Where Have You Gone, Mitch Mustain

The decision over whether Pete Carroll should start true freshman Matt Barkley or redshirt sophomore Aaron Corp at quarterback was rendered yesterday when Carroll announced that Matt Barkley had won the competition.

Opinions about whether this was the right move or not fall on both sides of the spectrum.

However, I wanted to look at this from another perspective:

Where the hell is Mitch Mustain in all of this?

You remember Mitch Mustain, right?

• One of the most highly touted quarterback recruits ever out of Springdale, Arkansas
• Houston Nutt wanted Mustain (and teammate Damian Williams) so badly that he hired their high school coach, Gus Mahlzahn, to be his offensive coordinator.
• Mustain went 8-0 as a starter (in the SEC, mind you) in 2006. Okay, so he was in the same backfield as Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and Petyon Hillis.
• Nutt went with Casey Dick as his starting quarterback for the Tennessee game (and subsequently for the rest of the season), angering some of his backers (including Mustain's parents).
• After the season, Mustain and Williams transferred to USC. Mahlzahn went to Tulsa as offensive coordinator and has recently returned to the SEC West in the same role at Auburn.

Yeah, that about sums it up.

Mustain arrived at USC in 2007 (his redshirt season). The 2009 season is set to kick off in less than a week.

Having been in the system for two seasons prior, shouldn't Mustain have had the inside track on the starting spot? Or if nothing else, have been neck and neck with Aaron Corp (who also arrived in 2007)?

Maybe this can be a case for not going overboard with recruiting rankings and potential.

Or is it just that USC was a bad fit?