I have no inside knowledge but would guess that changes at USC might have had a lot to do with this.
In the last several years the USC coaching situation has been very unstable and last year Sark was fired. Max Browne, who had been the top rated pro style hs qb in his class was the heir apparent to Cody Kessler and would have 2 years of eligibility. Sam Darnold was redshirting.
USC has now won 6 in a row. Clay Helton looks like he will be the head coach for a while. Browne bombed out and Darnold has been great, so great that he could easily leave in 2 more years for the NFL. So Sears can red shirt next year, back up Darnold the following, and then compete for the starting job. All the while with stable coaching. Close to home. And both Sears and Darnold went to the same high school so I would assume they at least know each other.
I know the weather was bad when Sears visited Duke but when I watch Duke games on TV I see a lot of empty seats. USC does not fill the Colosseum but there seems to be more excitement than at Wallace Wade. The opposite in basketball.
Just speculation and lots of things change. However it is pretty easy for me to understand the change.
SoCal