With sophomore Aaron Corp returning from a knee injury to practice by coach Pete Carroll's Tuesday's deadline to compete for the Week 1 starting job, USC's quarterback decision has been pushed back a few days. If Corp had not returned Tuesday, the slot against San Jose State likely would have gone to freshman prodigy Matt Barkley.Corp's return likely changes the math dramatically. He appeared healthy if a little less aggressive with his runs at Tuesday's practice, looking efficient while Barkley offered up his usual mix of brilliant play mixed with turnovers -- in this case a pair of interceptions.
Carroll has gone out of his way to praise Barkley throughout spring and fall ball, but he's also a stickler for turnovers, a problem Barkley has yet to remedy from his senior year of high school, when he tossed a surprising 18 interceptions.
The battle is likely to be decided by the end of this week. USC has three more practices and then a scrimmage Saturday before game week practices begin and a starting quarterback is needed to run full time with the first string in practice.
My money's on Corp, who is no slouch having been a California High School Player of the Year who keeps turnovers down and completes a high percentage of his passes while also adding some running ability. He's the veteran here and a very highly regarded player in his own right, but simply doesn't have the plus arm of Barkley and wasn't as quick to grasp the pro style offense the way Barkley did.
That said, Barkley will very likely play this year, either replacing Corp at some point (or beating him out?) or in selected duty. This would be unprecedented stuff for Pete Carroll, who has avoided platooning quarterbacks his entire tenure at Troy.
The 800-pound gorilla in all of this is the week two game against Ohio State. Barkley could theoretically start the opener against San Jose State, but USC has to be deeply concerned about his interception woes heading into a 100,000 plus capacity stadium among the most daunting in college football. Corp will likely prove the steadier hand to where if USC doesn't have full faith in the health of his knee they could hold him out of the opener and prepare him to start against Ohio State.
