Aaron Corp Named USC's Quarterback

Redshirt sophomore Aaron Corp has been named USC's starting quarterback. After a spring filled with drama, intrigue and at times four competitors, Corp is officially USC's guy. Corp beat out early enrolling super frosh Matt Barkley and Arkansas transfer Mitch Mustain to ascend to perhaps the most prestigious position in all of college football, with a pair of national championships and Heisman Trophies to its name since 2002.

Not lost among the excitement is the surprising ascent of Barkley, who also pulled a major upset in beating out Mustain for the No. 2 job and who Corp admitted is "right there". USC coach Pete Carroll says that although Corp has been named the starter, the competition will be pushed into the fall due to the unusual growth and possibilities offered by Barkley.

If he can retain the job into USC's opener against San Jose State, Corp will join a historic lineage of USC passers since 2002 by the name of Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, John David Booty and Mark Sanchez who have won two national championships, two Heisman Trophies, seven Pac-10 championships and include a No. 1 draft pick, two first rounders and likely a third with Sanchez in the draft this Saturday and have gone 82-9 (.901) as starters.

Corp was grinning ear-to-ear while addressing the media Tuesday. There's no reason he shouldn't be, especially after rising from near throw-in status to USC's starting job. In 2006 the program had been aggressively after the commitment of local boy Jimmy Clausen before and even after he chose Notre Dame. They also pursued New York quarterback Mike Paulus who spurned the Trojans for North Carolina. Only then did USC, with some reluctance, consider Corp who had been little known at Orange Lutheran High School.

Corp was seen as a decent pocket passer with tremendous run skills who with teaching could develop in USC's dropback system.

What happened next is up to interpretation. I think USC got lucky, USC's probably going to say they had things right all along. Corp ended up having a fantastic senior season where he showed tremendous improvement and leadership while taking Orange Lutheran to the state championship and earning California Player of the Year honors over Clausen. Suddenly he wasn't so much a reluctant third or fourth choice, but a real prospect.

All that said, even with the power of incumbency and USC's inherent conservatism, his job is far from safe. By almost any metric other than the all-important turnover battle, Matt Barkley outplayed Corp this spring. Even more impressive, where Corp seemed to level off, Barkley continued to rocket upwards.

In stories and interviews, USC coach Pete Carroll is not bashful about pointing about Barkley's potential and development and that this competition is clearly going to continue through the summer and fall where they'll see whether Barkley has done enough and learned enough to perhaps reconsider their choice.

Last time USC had a battle like this was in 2003, with Matt Leinart beating out Matt Cassel and two others and then John David Booty in the fall. Leinart became a different player after being named starter, although he never fully secured the job until after he returned from an in-game injury against Arizona State to lead the team to a victory and never looked back.

Carroll has made it clear Barkley is way ahead of where both Booty and Mark Sanchez were as true freshmen, which is unusual, gushing behavior if you've ever followed the USC program for very long.

USC is in fine hands whoever ends up being their guy (even Mitch Mustain), but Corp made sense now and likely later thanks in large part to his ability to avoid turnovers. He's gone nearly the entire spring without an interception while Barkley's been something of an interception machine.

Corp's arm isn't considered the greatest, but per reports he appears able to make all the throws in USC's offense if maybe not with the same punch as some bigger arms like Barkley's and Mustain's. Another edge he has is his athleticism. Although not exactly Michael Vick out there, Corp can motor and make some big gains, a dimension unseen out of any of USC's quarterbacks since Pete Carroll arrived. As a high school senior against legitimate competition he rushed for 1,197 yards (8.4 average) and 12 touchdowns.

So for now and the next few months at least, the job belongs to Aaron Corp. The pattern with USC is clearly to stick with the guy they name in the spring so its likely his regardless, but Matt Barkley presents the most serious challenge to date of a named starter at Troy.

Some footage below: 1) Corp mic'd up at the Rose Bowl Disneyland trip, 2) Corp mic'd up at practice, 3) Corp getting knocked on his butt at a football camp by fellow Trojan Jordan Campbell, and 4) A preview of USC's quarterback battle.