Troy on Troy - USC Football #1

I love USC Football. It is one of my true joys in life. I live and die with the team as they battle their opponents, the BCS and the press every single day, 365 days a year. It was such a great thrill and honor to play there and one day, all kidding aside, I want my wife to sprinkle some of my ashes on both the practice field at USC and the Coliseum so I can be around SC football as long as the University exists. I love USC Football.

With that having been said, I have a simple question. What is going on with Mitch Mustain, USC's third string QB? Check these facts out:

Dating back to Mitch Mustain's junior high school days, he has a 61-2 (.968) record as a starting quarterback (9-1 in eighth grade in 2001, 9-0 in both ninth grade in 2002 and 10th grade in 2003, 12-1 in 11th grade in 2004, 14-0 in 12th grade in 2005 and 8-0 as a freshman at Arkansas in 2006).

He was one of the most sought-after high school recruits by college football programs during the 2005-2006 school year. After he finishes his playing career at Springdale High School in Arkansas, Parade magazine named him High School Player of the Year in its January 1, 2006, issue. This is a really big thing. He was then named "Mr. Football" in Arkansas by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He was also named the 2005-06 Gatorade National Football Player of the Year, the first-ever from the State of Arkansas. Scout.com ranked him as the high school class of 2006's top quarterback recruit. He was "The Man" coming out of high school. He had told reporters he planned to play for either Notre Dame, Tennessee, Alabama or his home-state Arkansas Razorbacks. He picked Arkansas. He was 8-0 at Arkansas starting as a freshman in the SEC. This is a conference known for their defense. He transfers to SC and looks great at practices. All this and amazingly has no shot at playing QB for USC unless we have a 45 point lead.

Here comes the opinion part and understand I have nothing to back this up. Pure cynical speculation. There may be a chance that the only reason SC offered Mustain a chance to come to SC was so they could get the also amazing receiver Damion Williams. There, it's been said, so now back it up. I can't.

Honestly, USC has an amazing list of talent at every position. Including Mitch, at one time we had 4 high school All-American Quarter Backs on the roster. 10 All-American running backs. We are deep. At receiver, we always have 1 guy that is special dating back to McKay Jr. But we always need a stand out at the wide out position. I think that SC may have felt this was the only way to get Damion to sign as they thought the two would not split up. They knew that it was a "two-fer" deal and believe me, Damion is worth two scholarships.

How does this come to pass? Things are said to recruits, promises actually and there may have been some kind of subtle assurances that Matt Barkley and Aaron Corp would get first crack. Again, I have zero proof, but it just feels funky.

Here is a story that will make you go hmm... Kerwin Bell played running back at Edison High School back in the hay day and he was a stud. Every time he touched the ball he could break it for a touchdown. The first Reggie Bush. Every top program wanted Kerwin, USC, Oklahoma, etc. All he has to do is say yes and he gets a full ride. Frank Sauer on the other hand was not a top recruit. But Frank had major skills. I once saw him throw a ball falling off his back foot, over a defense that thought they had the deep ball covered. He hit an open receiver for a touchdown and the crowd erupted. He led Edison to a C.I.F Championship in 1980 and went on to star at Kansas and the Pros for awhile.

Kerwin and Frank would have gone to USC but they didn't offer Frank a full ride so Kerwin goes with Frank to Kansas. The flood gates open and Edison players start committing to Kansas over SC. Bill Malivasi, Dino Bell, Ken Majors, Dave Geroux and yes, even me.

Here's the Irony; two years later, Frank leads the Jay hawks to a 26 - 20 victory over USC at the Coliseum. Frank has a career day and Kerwin does his thing. Dave Geroux is watching the game on TV at our apartment as he has to sit out a year because of the NCAA transfer rule. Frank should have been handing the ball off to Kerwin and Dave leading the way at full back. All three were better than my team mates at the same position for SC. Carma is a weird thing.

So Damion is a star and Mitch, a proven winner and great athlete, is now learning how to punt so he can hopefully play a few downs at SC. Am I glad the they are at SC? Hell yeah! I just feel bad for a kid who took a chance on USC and showed loyalty to a friend. He can't ever get this time back.

Now this next part I also believe. I trust in Pete Caroll. He is there in person, he and his staff review the films. They can see leadership and respect of team-mates and intelligence and all of the other factors that go into leading a team from the QB position. But what I have seen from Barkley and Corp leave me wanting. I could have been the QB against San Jose State and we still would have won by the same score. And for the record, it looked like I was playing QB against the Huskies... what the hell was that?

Long story short, it's Pete's call and I know he wants to win more than anyone, let's just hope he is doing what he is doing because he thinks it is the best thing for the Trojans as a whole. I trust in Pete, do you?

Fight On!

Troy