USC Football: Will Mitch Mustain Finally Get a Chance?

With all the chaos going on in the last three weeks I've been pondering if Mitch Mustain might get a chance to win the #1 QB spot at USC. I'm not saying he didn't get a fair shot last year, but Mustain did fall to 3rd on the depth chart due to reasons never mentioned or leaked from USC. Looking back we know something happened along the way at USC with Mustain. Plenty of unfounded rumors over the years: Sarkasian and Sanchez did not like him, had entitlement issues (who doesn't at USC?), or basically didn't care about football anymore and joined the incredible social scene at USC like Todd Marinovich did. Either way, Pete rarely, if ever, praised Mustain in the press. Almost treated him like an after-thought when reporters noticed he was out playing other quarterbacks. Almost flat out ignoring the topic to the point where he seemed annoyed anyone would question him. Go along with his Barkley praise and "outlier" comments on Barkley, you expected Barkley to win the Heisman that year. Weird enough, and credit to USC's power in CFB, Barkley was mentioned by some major scribes as being Heisman worth or "Elway like" after his game winning drive against Ohio State.

Well, not so fast. Pete is now gone to the land of Starbucks, Boeing, and Microsoft. Now we get the infamous Lane Kiffen as his replacement after Pete ran off to Seattle for his dream NFL setup. So now Mustain has another life to impress another new coach (The OC's have rotated there every year it seems). It will be interesting to see how Kiffen approaches his quarterback situation. He will have at his disposal: Barkley, Mustain, and incoming freshman Jesse Scroggins. I have heard nothing but incredible things about Scoggins. "Vince Young without all the flaws that evolve with running the spread your whole football life." Mustain and Barkley are about as pedigreed as you can be for a amateur QB.  Compared to Tennesee's QB issues, this one is a luxury for Kiffen. After all, if Kiffen could turn Jonathon Crompton into a serviceable quarterback, the sky is the limit with Barkley, Mustain, and Scoggins. Odds are he'll stick with Barkley. Lane and Sark are good friends and we know how good friends can bias situations.

Pressure to Win

Coach Kiffen will be the first to know he's under some serious pressure to win right after the summer practise.  If the Emerald Bowl is next year's final destination there will be some serious rumblings in Troy Town. It's BCS Bowl or bust for Lane and his staff. If Barkley does come out as the starter for the first game we can all put to rest the favoritism slants that seemed to dog Carroll and  Barkley. Lane cannot wait on potential with Barkley. If Mustain beats out Barkley, a lot of USC fans will suspect they were right and Pete was wrong, which common sense says is further from the truth. At some point Aaron Corp will be pretty p-o'd if Mustain does get the nod and ends up being drafted in the first two rounds. He beat him our fair and square, allegedly. But again Corp might of been a hindrance to him, Lane is not fond of dual-threat quarterbacks. He told Tajh Boyd to not come to Tennessee because he would not be a quarterback.I have to make an educated guess here and think that Lane will have to give him a fair shot.

Spring practice for USC fans will probably be the most followed spring practice in a long while in South Central LA. Everyone will want to see the best players on the field, that goes without saying. Nobody wants to hear hyperbole and lack of follow up through the season. We don't want to see hypocrisy with players who make mistakes on turnovers like CJ Gable after being benched due to a couple fumbles, but McKnight given every chance after numerous turnovers, or Corp having a bad game against Washington and being benched for Barkley, who had a few games to rival Corps horrible play in Seattle.

Last year was bizarre, and it got even more bizarre as the season ended. Maybe it will be even more bizarre after Spring Practice? Who knows? Maybe Mustain might get his shot, and if he fails we can all say, "I knew he wasn't that good." That also include CJ Gable.