT. He plans to be a premed student at Stanford.

Turner usually has the answers, but he acknowledged it was confusing earlier this month when Stanford Coach Dennis Green resigned to become coach of the Minnesota Vikings. Turner had committed to the Cardinal during a recruiting visit in December.

At the time, “Green said he was not going to leave,” Turner said.

After Green left for the NFL, Turner was left to wonder how he would fit into the plans of a new coach. His doubts were eased the day after Stanford announced the hiring of Bill Walsh.

“(Walsh) called me at my house,” Turner said. “He told me to relax, that everything was fine. It got me all excited. It was great.

“At first, when Dennis left, I was disappointed because I liked the guy. But Bill Walsh took care of that. . . . Once he called me, I was ecstatic.”

Turner said he is looking forward to playing for Walsh, whose background includes coaching the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl titles and Stanford to a 17-7 record and two bowl victories. Walsh signed a five-year contract reportedly for $350,000 a year.

“With a redshirt year, I’m on the five-year plan too,” Turner said. “It worked out well.”

Selected to the All-Southern Section Division VIII team as an offensive lineman, Turner said Stanford recruited him as a defensive end and has talked to him about playing tight end, his favorite position. A versatile athlete, Turner also plays basketball for Redondo.

“I think I have a shot to play tight end in college, but I definitely need to work on my speed,” he said. “I could get quicker and try for tight end, or I could gain weight and be a lineman.

“I don’t think I could get to be much more than 260 or 270 (pounds). Ideally, I would like to stay an athlete and not gain amazing weight. I’d rather not become a blob.”

Regardless of what position he plays, Turner said he plans to make the most of his athletic and academic opportunities at Stanford. The school, the football program and the Palo Alto area are all to his liking.

“I figure I can’t go wrong,” he said.

Carson’s Hill was not disappointed that neither USC nor UCLA showed much interest in him.

“I don’t think I would even have taken a (recruiting) trip to USC or UCLA,” he said. “I basically wanted to get away from home.”

Hill, who chose Washington over Oregon and California, said he has become increasingly concerned for his safety in gang-ravaged Los Angeles. It was one of his primary reasons for selecting an out-of-state school.

“More people want to get away because they’ve been in this danger zone for 17 or 18 years,” he said. “They want to go to Oregon or Washington, where there is more peace and quiet.

“In Los Angeles, you can’t even walk down the street if you are wearing blue or red (gang colors), because you never know who is having a bad day. It’s worse here than in any city.”

Hill said Washington affords him the opportunity to get an education in a good environment and play football for one of the country’s premier programs. He also likes the fact that the Huskies are media darlings.

“I just wanted to go to a place that was right for me, where I can get exposed,” he said. “I want to be seen on national TV. I didn’t want to go to a school where you have to make the big play or rush for 300 yards just to get noticed.”

Hill received plenty of attention last season. An All-City Section choice, Hill led Carson in rushing with 861 yards and scoring with 14 touchdowns. He ranked second on the team in receiving with 29 catches for 404 yards.

With 4.5-second speed in the 40-yard dash, Hill said his dual skills as a running back and receiver make him a perfect candidate to play the H-back, or slot-back, position in Washington’s offense. He has also distinguished himself as a return specialist.

Hill said he had a good time during his recruiting trip to Washington. His host was running back Beno Bryant, the former Dorsey standout, and he also spent a lot of time with freshman running back Napoleon Kaufman, the 1990 state high school player of the year at Lompoc.

Hill made his unwritten commitment during a Sunday brunch at the home of Coach Don James.

As glamorous as that might sound, Hill said he was not sorry to see the recruiting process end after he made his decision.

“At first it was just overwhelming,” he said. “Then after months and months of calls, it just got boring. You get stressed out to a certain point. It made you want to make your decision early.”

Following are recruiting updates on other area seniors:

* Mike Hendricks, a 6-7, 270-pound offensive lineman for West Torrance, has given an unwritten commitment to the University of the Pacific and will sign a letter of intent Wednesday, West Coach Kerry Crabb said. Hendricks was also recruited by Washington State and San Diego State, Crabb said.

* Mira Costa quarterback Greg Gilmer visited Idaho last weekend, but might decide to pursue a baseball career instead. He is a catcher for Mira Costa. Mustang football Coach Bill Lysle said schools are overlooking a prospect in the 6-3, 190-pound Gilmer. “I think someone is missing the boat with him,” Lysle said. “I think he can be a Division I quarterback.”

* Tailbacks Shayzar Hawkins of Banning and Morell Ollis of Hawthorne, the area’s leading rushers last season, have received little recruiting interest. Some believe it is because both players only recently took the SAT. Hawkins, who rushed for 1,798 yards and 25 touchdowns, was the City 4-A Division co-player of the year.

* Pauliasi Taulava, a 6-8, 240-pound lineman for Morningside, has received interest from Oregon, Arizona and Colorado State, but might not qualify for a four-year college because of academic problems, Monarch Coach Ron Tatum said. Taulava is also considered a basketball prospect.

* Torrance quarterback Jason Kendall, who was among the state leaders with 2,962 yards and 23 TDs passing last season, has decided to pursue a baseball career and has committed to San Diego State in that sport, Torrance football Coach Bill Bynum said. Kendall is an All-Southern Section catcher.

* Tindsley Trawick, who played quarterback and defensive back for Inglewood, has visited Hawaii and plans to visit San Diego State, but he needs to wait for the results of his SAT, taken last weekend.